Battle of Midway

At the time of the Battle of Midway, USS Shad (SS-235) had not yet been commissioned. She was commissioned on 12 June 1942 and conducted her first five war patrols in the Atlantic. The submarine did not arrive in the Pacific until September, 1943.

The Japanese lost all four of their carriers, and a battleship. Carriers:Hiryu, Soryu, Akagi, Kaga. Battleship: Mikuma

The Yorktown class carrier USS Hornet, later sunk at the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands.

The US Navy Communications Group OP-20-02 Station "HYPO" Communications Intelligence Unit at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii intercepted and decoded radio messages of the Japanese military plans and the US Navy sent Task Force 16 and 17 to ambushed them.

The IJN was decisively defeated, losing their veteran airmen and aircraft deck crewmen in the process.

Three of the four Japanese aircraft carriers sunk at Midway were lost in a matter of minutes, in a single attack by American dive bombers. Ordinarily dive bombers could not cause very serious damage to capital naval ships, because they carried only a single, 500 lb. bomb. These bombs were generally not heavy enough to cripple a ship, even though they would do damage if they hit. The really destructive bombers were the torpedo bombers, which carried a single torpedo slung beneath the aircraft, just like the ones fired from submarines or destroyers. But the US torpedo bombers were slow and unmaneuverable. The plan was for the dive bombers and torpedo bombers to attack at the same time. The torpedo bombers flew in low, just over the water to drop their torpedoes. The torpedo bombers took off first, because they were so much slower. They still reached the Japanese fleet first and began their attack. Every single one was shot down, without scoring any hits at all. There was a single survivor, who floated in his life jacket and saw what happened next (and was rescued days later by a flying boat, truly a very lucky man). The one thing the torpedo bomber attack did accomplish was to draw all the Japanese Combat Air Patrol fighter planes from overhead the Japanese fleet down to the deck to chase the torpedo bombers. So when the dive bombers arrived overhead in the next few minutes there were no Japanese fighters at high altitude to intercept them.

The Japanese carriers were at their most vulnerable. Their airplanes had attacked Midway Island earlier and were being rearmed and refueled. At first they were being rearmed with bombs to drop on Midway, then when that was about done reports of sightings of the American fleet came in, and a hurried rearming with anti-ship weapons, torpedoes, was ordered. There were bombs, torpedoes and fuel lines all over the decks of the Japanese ships, and they were full of highly inflammable gas fumes from the high-octane aviation gas. (The USS Yorktown was lost when caught in a similar condition at another time). The bombers nosed over and dived, dropping their bombs into the midst of this highly inflammable and explosive target, and three carriers were soon racked with secondary explosions coming one after another and wreathed in flames. The only reason the fourth escaped was it was temporarily hidden beneath the clouds of a rain squall that kept it from being spotted.

In those few minutes the entire tide of the Pacific War shifted to running for the Americans, and the war was as good as lost to the Japanese, though they required three more years of convincing.

IJN Akagi, IJN Kaga, IJN Soryu, IJN Hiryu; USN Yorktown.

The U.S. sunk:

The Akagi

The Kaga

The Soryu

The Hiryu

The Japanese sunk:

The Yorktown

About 100 miles north of the Island of Midway, at the Japanese carrier fleet.

See website: Battle of Midway

The ability to read some of the Japanese communications by breaking cyphers before the battle was the main reason for the success. Also, the various Japanese formations were not able to support each other as they were too far apart.

The Battle of Midway was the turning point in the Pacific War of WW2 in favor of the Allied Forces. The Japanese had lost their first big battle against anyone. They were used to winning all the time. This battle made them lose face.

See website: Battle of Midway

Because the IJN's best Torpedo Bomber, Dive Bomber, and Fighter Aircrewmen were killed at Midway; those particular airmen would not be able to kill or destroy allied Aircraft Carriers, Battleships, Cruisers, Destroyers, Landing Ships, Transport Ships, Supply Ships, Submarines, or any other allied vessels afloat during the future (post Midway) battles of WWII. If those particular airmen had lived and fought on...then post Midway battles would have been FAR BLOODIER than they ended up being.

Three times the USN's flattops had interferred with the IJN's plans; the first time was at Pearl Harbor, by not being there. The second time was at the Coral Sea, when carriers duelled for the first time. Midway was to settle the issue; Yamamoto wanted to eliminate the US carriers in a "Tsushima style" encounter (Yamamoto had fought at Tsushima as a young Lieutenant), just as his Admiral had done to the Russian battleships in 1905.

He wasn't removed from power until after Saipan fell in '44.

Japan just lost four aircraft carriers with some of the best carrier dive bomber, torpedo bomber, and fighter airmen in the world. They could not be replaced (in time).

US Navy Special Group OP-20-G signals intelligence intercepted radio messages and decoded Japanse plans to attack and were suprised by the American Naval Task Force sent to fight them.

History's first decisive aircraft carrier battle. OR History's first decisive sea battle fought between carrier fleets.

The Battle of Midway took place near Midway Island in the Pacific Ocean between the United States and Japan.

the battle of midway was fought by mainly air, partly sea, and no land. The US had planes station on Midway, but no actual fighting took place on land. It was mainly a battle of air craft carrier based air planes bombing the enemies ships.

See website: Battle of Midway

See website: Battle of Midway

Intell and gathering the carriers.