On This Day: "The most stunning and decisive blow in the history of naval warfare" begins - June 4, 1942
(edited from Wikipedia)
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Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II that took place 47 June 1942, six months after the Empire of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea.
[Devastating damage on Japanese fleet]
The U.S. Navy under Admirals Chester W. Nimitz, Frank J. Fletcher, and Raymond A. Spruance defeated an attacking fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy under Admirals Isoroku Yamamoto, Chūichi Nagumo, and Nobutake Kondō north of Midway Atoll, inflicting devastating damage on the Japanese fleet. Military historian John Keegan called it "the most stunning and decisive blow in the history of naval warfare", while naval historian Craig Symonds called it "one of the most consequential naval engagements in world history, ranking alongside Salamis, Trafalgar, and Tsushima Strait, as both tactically decisive and strategically influential."
[Cryptography crucial]
In response to the Doolittle air raid on Tokyo, the Japanese leadership planned a "barrier" strategy to extend Japan's defensive perimeter. They hoped to lure the American aircraft carriers into a trap, clearing the seas for Japanese attacks on Midway, Fiji, Samoa, and Hawaii. The plan was undermined by faulty Japanese anticipations of the American reaction and poor initial dispositions. Crucially, U.S. cryptographers were able to determine the date and location of the planned attack, enabling the forewarned United States Navy to prepare its own ambush.
[Aircraft carriers on both sides]
Four Japanese and three American aircraft carriers participated in the battle. The Japanese fleet carriersAkagi, Kaga, Sōryū, and Hiryū, part of the six-carrier force that had attacked Pearl Harbor six months earlierwere sunk, as was the heavy cruiser Mikuma. The United States lost the carrier Yorktown and the destroyer Hammann, while the carriers USS Enterprise and USS Hornet survived the battle fully intact.
[Loss of Japanese resources a turning point in the Pacific War]
After Midway and the exhausting attrition of the Solomon Islands campaign, Japan's capacity to replace its losses in materiel (particularly aircraft carriers) and men (especially well-trained pilots and maintenance crewmen) rapidly became insufficient to cope with mounting casualties, while the United States' massive industrial and training capabilities made losses far easier to replace. The Battle of Midway, along with the Guadalcanal campaign, is widely considered a turning point in the Pacific War.
Impact
The Battle of Midway has often been called "the turning point of the Pacific". It was the Allies' first major naval victory against the Japanese. Had Japan won the battle as thoroughly as the U.S. did, it might have been able to capture Midway Island. Saratoga would have been the only American carrier in the Pacific, as no new ones were completed before the end of 1942. While the U.S. would probably not have sought peace with Japan as Yamamoto hoped, his country might have revived Operation FS to invade and occupy Fiji and Samoa; attacked Australia, Alaska, and Ceylon; or even attempted to occupy Hawaii.
Although the Japanese continued to try to secure more territory, and the U.S. did not move from a state of naval parity to one of supremacy until after several more months of hard combat, Midway allowed the Allies to switch to the strategic initiative, paving the way for the landings on Guadalcanal and the prolonged attrition of the Solomon Islands campaign. Midway allowed this to occur before the first of the new Essex-class fleet carriers became available at the end of 1942. The Guadalcanal campaign is also regarded by some as a turning point in the Pacific War.
Both the United States and Japan accelerated the training of aircrew, but the United States had a more effective pilot rotation system, which meant that more veterans survived and went on to training or command billets, where they were able to pass on lessons they had learned in combat to trainees, instead of remaining in combat, where errors were more likely to be fatal. By the time of the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944, the Japanese had nearly rebuilt their carrier forces in terms of numbers, but their planes, many of which were obsolete, were largely flown by inexperienced and poorly trained pilots.
Midway showed the worth of pre-war naval cryptanalysis and intelligence-gathering. These efforts continued and were expanded throughout the war in both the Pacific and Atlantic theaters. Successes were numerous and significant. For instance, cryptanalysis made possible the shooting down of Admiral Yamamoto's airplane in 1943.
The Battle of Midway also caused the plan of Japan and Nazi Germany to meet up in the Indian subcontinent to be abandoned.
The Battle of Midway redefined the central importance of air superiority for the remainder of the war when the Japanese suddenly lost their four main aircraft carriers and were forced to return home. Without any form of air superiority, the Japanese never again launched a major offensive in the Pacific.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Midway
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Aristus
(68,052 posts)during the attack.
It's become known as the "five minutes of Midway."
EYESORE 9001
(27,427 posts)Ive got to read about that, although its been said that to remember something, you have to forget something else. I think it was Jennifer Aniston
Aristus
(68,052 posts)The U.S. fleet launched fighters, torpedo bombers, and dive bombers at where they thought the Japanese fleet would be. The torpedo bombers showed up first, without fighter protection, and got wiped out by patrolling Japanese fighters who dove down from high altitude to destroy the entire torpedo squadron.
The dive bombers, which had launched an entire hour later, and had gotten lost on the way to the target, showed up above the Japanese carriers at that exact moment. Without Japanese fighter planes to contend with, since they were at a much lower altitude dispatching the American torpedo planes, the dive bombers had clear shots at all four carriers.
A surviving Japanese naval officer later said of the attacking planes that it was as if the ghosts of the dead American pilots had risen from the sea in their craft to fight again.
EYESORE 9001
(27,427 posts)Proof that good intelligence can make the difference, although luck played a not insignificant role as well.