Battle Of Midway Research Paper

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

Introduction: The Battle of Midway gave many things to the United States campaign in the Pacific. First of all it started the island hopping campaign of the United States. Second the Japanese could not gain the fueling station in the middle of the Pacific( Midway island). The United States also kept Midway Island and by doing so the Japanese could not get a base near the United States so that stopped any chances of the Japanese from winning the campaign in the Pacific.

States interference. Midway was the first major naval battle between the United Stated and Japan after Pearl Harbor. It was also one of the most important battles in all of World

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.

Returning to their aircraft carriers to refuel and rearm the Japanese bombers noticed the U.S. fleet and prepared for their attack. Sent from the aircraft carriers were Devastator Torpedo Bombers and Dauntless Dive Bombers. The first to attack were the Torpedo Bombers, flying low to the sea the Japanese were able to defend their ship’s with ease. The Japanese destroyed 35 Torpedo Bombers, only 6 made it to their target destination which was one of the four Japanese aircraft carriers, but to their surprise none of their torpedo’s hit the intended target. Although the Torpedo Bombers did not hit their target their sacrifice was not in vain. High above the Dauntless Dive Bombers were closing in on their targets without any resistance. With just enough cloud coverage the Dive Bombers were able to approach their targets with ease. Within the first day the Japanese carriers Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu, were hit, set ablaze, and abandoned (). According to ..: Over the next two days, the US Navy and US forces on Midway continued their attacks, forcing the Japanese to abandon the battle and retreat to Japan. The Japanese lost approximately 4,800 men, four carriers, one cruiser, and hundreds of aircraft, while the United States lost approximately 307 men, one carrier, one destroyer, and over 100 aircraft.

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.

Japan’s wanted to attack Midway to gain power in the Pacific Ocean and to eliminate the United States Navy for a long time. Since the U.S. suffered a major defeat at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet, felt he could take advantage of the U.S. since they were weak in his mind (Hone). Japan was fixated on settling 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,” (Symonds). Posted just after the Battle of Midway it showed that the Japanese had been planning this.

From June 4th to June 7th, 1942, one of the most significant battles of World War II, the Battle of Midway, was fought between Japanese and American navies. This battle was the turning point of the war, as it marked the end of Japanese advances towards North America, and the beginning of the American offensive in the Pacific. Another battle, the Battle of Fort Sumter, previously fought between Americans at the start of the American Civil War on April 12th, 1861, is also an extremely important naval battle in American history. Although the Battle of Midway was a battle to end the advancement of American enemies while the Battle of Fort Sumter was a battle that took part in initiating a war, both were similar in their significance as major, influential

The Battle of Midway takes place on the island of Midway in the Pacific Ocean. It gets it name “Midway”, from being right in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the midway point from Japan to the United States. Though a relatively small island, it held fuel resources for the entire American navy, and extra for American allies. This island, in the middle of nowhere, was the turning point of World War II is the Pacific War. Over a two day period, Japanese naval and airforce battled it out with American naval, air forces, and ground forces.

At 7.55am on Sunday 7 December 1941, the Japanese began their attack on the US Pacific Fleet, at Pearl Harbor. Within two hours, five battleships had been sunk, another 16 damaged, and 188 aircraft destroyed. Only chance saved three US aircraft carriers, usually stationed at Pearl Harbor but assigned elsewhere on the day. The attacks killed under 100 Japanese but over 2,400 Americans (Source:A) The Japanese plan was simple: Destroy the Pacific Fleet.

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.

In Hawaii, the Americans had only expected attempts from Japan at sabotage, thus bringing their defenses to high alert on a land attack. This gave the Japanese an advantage as the Americans were not prepared for air raid. Furthermore, the American operators at Pearl Harbour had observed the incoming Japanese planes on the morning of December 7, however, they received no warning and mistook the squadron for a group of American bombers returning home. This confusion led to a delay of American battle preparation, which then led to a higher destruction of their fleet. Lastly, Admiral Harry Yarnell, commander of the US Asiatic Fleet, had repeatedly urged the US to have a stronger concern for Japanese aggression and “though the admiral had shown that Pearl Harbor was more than vulnerable to an attack, his warning fell on deaf ears”.

Typical of Japanese naval planning during the Second World War, Yamamoto's battle plan was quite complex.[15] Additionally, his designs were predicated on optimistic intelligence information suggesting USS Enterprise and USS Hornet, forming Task Force 16, were the only carriers available to the U.S. Pacific Fleet at the time. USS Lexington had been sunk and USS Yorktown severely damaged (and believed by the Japanese to have been sunk) at the Battle of the Coral Sea just a month earlier. The Japanese were also aware that USS Saratoga was undergoing repairs on the West Coast after taking torpedo damage from a submarine.

The battle began with a Japanese plan to attack Midway Island, a US airbase, and use the airfields to hunt down US carriers (Zapotoczny para 1). Before Midway, The Japanese had won a string of victories across the Pacific and were thought unstoppable by many people. They had won victories in Burma, Singapore, The Philippines, Hong Kong, Borneo, The Dutch East Indies, and many more. These decisive and tactical