Midway, battle of. This was fought between Japanese and US carrier forces from 4 to 7 June 1942, and was the first decisive defeat the US inflicted on Japan in the Pacific war.

In May 1942 Admiral Yamamoto, C-in-C of the Japanese Combined Fleet, collected a force of 145 warships to invade Midway Island, by then America's most westerly Pacific outpost. His objective was to lure part of the smaller US Pacific Fleet into the northern Pacific by launching the Aleutian Islands campaigns and then to bring the rest of the fleet to battle, and inevitable destruction, off Midway. If he succeeded, Hawaii was Yamamoto's next target with the USA at some point accepting, or being driven to sue for, a negotiated peace.

Instead of concentrating his formidable forces, Yamamoto was therefore dispersing them, and his plan was so intricate that some of his subordinates requested more time to train for it. He made other mistakes, too. He thought one of the US carriers, Yorktown, had been sunk; he was deceived by US radio deception (see also signals intelligence warfare) into believing that the Americans' two remaining operational carriers, Enterprise and Hornet, were nowhere near Midway; he was disastrously late in putting a screen of submarines in place; and a last-minute photographic reconnaissance of Pearl Harbor, which would have revealed the US forces gathered there, was cancelled.

But more crucial to the forthcoming battle than any of Yamamoto's errors was the faith the Pacific Fleet's C-in-C, Admiral Nimitz, put in the still new and untested ULTRA intelligence which soon revealed that Midway was Yamamoto's chief objective. It enabled Nimitz to place two carrier groups—comprising the 3 carriers, 233 aircraft, and an escort which included 7 heavy cruisers—near Midway before the Japanese submarine screen was in place, and the island was also strongly reinforced. In overall command was Rear-Admiral Fletcher aboard Yorktown, while the other carrier group was commanded by Rear-Admiral Spruance.

Yamamoto's force was divided into an invasion group with a powerful escort of warships; Vice-Admiral Nagumo's strike force of 4 carriers with 261 aircraft, 2 battleships, and other smaller escort ships; and a main group built around 3 battleships. The invasion force was sighted first, on 3 June, and was ineffectually attacked by bombers that afternoon. At dawn the next day aircraft from Nagumo's carriers attacked Midway, causing widespread damage. Then at 0715, still unaware of any American carriers in the area, Nagumo decided to rearm the aircraft he had kept in reserve for any American surface forces, and to use them for a second attack on Midway. This proved to be a costly error, for when Spruance's carrier group was eventually sighted Nagumo was unable to launch an immediate strike. But Spruance, though still at extreme range, committed his torpedo bombers imme diately the Japanese were sighted. By doing this he caught Nagumo's bombers, which had just returned from Midway, on the decks of the Japanese carriers.

Out of the 41 US torpedo planes launched by Spruance, and later by Yorktown, only 6 returned. However, the evasion tactics they had forced the carriers to take prevented additional Japanese fighters being launched, while those already in the air had been drawn down almost to water level by the bombers' low-level attacks. This allowed the dive-bombers that followed to attack almost unopposed, and they soon reduced three Japanese carriers to burning wrecks. The fourth, Hiryu, escaped, and in mid-morning she launched a strike at Yorktown, causing serious damage and forcing Fletcher to move ship and hand over command to Spruance. Spruance's dive-bombers retaliated and Hiryu was so seriously damaged she had to be scuttled. Yorktown survived a second attack, but was sunk on 7 June by a Japanese submarine.

Nagumo now announced that his escort was retiring in the face of superior forces, but was ordered by Yamamoto to reverse course and to prepare for a night action. However Spruance, whose mixture of daring and caution was to make him a leading figure in the Pacific war, coolly retired out of range to avoid any contact. It was as well he did so, for Yamamoto's powerful main group (which the Americans knew nothing about) was also approaching Midway at top speed in the hope of engaging him. When it became obvious that Spruance was not going to play his game Yamamoto cancelled the Midway operation and withdrew. Spruance followed, but when air reconnaissance next day failed to find the Japanese he contented himself with launching air attacks on two Japanese cruisers crippled in a collision, sinking one and badly damaging the other.

