Battle of Midway
Fought from 4 to 7 June 1942 near the Midway Atoll in the central Pacific, this was the decisive naval battle of the Pacific War. Japan deployed its carrier fleet — the same force that struck Pearl Harbor — in a complex plan to seize Midway and destroy the remaining US Pacific Fleet carriers. US intelligence had broken the Japanese naval code, allowing Admiral Nimitz to position his carriers for an ambush. In five minutes of dive-bombing on 4 June, American aircraft sank three of Japan's four fleet carriers; a fourth was sunk later that day. Japan lost four carriers and approximately 3,000 men, including irreplaceable experienced aircrew; the US lost one carrier (Yorktown). Midway reversed the Pacific balance of power in a single afternoon: Japan, which had been the offensive power for six months, was reduced to strategic defence and could not replace its trained carrier aviators. The battle demonstrated the decisive importance of intelligence, and of the carrier — not the battleship — as the dominant naval weapon of the century.
- Year: 1942 CE
- Category: Military
