The Battle of Midway:

The Beginning of the End

It was early June of 1942. The United States was on the verge of losing the war in Asia. The United States had won battles, but not enough to stop the Japanese. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (the top ranking commander of the Japanese forces) had captured one Asian country after another.

New Goals

Admiral Yamamoto’s goal was to extend his defense eastward toward a tiny island called Midway, 1,000 miles off the coast of Hawaii. He first invaded the Aleutian Islands, 1,200 miles north of Midway allowing the Japanese forces to get closer to Midway. They planned to take control of this tiny island because of its valuable, triangular, airfields and location. These airfields were important because the Japanese could launch planes at the same time in all directions. After the Japanese took control of this island, nothing could sail to the north, south, or west of Hawaii without Admiral Yamamoto knowing. The purpose of taking over the island was to make sure Japan would never be attacked again after the Doolittle Raid in April 1942. This raid had destroyed the Japanese confidence. The leaders had promised their people that they would never be attacked again. By having control of the island, the Japanese military, felt Japan would be safe from an air or sea attack because they would be closer to Hawaii and Pearl Harbor. The Japanese thought that if their were planes or ships planning an attack, Japan they would know and prevent it from happening.

One Step Closer to Taking the Island

The Japanese ordered almost their entire imperial fleet: six aircraft carriers, eleven battleships, sixteen cruisers, forty-five destroyers, and assorted submarines, transports, and mine sweepers to take over the island, plus a total of 293 aircraft.

Joseph J. Rochefort Jr., an American Commander, had cracked the secret code that the Japanese were using to send messages. He figured out that the Japanese navy was planning on invading Midway. He even found out the date (June 3) and estimated time (early morning) that the Japanese were going to attack.

The United States had to do something to stop them. Commander-In-Chief of the Pacific Fleet (CinCPAC), Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, knew of the possible invasion of Midway thanks to Commander Rochefort. To stop the invasion Nimitz immediately ordered two aircraft carriers, the USS Hornet and the USS Enterprise, and their support ships (8 cruisers, 14 destroyers) to defend Midway. Another aircraft carrier, the USS Yorktown, was badly damaged in May of 1942 at the Battle of the Coral Sea. Nimtz ordered that the Yorktown be repaired at Pearl Harbor. Nimtz told them that they had to have the Yorktown fixed in three days. Miraculously, three days later, the Yorktown was ready to sail and headed for Midway.

Preparation

On the night of June 3, 1942 the United States aircraft carriers and their support ships, 22 in all, laid to the northeast of Midway, waiting for the Japanese to make their move. In 1942, the Americans had no satellites and radar could only spot things roughly 75 miles away. That means if a plane took off from an enemy aircraft carrier, the Americans would only have about 15 minutes of warning before the Japanese would be close enough to bomb them.

Marine Pilot Major Loftin Henderson, who was stationed on Midway knew that Japan’s planes were modern and deadly. His dive bombers, torpedo bombers, and fighter planes were slow compared to the Japanese planes. On June 4, 1942, by monitoring their radio frequency, Major Henderson was alerted that there was a Japanese fleet to the southeast of Midway. Immediately, he called a meeting with his men to plan an attack. Because his planes could not compare to the Japanese fleet he made the mission optional-all of his men followed him.

First Attacks

When the Japanese commander Mitsuo Fuchida was alerted that their presence was known, on June 4th, and saw the first U.S squadron, he said, "The first enemy carrier planes to attack were 15 torpedo bombers. When first spotted by our screening ships and combat air patrol, they were still not visible from the carriers, but they soon appeared as tiny black specks in the blue sky, a little above the horizon, on my starboard bow. The distant wings flashed in the sun. Occasionally one of the specks burst into a spark of flame and black smoke trailed as it 

fell into the water. Our fighters were on the job, and the enemy again seemed to be without fighter protection." Now, the first wave of attacks was over and all of the 15 U.S torpedo bombers were destroyed.

In the second wave of attacks American bombers set fires to three Japanese carriers. At the same time Japanese bombers destroyed and the USS Yorktown. By the end of the fifth wave of attacks, the Japanese had destroyed many American planes. Unlike the first wave where the American bombers did not even get close to any ships.

At this point a report came in to the Japanese that all American torpedo bombers had been shot down. Suddenly, a Japanese crewmember yelled, "Enemy torpedo bombers coming in on the port side of the ship." This was followed by another yell saying that more were coming from the south. Now there were American fighters surrounding the Japanese ships. Fortunately luck was on the American’s side. Japanese bombers were being shot down one by one by the American planes.

Five Minutes that Changed the War

The Japanese planes turned back to their ships and so did the American planes to refuel. The Japanese commander had his planes refueled. Because he thought that it would take the Americans a long time to refuel, he ordered that his planes be equipped with more powerful torpedoes. At this point, Nimitz commanded Major Henderson to order the 105 planes that were stationed on Midway to attack the Japanese. A few minutes later a Japanese crew member yelled, "Dive-bombers!" Everyone looked up and there were three dive-bombers heading straight for the ship. Machine guns took a few shots at the bombers, but it was too late. More and more bombers came into view and destroyed or badly damaged many ships and planes.

If the American planes on Midway had taken only five more minutes to fuel and takeoff, the Americans would have likely been defeated. By the end of the day, four out of the six mighty Japanese carriers were destroyed, the rest retreated. A one day battle reversed the course of the war in the Pacific six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Japan’s invincibility was cracked during the Doolittle Raid, and it was shattered at Midway.

Ambrose, Stephen E. The Good Fight. New York: Atheneum Books, 2001.

David Matusek. The Battle Of Midway. <http://www.geocities.com/pentagon/bunker/2206/midway/history.htm> Last Visited: February 2002.

Stockesbury, James L. "World War II." World Book 2001, 2001.

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