Battle Of Midway Essay

The Battle of Midway dealt a devastating catastrophe for the Japanese naval and air capabilities with destroying four carriers, one heavy cruiser, 248 aircraft, and 3,057 personnel. The Americans lost one aircraft carrier, one destroyer, 150 aircraft, and 307 personnel. Historically, Midway has been considered the turning point in the Pacific theater of World War II. Japan's shipbuilding and pilot training programs were unable to keep pace in replacing their losses, while the U.S. steadily increased its output in both areas that inevitably led denying Japan the ability to achieve its limited policy objective: to destroy the American carrier force in the Pacific and use the Aleutians and Midway Island as stepping stones for a Japanese

sea, it is important to note that the initial portion of this battle involved the Japanese attack on the American airfield on Midway Island in the early morning of June 4, 1942. The defenders of Midway would have had excellent observation and fields of fire into attacking enemy aircraft. This would have hindered the Japanese and their ability to advance undetected towards the island, as they would have been easy to spot against the backdrop of the horizon. Views from the air would have been advantageous to both forces in their search for the opposing ships. The Airfield on Midway was the initial key terrain of this battle, with the shift moving towards the carriers once the main battle started. The obstacles of this battle would have mainly

The Battle of Midway was fought with a variety of naval ships such as battleships, destroyers, aircraft carriers, as well as naval planes and submarines. Many of these ships and planes were lost during this battle especially for the Japanese.(Cressman, Robert J., "No End Save Victory", Naval Historical Center, June 1998)

Sections 2: Investigation The Battle of Midway was a drastic war between the United States and Japan on the small island of Midway, Atoll. In the hot, bright summer of June, 1942 had become a grim, dark period. A battle that brought tides of the attack on both sides due to their past actions such as, when Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor and now wanted to get more territorial land. And on the other hand America’s attack on Tokyo.

Despite all the success Japan had early in the war, they did not do as much damage to the United States Pacific fleet as they would have like to have done. This gave America a false sense of security at the time when Japan was preparing to take stronger action. Rear Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto’s plan was to draw in the remaining American ships into an area where they could be attacked and destroyed by a much greater number of Japanese vessels. Admiral Yamamoto thought that if Japan captured valuable territory like the Midway Islands that the United States could not afford to give up, he could destroy the remaining American ships with ease because the Americans would have no supply chain.

……….The Battle of Midway was one of the most important battles of World War II. It was the turning point of the war in the Pacific between the United States and Japan. One of Japan’s main goals during WWII was to remove the United States as a Pacific power in order to gain territory in East Asia. The Japanese formulated a plan to sneak up on the U.S. forces. However, American code breakers had intercepted a number of Japanese transmissions.

"Midway thrust the warlords back on their heels, caused their ambitious plans..........to be canceled, and forced on them an unexpected, unwelcome, defensive role". -Samuel Elliot Morison, the United States Navy's official historian of World War II, on the Battle of Midway in June 1942. The danger of Japanese power in the Pacific lingered over the heads of the Americans and endangered the safety of their homeland in the years from 1903 to 1942. That power lasted until the Japanese made the mistake of attacking the island of Midway in the second great carrier battle of the war. At 4:30 in the morning on June 4, 1942, the Japanese attacked the U.S. naval base at Midway in an attempt to destroy their aircraft carriers that escaped Pearl

The battle of Midway was a turning point in the Pacific. Midway started on June 3rd and ended on June 6th 1942. Admiral Chester Nimitz, Commander of the Pacific Fleet, called in all available carriers and could come up with only three: Enterprise and the Hornet, commanded by Raymond Spruance, also the Yorktown(Great Events). Those carriers and other ships made up the Nimitz defence force. Nimitz also ordered that Midway be reinforced with 120 planes, antiaircraft guns, and 3,632 defenders, also that the three carriers were Northeast of Midway(Great Events). The consequences of Midway was Japan lost four heavy carriers, and later lost the war. The U.S. dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki brought an end to World War 2. The development of the bomb began in 1939, also the research program began in October 1939, the project was called the

