Battle of Midway

Battle of Midway
Part of the Pacific Theater of World War II
USS Yorktown at the moment of impact with a Japanese torpedo, 4 June 1942
Date 4–7 June 1942 Location Midway Atoll 30°N 178°W / 30°N 178°W / 30; -178 Result American victory
Belligerents
United States	Japan
Commanders and leaders
Chester Nimitz Frank Jack Fletcher Raymond Spruance	Isoroku Yamamoto Nobutake Kondō Chūichi Nagumo Tamon Yamaguchi †
Units involved
Pacific Fleet Task Force 16 Task Force 17 Midway Garrison USAAF USMC	Combined Fleet 1st Fleet 2nd Fleet 5th Fleet 11th Air Fleet
Strength
3 fleet carriers 7 heavy cruisers 1 light cruiser 15 destroyers 233 carrier-based aircraft 127 land-based aircraft 16 submarines[1] 9 PT boats	1st Carrier Striking Force: 4 fleet carriers 2 battleships 2 heavy cruisers 1 light cruiser 12 destroyers 248 carrier-based aircraft[2] 16 floatplanes 13 submarines Midway Support Force: 4 heavy cruisers 2 destroyers 12 floatplanes Did not participate in battle: 2 light carriers 5 battleships 4 heavy cruisers 2 light cruisers ~35 support ships
Casualties and losses
1 fleet carrier sunk 1 destroyer sunk ~150 aircraft destroyed ~307 killed,[3][4] including 3 killed as prisoners	4 fleet carriers sunk 1 heavy cruiser sunk 1 heavy cruiser damaged 2 destroyers damaged 248 aircraft destroyed[5] 3,057 killed[6] 37 captured[7]

The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II that took place on 4–7 June 1942, six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea. The Japanese Combined Fleet under the command of Isoroku Yamamoto suffered a decisive defeat by the U.S. Pacific Fleet near Midway Atoll, about 1,300 mi (1,100 nmi; 2,100 km) northwest of Oahu. Yamamoto had intended to capture Midway and lure out and destroy the Pacific Fleet, especially the U.S. aircraft carriers which had escaped damage at Pearl Harbor.

Before the battle, Japan desired to extend its Pacific defense perimeter, especially after the Doolittle air raid of Tokyo in April 1942, and to clear the seas for attacks on Midway, Fiji, Samoa, and Hawaii. A related Japanese attack on the Aleutian Islands began one day earlier, on 3 June. The Japanese strike force at Midway, known as the Kidō Butai, was commanded by Chuichi Nagumo. Yamamoto's plan for the operation, which depended on precise timing and coordination, was undermined by its wide dispersal of forces, which left the rest of the fleet unable to support the Kidō Butai effectively.

On 4 June, the Japanese began bombing Midway and prepared to wait for the Pacific Fleet to arrive from Pearl Harbor to defend the island. Unknown to Yamamoto, U.S. code breakers had determined the date and location of his planned attack, enabling the Americans to prepare their own ambush; Chester Nimitz, commander of the Pacific Fleet, had sent a large force under Frank Jack Fletcher to the Midway area before the Japanese had arrived. Land-based planes from Midway and carrier-based planes from the U.S. fleet surprised and attacked Nagumo's force. All four Japanese fleet carriers—Akagi, Kaga, Sōryū, and Hiryū—present at the battle were sunk, as was the heavy cruiser Mikuma. Japan also lost 3,000 men, including many well-trained and difficult-to-replace pilots. The U.S. lost the carrier Yorktown and the destroyer Hammann, while the carriers Enterprise and Hornet (under the command of Raymond Spruance during the battle) survived the fighting without damage.

The Battle of Midway, along with the Guadalcanal campaign, is widely considered a turning point in the Pacific War. After Midway and the attrition of the Solomon Islands campaign, Japan's ability to replace its losses in materiel and trained men became rapidly insufficient, while the U.S.'s massive industrial and training capabilities increased over time. Historian John Keegan called the battle "the most stunning and decisive blow in the history of naval warfare",^[8] while 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."^[9]