Thanks to ULTRA intelligence and superior tactics, the Americans inflicted a severe defeat on the Japanese which shifted the balance of sea power in the Pacific in their favour. It caused the Japanese to abandon the construction of battleships in favour of more carriers, postponed their plans to advance on New Caledonia, Fiji, and Samoa, and delayed their offensive in the New Guinea campaign.

Bibliography

Prange, W. , Miracle at Midway (New York, 1982).

Midway, Battle of (1942).Within a month of the Imperial Japanese Navy's surprise attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto, commander in chief of Japan's Combined Fleet, realized that the Hawaii attack had not achieved its main purpose, the complete destruction of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, including aircraft carriers. On 14 January 1942, Yamamoto's staff recommended an attack on Midway, a defended American atoll 1,100 miles northwest of Pearl Harbor. Japanese planners assumed the U.S. Pacific Fleet would rush to the outpost's aid, whereupon the more powerful Combined Fleet would engage and destroy it. Such a victory could open the prospect of invading Hawaii, thus extending the Japanese defensive perimeter eastward. With the loss of their fleet and the bare essentials to their success against Japan, the Americans might accept a negotiated end to war.

Fearful that Hawaii was unobtainable and that, without it, possession of Midway would become a liability, the Naval General Staff in Tokyo fought the plan, presented on 2 April 1942; but by the 5th, Yamamoto had triumphed. Later, Yamamoto added a diversionary air raid on the small American air base at Dutch Harbor, Unalaska, and seizure of Attu and Kiska at the western end of the Aleutian chain. The main assault would be against Midway far south, with a naval air attack on 4 June and invasion 6 June. Late in May the Combined Fleet headed east.

In the meantime Adm. Chester Nimitz, commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, heeded warnings of an imminent assault upon Midway from Lt. Comm. Joseph J. Rochefort, whose cryptanalysts, using MAGIC, had entered the Japanese Navy's radio communication system. Knowing the Aleutians were a feint, Nimitz concentrated his three carriers where needed, misinformed the Japanese as to their location, and until the last minute denied the enemy accurate information about them. At the same time, first his cryptanalysts and then his patrol planes from Midway kept Nimitz and his tactical commanders at sea—Rear Admirals Frank Jack Fletcher and Raymond A. Spruance—informed of the progress of the enemy fleet.

Early on 4 June, Vice Adm. Chuichi Nagumo, commanding four of Japan's most powerful carriers, launched his attack upon Midway. Simultaneously, Midway‐based U.S. aircraft attacked his ships, but none gained a hit and most were shot down. Then, in quick succession, a Japanese scout plane reported the presence of an American carrier; U.S. carrier‐based torpedo planes began to attack Nagumo's carriers (almost all were shot down without getting a single hit); the Japanese aircraft that had attacked Midway returned, needing to land on deck; and three U.S. dive‐bomber squadrons, one from the Yorktown and two from the Enterprise, arrived over the Japanese Fleet. The dive‐bombers destroyed three of Nagumo's carriers: the Kaga, Akagi, and Soryu. The Hiryu survived long enough for her planes to hit the Yorktown, then she too sank under air attack from Yorktown and Enterprise. Defeated, Yamamoto turned his fleet homeward. On 6 June, aircraft from the Enterprise and Hornet sank a Japanese cruiser, while the Japanese submarine I‐168 finished off the damaged Yorktown.

Japan had gained possession of two barren islands in the Aleutians. It had lost four irreplaceable carriers and many equally irreplaceable aviators. The United States had also lost aviators, but only one carrier. The Japanese Combined Fleet no longer had an appreciable edge over the U.S. Pacific Fleet. The United States had saved Midway and perhaps Hawaii, gaining the opportunity to go on the offensive two months hence at Guadalcanal. In Admiral Spruance, it had found one of the Pacific War's most effective tactical naval commanders. And in retrospect, Midway proved to be the turning point of the naval war in the Pacific. The United States now seized the offensive.
[See also Guadalcanal, Battle of (1942–1943), Navy, U.S. 1899–1945; Pearl Harbor, Attack on; Sea Warfare; World War II, U.S. Naval Operations in: The Pacific.]

