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The Battle of Midway can be said to be the
turning point in the pacific front of World War II. It forced
the Japanese into defensive mode, never to risk another
major fleet-to-fleet combat. Although it was held at sea,
it is a prime example of carrier combat, i.e. using carrier-launched
aircraft to fight over the seas and to locate and bomb the
enemy carriers.
 The
Japanese objective was to capture the Midway Islands, said
to be "Pearl Harbor's sentry'. From there they could strike
again at Pearl Harbor and force the Americans back to the
coast of California and thus eliminating the US threat to
the Japanese in the Pacific. They had sent a mighty fleet
of 11 battleships, 8 carriers, 22 cruisers, 65 destroyers
and 21 submarines. At the same time, a diversion was created
by attacking the Aleutians in the north pacific. Fortunately
for the US, their code-breakers intercepted the message.
Thus they sent 2 task forces of 3 aircraft carriers, 8 cruisers
and 17 destroyers as they had a lack of battleships after
the Pearl Harbor strike on 7 December 1941.
The first attack came on the 4th of June when
Japanese aircraft attacked Midway, but failed to destroy
the US land-based aircraft. The Japanese then rearmed with
torpedoes to attack the US task forces, but then were called
back to rearm with bombs to attack Midway again. Then on
5 June, US carrier aircraft caught the Japanese unawares
while rearming, and sank 3 of the carriers. Later that afternoon,
US reconnaissance spotted the remaining carrier and was
sunk by a US strike. The only victory for the Japanese was
when the Aleutian force landed, and a submarine sank the
USS Yorktown. All in all the Japanese had lost 4 of their
best carriers and hundreds of aircraft and talented pilots.
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