Before the Midway plan can be hatched, Yamomoto's two carriers run into two of the U.S's carriers off the coast of Guinea. Yamamoto in this confrontation is able to down half of the American fleet before Midway. This pleases Yamamoto and builds more confidence into the Midway plan.
On June 3rd of 1942, Japanese admiral Chūichi Nagumo begins the invasion on Midway. The Japanese are able to damage the island, but not neutralize it. Nagumo gives the order to switch the weapons on the carrier planes from naval weapons to land weapons. Nagumo gave this order because he did not believe the Americans would arrive at Midway for another 3-4 days. In the middle of the two hour process of switching plane's weapon type, Nagumo's scout planes spot American carriers near Midway. Months prior, Americans had gathered intel informing them of the attack on Midway. This allowed them to prepare an ambush for the Japanese.
Nimitz had brought with him three carriers to Midway. One of them was thought to be destroyed off the coast of Guinea, but in reality made it back to Pearl Harbor for repairs. Nimitz launched 4 squadrons of dive bombers and torpedo planes to go sink the Japanese carrier fleet. The coordination of multiple flight decks is lacking and the squadrons get separated and lost. The two torpedo squadrons manage to locate the Japanese carrier fleet, but fail to land any hits on the carrier fleet and only five of the planes make it back.
By sheer luck the two lost dive bomber squadrons come across the Japanese carrier fleet from two different directions at different altitudes when the Japanese air fighters are scrambled chasing off the torpedo squadrons. At this point, the battle had shifted heavily in the favor of the Americans. The dive bombers successfully sink three carriers. The last carrier launches everything it has before American dive bombers hunt it down and sink it.
In total, around three thousand Japanese and American service men are killed in the battle of Midway. The battle ultimately bestowed upon the U.S. control of the Pacific and shifted the favor of the war into their hands.
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ReplyDeleteI find it very interesting that you chose to talk about the Battle of Midway as it was definitely a key battle during WW2 and as you said shifted the favor of the war. Something unique that gave the US a major advantage in the war was naval codebreaking which provided Admiral Chester Nimitz advance warning of Japan’s plan of attack and the U.S. fleet also benefited from radar. The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) had developed the first radar system prototype in 1938, and these early radar systems were placed on carriers/ships. At Midway all three U.S. carriers and supporting vessels had an advantage due to radar, as it allowed them to detect approaching Japanese aircraft at long range and better prepare for their attacks.
ReplyDeleteIn contrast, the Japanese lacked access to this technology thus the Japanese ships relied solely on human lookouts, which allowed U.S. dive-bombers to remain undetected until they reached attack position.
The US success in the Battle of Midway confirmed the carrier’s emergence as the key naval vessel in World War II, and displaced the battleship.
https://www.history.com/news/battle-midway-facts
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