Bibliography

John B. Lundstrom , The First South Pacific Campaign: Pacific Fleet Strategy, December 1941–June 1942, 1976.
Hiroyuki Agawa , The Reluctant Admiral: Yamamoto and the Imperial Navy, trans. John Bester, 1979.
George W. Prange,, Donald M. Goldstein,, and and Katherine V. Dillon , Miracle at Midway, 1982.
John J. Stephan , Hawaii Under the Rising Sun: Japan's Plans for Conquest After Pearl Harbor, 1984.
Donald M. Goldstein and Katherine V. Dillon, eds. Fading Victory: The Diary of Admiral Matome Ugaki, 1941–1945, trans. Masatake Chihaya, 1991.

Frank Uhlig, Jr.

MIDWAY, BATTLE OF

MIDWAY, BATTLE OF (4–6 June 1942), a major engagement of aircraft carriers that reversed Japan's initial tactical successes in the Pacific during World War II. After ravaging the U.S. Battle Fleet at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese steamed unimpeded across the western Pacific, their progress delayed only briefly by the indecisive Battle of the Coral Sea (3–8 May 1942). Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto, commander of Japan's Combined Fleet, resolved to take Midway Island and force Adm. Chester W. Nimitz, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, to commit his weakened forces to a final clashat sea.

At Nimitz's disposal were the carriers Enterprise and Hornet and their support ships under Rear Adm. Raymond A. Spruance, and a task force built around the carrier Yorktown. In overall sea command was Rear Adm. Frank J. Fletcher, who flew his flag from the Yorktown.

Late in May, Yamamoto's great fleet of 185 battle-ships, carriers, cruisers, destroyers, submarines, and auxiliary vessels steamed eastward from various Japanese bases, while a diversionary assault fleet steamed toward the Aleutians in a bid to draw the Americans away from the Midway area. Yamamoto planned to shatter Midway's

defenses with aircraft from the carriers Akagi, Kaga, Hiryu, and Soryu under Vice Adm. Chuichi Nagumo and clear the way for an invasion force of some 5,000 troops. Yamamoto steamed toward Midway, convinced through intelligence reports that there were no American carriers in the area of Midway.

Nimitz anticipated Yamamoto's battle plans precisely. He sent a few warships northward to cover the Aleutians, stationed his three carriers 350 miles northeast of Midway, and waited. On 3 June the Japanese mounted their deceptive strike at the Aleutians, and on 4 June the first wave of Japanese aircraft hit Midway. Shortly after 7 a.m., Spruance launched his air strike on the zigzagging Japanese fleet. Meanwhile, the flight leader of the returning Japanese air strike radioed Nagumo that one more bombing attack on Midway was needed. Accordingly, the Japanese admiral ordered his torpedo-laden reserve aircraft to re-arm with bombs for another strike at the island. This was the first fatal decision of the battle. When a scout plane sighted the U.S. naval force, Nagumo halted the re-arming operation and ordered part of his second wave to attack the American ships with torpedoes, the rest to hit Midway again with bombs. However, before launching these attacks, he decided to recover the planes of his returning first Midway strike. This was his second fatal decision. Shortly after recovery was made, Nagumo had to dodge U.S. torpedo attacks; the torpedo aircraft were massacred, but behind them came U.S. dive-bombers that struck the Japanese carriers while their flight decks were loaded with fueled and armed aircraft. The Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, and Hiryu burst into flame and sank with their planes.

On 5 June, Yamamoto canceled the invasion of Midway. Spruance pressed further his attack on the retreating Japanese fleet and sank the cruiser Mikuma. The American naval triumph was flawed when a lurking Japanese submarine torpedoed the listing and vulnerable Yorktown, along with a lone ministering destroyer. On 7 June, the Yorktown succumbed to its many wounds and the Battle of Midway was over. The U.S. Navy, having inflicted enormous and irreparable damage on a vastly superior fleet, effectively turned the tide of the naval war in the Pacific.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Levite, Ariel. Intelligence and Strategic Surprises. New York: Columbia University Press, 1987.

Lord, Walter. Incredible Victory. New York: Harper and Row, 1967; 1969; Short Hills, N.J.: Burford Books, 1997.

Morison, Samuel Eliot. History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Vol. 4: Coral Sea, Midway and Submarine Actions. Edison, N.J.: Castle Books, 2001.

Prange, Gordon W., Donald M. Goldstein, and Katherine V. Dillon. Miracle at Midway. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1982; Norwalk, Conn.: Easton Press, 1990.

