THE BATTLE OF MIDWAY

Info On Battle of Midway When: JUNE 4-7 1942 WHERE: MIDWAY ATOLL, PACIFIC OCEAN WHAT: Japanese naval and aircraft attack on the U.S. Island of Midway WHY: The Japanese wanted to get rid of the U.S.’s control of the pacific. OUTCOME: Because of Japanese overconfidence, they were officially defeated on June 7th 1942 Significance: The win was a brought a great moral uproar to the Americans. The defeat of the Japanese meant that the Pacific was now Controlled solely by the Americans

General Facts About The Battle The battle lasted from June 4th to the 7th The Americans were fighting with substantially fewer resources. The main ships were aircraft carriers not battleships. Seeing as the Japanese missed some important targets during the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Americans were able to make repairs in the undamaged dry dock on the carrier Yorktown. The Japanese defeat at Midway was the turning point for the Americans in the Pacific Theater. The bulk of the fighting was done on June 4th

Main Leaders of the Battle Chester W. Nimitz Yamamoto Isoroku

Fighting For the Japanese The Japanese brought a larger naval force to the battle of midway which included: 4 Carriers 2 Battleships 15 Support Vessels (Heavy and light cruisers, destroyers) 248 carrier aircraft and 16 floatplanes

Fighting For the United States The Americans fought with a smaller fleet but their tactics allowed them to conquer the Japanese. Their strength came from: 3 Carriers 25 support ships 233 carrier aircraft 127 land based aircraft USS Yorktown---------------

The Japanese Plan Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto planned to attack Midway so that the Americans would withdraw their carriers from Pearl Harbor to protect Midway Island 1,300 miles northwest of Hawaii. His fleet would then try and destroy the Americans using the big slow battle ships. What the Japanese didn’t know was that the Americans had hastily repaired their damaged ships from the previous Battle of the Coral Sea and were ready for a fight.

Americans Response Another thing the Japanese didn’t know was that the U.S. cryptanalysts cracked their naval codes and so the Americans knew about the attack and what kind of forces they would be up against. Admiral Chester Nimitz then dispatched USS Enterprise and USS Hornet to Midway Island.  Midway Atoll

The Battle 04:30 hours, Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo launched 108 planes as well as 7 scout planes. They bombed installations on midway then returned to the carriers. The second wave witch had been armed with torpedoes was re-armed with bombs, then a scout plane reported a visual on the American fleet and the aircraft were told to be switched back to torpedos.

The Americans then sent 3 squadrons of aircraft to attack the Japanese carriers at 07:00. Even with all the bombs, torpedoes, and fuel on deck they were unsuccessful at doing much damage and suffered heavy losses. The late arrival of the last American squadron however pulled the Japanese combat air patrol out of position, leaving the fleet vulnerable. At 10:22, American dive bombers coming from the southwest and northeast struck the carriers Kaga, Soryu, and Akagi. The carriers were useless but one last Japanese group of Zeros (Japanese planes) launched from the one remaining carrier Hiryu and after a few waves, sank the Yorktown carrier. By 02:55 on the 4th of June, the Japanese retreated and the Americans were free to move on Tokyo.

YOUTUBE CLIP TIME http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v4I6RGRW50