Battle of Midway

Midway marked an important turning point in the war in the Pacific. Had the Japanese captured Midway and succeeded in destroying the carriers of the Pacific Fleet, Hawaii would have come under serious threat and the war possibly extended for months. With their loss at Midway, the threat to Hawaii was removed and Japan lost precious ships and highly-skilled aviators it could not easily replace.

The strategy was to intercept a Japanese force of vastly superior strength and to prevent a Japanese amphibious landing on the island of Midway. The three aircraft carriers of the U.S. fleet, the Hornet, Enterprise, and Yorktown were considered to be the major offensive threat of the U.S. Navy. Their aircraft it was hoped would be useful in providing air defense against air attacks against the island, and if the opportunity presented itself, to launch a crippling strike against the Japanese fleet. It was however to avoid a surface battle since the U.S. fleet was hopelessly outgunned.

Standard aerial general purpose H-E & Armor piercing bombs, and aerial torpedoes. If you're looking for model/type numbers, then you would need to look up on the websites the actual machines, which would state what type of ordnance they would carry: For the IJN Kate Torpedo bombers & Val Dive Bombers. For the USN, Vindicator & Dauntless Dive bombers; Devastator & Avenger Torpedo Bombers.

The Japanese wanted two things:

1) To complete the destruction of the US Pacific Fleet - they wanted to lure the US carriers into a trap against a superior force.

2) They wanted another outpost in the mid-Pacific close to Hawaii but not where US airpower could intervene.

The US cracked the Japanese code and turned the tables on the Japanese fleet, sinking 4 carriers that had been part of the attack on Pearl Harbor just seven months earlier.

4-7 June 1942 .

Naval Intelligence broke the Japanese code and learned of their intention to attack and invade the island. Nimitz decided to use it as an opportunity to ambush the Japanese fleet and seize the initiative from them, gaining carrier parity in the Pacific.

With the exception of one crewman, the total annihilation of Torpedo Squadron 8.

The Battle of Midway took place over the islands of the Midway group in the Pacific Ocean and to the north and west of the islands.

The Military leaders were Nimitz, Spruance and Fletcher.

1942

The Kaga , Akagi , Hiryu and the Soryu .

1. History's first decisive clash of aircraft carriers. 2. Decisive sea battle. The battle of Midway was a turning point in the Japanese-American conflict in World War 2, in the sense that the Japanese were turned back from their objective in taking Midway island, a strategic air base. Furthermore, by breaking the Japanese codes, the U.S. had learned of the attack and had sent its main carrier force to launch air attacks against the Japanese navy. The devastating loss of 4 major Japanese carriers, crippled the Japanese navy and, from then on, the Japanese turned from being the aggressors to being on the defensive as the U.S. began building a powerful navy.

Obtain the book titled: "Miracle At Midway", by Gordon W. Prange. (1983). ISBN 014-006-8147

The Battle of Midway was fought by the Japanese Navy and the US Navy between 4th and 7th of June 1942.

The Japanese were wanting to take over Midway partly to use in further attacks on Hawaii and to prevent more attacks on the Japanese home islands.

The Japanese high command also wanted to take over part of the Aleutian Islands at the same time, so part of their forces were assigned to invade there at the same time.

The turning point of this battle was when we broke the IJN code and knew they were going to attack Midway

There were 98 American aircraft destroyed (it may include planes destroyed on the ground at Midway), though not all there pilots were killed. The figure of 307 includes aircraft crewmen (non-pilots) losses on the island of Midway and people assigned to ships crews.

The unique thing about the battle of Midway was that the U.S. Navy was able to crack the Japanese code , that the invasion of the Aleutian Islands was a diversionary move on the part of the Japanese. The main force was to launch an aerial attack on Midway,to destroy the airstrip and the shorebatteries , then the second phase would land Japanese marines onto Midway itself, killing all opposition. The U.S. Navy, aware of Japanese intentions sent its last 3 aircraft carriers (Yorktown,Enterprise,Hornet) to a point north east of Midway.ADM.Nimitz put Midway Island on full alert, to make sure the island was ready to defend itself against any aerial and naval attacks thrown at them by the Japanese.While the ships sailed from Pearl Harbor,Midway sent out some Pby-Catalinas to search for the Japanese task force which left Japan a few weeks ago,which is traveling under cover of a storm.The Japanese task force was spotted by one of the Pby's from Midway and the rest is history.

On the Japanese side, Admiral Cuichi Nagumo was in command of the carrier force, under the overall command of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. On the American side, Admiral Raymond A Spruance commanded the carrier task force under the overall command of Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher.

The USA versus the Empire of Japan.

The Battle of Midway was fought at Midway Island (also known as Midway Atoll), which is northwest of Hawaii, in the North Pacific Ocean.

Irreplaceable loss of IJN airmen/flight deck crews which affected future naval battles.

It actually means this. Package ready to be used directly.

No such list exists.

The US wanted to surprise the Japanese fleet, particularly the carriers.