Battle of Midway

The Battle of Midway was a WW2 naval engagement fought between the US Navy Carrier Strike Force, led by Chester Nimitz, and the Imperial Japanese Combined Fleet, under Isoroko Yamamoto, on June 4-7, 1942, in the Central Pacific, near the island of Midway. The result of the battle was a United States Navy's strategic and military victory as the US Navy prevented the Japanese invasion of that island, sinking four Japanese carriers and two heavy cruisers. The US Navy would lose one carrier: the USS Yorktown, which was sunk by Japanese dive bombers.

Rationale

Yamamoto had planned to invade the atoll of Midway, whose biggest island had an airfield. The commander of the South Pacific Areas, Adm. Chester Nimitz knew about the Japanese advance into the Central Pacific and that they planned to take an island, with a US base on it, but he did not know exactly which one. The United States wanted to forestall it just as they had prevented the Japanese invasion of Port Moresby, in Papua New Guinea, a month earlier, with the US strategic victory at the Battle of the Coral Sea. However, the US Navy' intelligence team managed to break the Japanese code and ascertained that the target of the Japanese invasion force was Midway. Thus, Chester Nimitz ordered the US naval force to the area.

Opposing forces

The US Navy's Carrier Strike Force was composed of Task Force 16, led by R. Adm. Raymond Spruance, and Task Force 17, under Frank Fletcher, both of which totaled 26 surface ships, which included 7 heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, and 15 destroyers. TF 16's main warships were the USS Enterprise CV-6 and the USS Hornet CV-8 aircraft carrier, while TF 17 had only one carrier at its disposal: the USS Yorktown CV-5, which had just been repaired for damage sustained at Coral Sea. A pack of 16 US submarines were escorting this naval force.

Meanwhile, the Imperial Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet consisted of 1st Fleet, which was the main naval force, commanded by Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto, and the 2nd Fleet, which was the invasion force, under Nabutake Kondo. The First Fleet included 4 fleet aircraft carriers (Akagi, Hiryu, Kaga, Soryu) and 9 battleships (Yamato, Nagato, Mutsu, among others). While the 2nd Fleet (invasion force) had the fire support of 2 battleships and several cruisers.

Summary

The Battle of Midway began at 06:30 hours, on June 4, when Japanese carrier-based dive bombers attacked and heavily damaged the US base on Midway. Meanwhile, US B-17 bombers, which had just taken off the same island, attacked the Japanese 1st Fleet but they missed their targets (Akagi carrier and a cruiser) since the attack was from high altitude, which gave the Japanese commander time to maneuver and get out the bombs trajectory.

Based on a report from a reconnaissance aircraft, Raymond Spruance launched the first wave of attack on the Japanese main fleet. As the F4F Wildcats fighter escorts ran out of fuel, most of the American bombers were shot down by Japanese Zeros. However, a few hours later, US bombers launched from USS Enterprise attacked the Japanese carrier Akagi, which was hit by two bombs that struck her weapons storage compartment. Seriously damaged, it was scuttled the next day.

The next Japanese carrier to be sunk was Kaga, which was hit by four bombs dropped from SBD Dauntless dive bombers on the afternoon of June 4. On the morning of June 5, two Japanese carriers would be sunk: Akagi, at 05:00 hours, and Hiryu at 09:00 hours. The battle ranged on for the next days, with the contenders attacking each other and evading as they maneuvered in chase or to get out of torpedoes pathway. These were launched from either torpedo bombers or from submarines. By June 7, the Battle of Midway was over, with the rest of the Japanese fleet withdrawing that area of the Pacific Ocean. It was a major defeat of the Imperial Japanese Navy, which lost 4 carriers, two cruisers, three destroyers, and 350 aircraft.

Below, the Japanese heavy cruiser Mogame would sink on June 6 after serious damage sustained during an American air attack carried out by dive bombers from the USS Hornet.

 

A Japanese heavy cruiser blows up before sinking.