Spectre, Ronald H. Eagle Against the Sun: The American War with Japan. New York: Vintage Books, 1985.

Thaddeus V.Tuleja/a. r.

See alsoCoral Sea, Battle of the ; Navy, United States ; Pearl Harbor ; World War II, Navy in .

Midway, Battle of (1942), a decisive naval battle of World War II.Disappointed with the results of his attack on the U.S. Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, commander of Japan's combined fleet, planned to capture Midway, a defended American atoll 1,100 miles northwest of Pearl Harbor. He hoped to lure the U.S. Pacific fleet into battle and destroy it. Such a success could have opened the prospect of invading Hawai'i and perhaps, he hoped, ending the war. The preliminary air attack on Midway was scheduled for 4 June 1942 and the invasion on 6 June. Warned of the forthcoming attack by U.S. cryptanalysts who had penetrated the Japanese Navy's communications, Admiral Chester Nimitz, commander of the U.S. Pacific fleet, strengthened Midway and quietly stationed three aircraft carriers nearby.

The Japanese air attack on Midway's air base on 4 June devastated most of the base's aircraft. But U.S. planes, attacking from nearby carriers, destroyed all four of the Japanese aircraft carriers, with all their airplanes and many of their pilots. Japan's losses in carriers and pilots proved irreplaceable; the American losses did not. Having saved Midway, and perhaps Hawai'i, from invasion, the United States took advantage of the Japanese losses to go on the offensive in the South Pacific—an offensive that ended with Japan's surrender in August 1945. The Battle of Midway was a crucial turning point in the Pacific war.

Bibliography

John B. Lundstrom , The First South Pacific Campaign: Pacific Fleet Strategy December 1941–June 1942, 1976.
Gordon W. Prange,, Donald M. Goldstein,, and and Katherine V. Dillon , Miracle at Midway, 1982.

Frank Uhlig Jr.

Midway island group (2 sq mi/5.2 sq km), central Pacific, c.1,150 mi (1,850 km) NW of Honolulu, comprising Sand and Eastern islands with the surrounding atoll. Discovered by Americans in 1859, Midway was annexed in 1867. A cable station was opened in 1903. In 1935, Midway became a commercial air station of Pan American Airways, and in 1941 a U.S. naval base was opened. The last navy facilities on the island closed in 1993. In 1996 the islands were transferred from the U.S. Navy to U.S. Dept. of the Interior, which manages them as a national wildlife refuge. The battle of Midway (June 3–6, 1942), one of the decisive Allied victories of World War II, involved the island but mainly occurred between opposing fleets at sea. Fought mostly with aircraft, it resulted in the destruction of four Japanese aircraft carriers, crippling the Japanese navy.

Bibliography: See C. L. Symonds, The Battle of Midway (2011).

Midway Island, Battle of, World War II (4 June 1942) The USA had a naval/air base on this tiny island 1,500 miles west of Hawaii, which the Japanese, under Yamamoto, planned to seize by an amphibious operation in order to resume the offensive against the US begun in Pearl Harbor. US intelligence learnt of the plan and a US naval force attacked, despite having an inferior fleet. The battle was fought by carriers 250 miles apart and by US land planes from the base. Four Japanese carriers, each with a complement of planes and some 1,500 men on board, were sunk, together with three transports carrying 6,000 men. One US carrier was lost. The battle was decisive in that it turned the naval balance in the Pacific towards the USA.

Coral sea, battle of the

Midway, Battle of a World War II battle of June 4–6, 1942, the turning point in Pacific naval warfare. American cryptanalysts had decoded Japanese plans to destroy the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Midway, an atoll 1,100 miles northwest of Pearl Harbor. Ignoring a feint attack on two barren Aleutian islands, Adm. Chester W. Nimitz concentrated his three carriers at Midway, where, between June 4 and 6, they destroyed four Japanese carriers, a cruiser, and numerous aircraft. The United States lost one carrier, the Yorktown, and many planes, but it was now even with Japan's hitherto superior Combined Fleet. See also Guadalcanal.

Midway, Battle of in 1942, off the Midway Islands in the central Pacific, a decisive sea battle in which the US navy repelled a Japanese invasion fleet, sinking four aircraft carriers. This defeat marked the end of Japanese expansion in the Pacific during the Second World War.