The Midway Islands are located in the Pacific Ocean approximately 1,486 miles to the west of the island of Hawaii. The U.S. Navy first occupied the islands in the early 1940’s and used them as a forward operations base, which included a seaport with multiple landing strips. Both sides saw the island as a key asset to acquire which in turn would cut the vast size of the Pacific Ocean in half. The Battle of Midway however was not the first time that the islands saw conflict. On December 7 1941, about 30 minutes into the attack on the naval port of Pearl Harbor, Japanese forces made their first attempt to claim the site. They were unsuccessful in there initial attempt but

The U.S. Navy and Marines also began planning for an operation on Guadalcanal against the Japanese. As Rear Admiral Raymond Spruance, one of the Navy’s carrier task force commanders at Midway, put it after the battle of Midway, “We had not been defeated by these superior Japanese forces. Midway to us at the time meant that here is where we start from, here is where we really jump off in a hard, bitter war against the Japanese.” These keywords emphasized the true meaning to the Battle of Midway, “… here is where we start from…” Midway, then, was a turning point in the ally war effort, but the leaders of Japan and Germany ready to just give in to the ally forces.

The Japanese decided that Pearl Harbor wasn’t enough. They decided that they would destroy the rest of America’s fleet. They decided to draw them in with an attack of Midway island and then demolish them. Japan made a huge mistake! The Battle of Midway paved the way for America and the Allies to move up on the offensive to Tokyo. If not for the Battle of Midway, the Japanese would have plowed through the entirety of World War II.

?Midway thrust the warlords back on their heels, caused their ambitious plans?.. to be canceled, and forced on them an unexpected, unwelcome, defensive role.? ?Samuel Elliot Morison, the United States Navy?s official historian of WW2. Pearl Harbor shocked the nation, and the United States knew that it was only a matter of time before the Japanese would attack again. By decoding the Japanese fleet codes, the United States Navy was able to plan a counterattack. This four-day sea-and-air battle lasting from June 3rd-6th, 1942, is known as the Battle of Midway. Although the United States was greatly outnumbered, their brilliant plan sent the Japanese

In the beginning of war, Japanese victory in Pacific terrified West Cost Americans. Partial victory for Americans appeared when Japanese capital Tokyo was bombed. It was less of a material loss but huge in terms of psychological attack. It was followed by the Battle of Coral Sea in May 1942 and after that the decisive Battle of Midway Island took place. U.S. aircraft carriers destroyed three out of four Japanese carriers that sabotaged their further plans of invasion and they adopted a defensive strategy.

suffered a major defeat at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet, took advantage of the situation the U.S. was put in after its losses during Pearl Harbor (“Japs Risk Large Naval Units...”). With the backbone of U.S. Pacific Fleet torn out, Japan made several attempts to dominate the Pacific. Japan was anxious to settle their differences with the U.S., so they began risking large naval units in Pacific battles. An article posted in the Los Angeles Time, “Japs Risk Large Naval Units in Blows at U.S.” says, “For the sixth time in six months Japan made a deadly bid to capture the mastery of the Pacific, and for the sixth time she has failed after paying a price that is fast becoming prohibitive,” (“Japs Risk Large Naval Units...”). This article was posted days after the Battle of Midway, on June 7th, 1942 reflecting the actions of the Japanese Navy in the previous months. The Japanese were anxious to pounce on the weakened U.S. after Pearl Harbor, backing their attacks with large naval units. The Japanese felt that they needed to take over Midway Island in order to claim dominance over the U.S. in the Pacific.

Both sides sustained significant losses. Four Japanese aircraft carriers and a heavy cruiser were sunk in exchange for one American aircraft carrier and a destroyer. The heavy losses permanently weakened the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), in particular the four fleet carriers and over 200 experienced naval