MIDWAY

Dauntless dive bombers attack a Japanese cruiser during the Battle of Midway, June 1942

MIDWAY

Months into the war, US Naval intelligence learned of a planned Japanese move against Port Moresby, an Allied base on New Guinea, a massive island just north of Australia. Admiral Chester Nimitz, commanding the US Pacific Fleet, ordered two aircraft carriers into the adjoining Coral Sea to thwart the Japanese operation, and the ensuing battle made history, marking the first naval clash to feature competing air groups launched from ships never in sight of each other.

The Japanese were ultimately turned back, but at a steep cost to Nimitz’s forces. The USS Lexington, one of the few American aircraft carriers in the Pacific, was sunk, while another, the USS Yorktown, was severely damaged. The Japanese were not unscathed; two of their prime aircraft carriers sustained enough damage and aircraft losses to make them unavailable for the next showdown with the American fleet.

It would come soon. US codebreakers had scored another coup, discovering plans by Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet, to lure the remaining American aircraft carriers into a lethal trap. By attacking Midway, a small island-base just 1,100 miles from Hawaii, Yamamoto intended to draw Nimitz’s remaining carrier forces into the open sea, where they would be ambushed by a more powerful Japanese fleet. Armed with details of the plan, Nimitz turned the tables on his adversary, sending all three of his available aircraft carriers—the USS Enterprise, USS Hornet, and freshly repaired Yorktown—to Midway early to carry out a surprise of their own.

On the morning of June 4, 1942, Yamamoto drew first blood. His four aircraft carriers launched an air strike against Midway, causing extensive damage across the base. The airstrip remained operational, though, requiring a second strike. As the Japanese ships were recovering and re-arming their air squadrons, they were attacked by torpedo-bombers from the three American carriers. Japanese Zeros and curtains of antiaircraft fire took a heavy toll on the older-model torpedo planes, nearly wiping out all three squadrons, but the distraction allowed dive-bombers from the Enterprise and Yorktown to arrive undetected. In mere minutes, the entire tide of the Pacific war shifted after three of the Japanese carriers were blasted apart by bombs. Vengeful pilots from the last remaining Japanese carrier managed to sink the Yorktown later that day, but their own ship was also ultimately destroyed.

The Battle of Midway left four of the six aircraft carriers from the Pearl Harbor attack on the ocean floor. With the first decisive triumph over the Japanese, a newfound confidence began rippling across the US Navy.

Torpedo Squadron 6 prepares to launch from the USS Enterprise on the morning of June 4, 1942. Ten of the squadron’s fourteen planes would never return from their attack on the Japanese fleet — Torpedo Squadron 6 prepares to launch from the USS *Enterprise* on the morning of June 4, 1942. Ten of the squadron’s fourteen planes would never return from their attack on the Japanese fleet

The USS Yorktown, damaged by three Japanese bombs on June 4, 1942 — The USS *Yorktown,* damaged by three Japanese bombs on June 4, 1942

While radar systems on Midway and aboard the American aircraft carriers provided ample warning of oncoming Japanese airstrikes, the Japanese struggled to produce effective and reliable systems of their own. Nor were they able to convince their German allies to share such technology, leaving them at a significant disadvantage for the duration of the war.

Codebreakers

The ability to decipher Japanese diplomatic codes beginning in 1940 provided useful insights into Tokyo’s strategic intentions, but it was not until early 1942 that analysts at Station Hypo, the Navy’s radio intelligence center at Pearl Harbor, began making meaningful inroads against the Japanese naval codes. Such efforts resulted in early knowledge of Japanese intentions, timetables for impending operations, and even the composition of forces for planned deployments. With the Japanese unaware their codes had been compromised, the decrypted intercepts tilted early battles at Coral Sea and Midway and yielded Japanese secrets for the remainder of the war.

Though he suffered a costly defeat at Midway, Yamamoto was the leading architect of early Japanese successes and the most respected and revered figure in the Japanese military. In April 1943, codebreakers learned of his planned travel to forward bases in the South Pacific, and a transport aircraft carrying the admiral was subsequently shot down by American fighter planes. His death was a shocking and demoralizing blow to the Imperial Navy.