HH104 AMERICAN NAVAL HISTORY

THE BATTLE OF MIDWAY

JAPANESE PLAN

2 Objectives: 1) Control Pac; 2) Decisive battle with US fleet

Draw US from Pearl through sub cordon then Jap CVs attack with the main force to finish them off

WHY MIDWAY

Western-most US possession; Extend barrier b/w US, Jap; Mid-ocean refuel, threaten west coast

Failure: 1) Complicated plan; 2) Codebreakers; 3) CV CDRs decisions

THE LEADERS

JAPANESE – Yammamoto overall; Nagumo CV CDR

AMERICAN – RADM Fletcher, RADM Spruance

INITIAL U.S. MOVES – Japs assumed plan was secret; Nimitz orders Yorktown jury-rigged and to see ASAP

THE ATTACK BEGINS – 4 Jun ’42; Nagumo sends half planes to bomb Midway then readies the other half for land bombing then learns of US CVs and rushes to re-equip planes; leaves flammables all over the deck

ATTACK FROM MIDWAY – B17s attack w/o air cover; all lost, no hits

U.S. COUNTERATTACK – Knew Jap position, but they moved; torpedo bombers score no hits, most lost; LCDR McClusky and his 37 dive bombers find Japs with no Zero resistance

ONE LAST JAPANESE ATTACK – Hiryu attacks and sinks Yorktown before being sunk

U.S. LOSSES – 1CV, 1DD, 150 planes, 300 men

JAPANESE LOSSES – 4CV, 1DD, 253 planes, 3500 men