Battle of Midway

Battle of Midway
Part of the Pacific Theater of World War II
U.S. Douglas SBD-3 Dauntless dive bombers of VS-8 from USS Hornet about to attack the burning Japanese cruiser Mikuma for the third time on 6 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 W. Nimitz Frank Jack Fletcher Raymond A. 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 4–7 June 1942, six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea.^[7][8][9] 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",^[10] 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."^[11]

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 U.S. Navy to prepare its own ambush.

Four Japanese and three American aircraft carriers participated in the battle. The Japanese fleet carriers—Akagi, Kaga, Sōryū, and Hiryū, part of the six-carrier force that had attacked Pearl Harbor six months earlier—were sunk, as was the heavy cruiser Mikuma. The U.S. lost the carrier Yorktown and the destroyer Hammann, while the carriers USS Enterprise and USS Hornet survived the battle fully intact.

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 its losses far easier to replace. The Battle of Midway, along with the Guadalcanal campaign, is widely considered a turning point in the Pacific War.