Battle of MidwayJune 4-7, 1942

Battle of Midway

• The Battle of Midway, fought near the Central Pacific island of Midway, is considered the decisive battle of the war

• Before this battle the Japanese were on the offensive, capturing territory throughout Asia and the Pacific theater of war in the Pacific.

Why Midway?

Japanese Combined Fleet Commander, Isoroku Yamamoto moved on Midway in an effort to draw out and destroy the U.S. Pacific Fleet’s aircraft carrier striking forces.

Question 1 “Run Wild”

Midway Atoll

Aerial photograph, looking just south of west across the southern side

of the atoll, 24 November 1941. Eastern Island, then

the site of Midway's airfield, is in the

foreground. Sand Island, location of most other base facilities, is across the entrance channel.

Commanders

Commander Pacific Fleet Commander Japanese Navy

Code Breakers• Station Hypo Commander Joseph J. Rochefort and

his group of code breakers identified Midway as a specific Japanese objective.

• Radio deception operation, Melbourne completely confirmed that "AF" meant Midway. Hypo then discovered the date when the attack would take place.

• Admiral Nimitz used this estimate to plan American countermeasures.

Commander Joe Rochefort

Japanese Navy– First Mobile Force

• Vice Admiral Nagumo (Commanded the attack on P.H.)• Four large carriers Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, and Hiryu with a total of

229 carrier aircraft (All participated in the Pearl Harbor attack)– Japanese First Fleet, Main Body

• Admiral Yamamoto in Battleship Yamato – The Second Fleet, Escort Force

• Rear Admiral Tanaka Raizo, including 15 transports– Second Fleet, Occupation Support Force

• Rear Admiral Kurita Takeo These forces were supported by 17 patrol seaplanes.

Commander of 1st Mobile ForceAdmiral Nagumo

USS Yorktown Readied for Combat

The aircraft carrier USS Yorktown is in dry dock at Pearl Harbor, being readied for the Battle of Midway. June 1942. The Yorktown was heavily damaged several weeks earlier at the Battle of Coral Sea. Work that should have taken 3 months to fix was completed in only 3 days.

Where’s Rear Admiral Halsey

• Commanded Task Force 16 during Battle of Coral Sea.

• Returned to P.H. with psoriasis, checked himself into the hospital

• Recommended Ray Spruance to take command of his task force.

U.S. Navy– Task Force Sixteen (TF 16) Question 6

• Rear Admiral Raymond A. Spruance• Enterprise and Hornet

– Task Force Seventeen (TF 17)

• Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher, formed around the quickly repaired Yorktown

– TF 17 and TF 16 joined about 350 miles northeast of Midway on 2 June, Rear Admiral Fletcher became officer in tactical command.

– The three American carriers, augmented by cruiser-launched floatplanes, provided 234 aircraft afloat.

– These were supported by 110 fighters, bombers, and patrol planes at Midway. – As part of pre-battle disposition, 25 fleet submarines under the command of

Rear Admiral Robert H. English were deployed around Midway.

U.S. CommandersBattle of Midway

TF 16 CommanderAdmiral Spruance

TF 17 CommanderAdmiral Fletcher

Burning oil tanks on Sand Island, Midway,

following the Japanese air attack delivered on the morning of 4 June

1942.These tanks were

located near what was then the southern

shore of Sand Island. This view looks inland

from the vicinity of the beach.

Three Laysan Albatross ("Gooney

Bird") chicks are visible in the foreground.

Japanese aircraft carrier Hiryu maneuvering during a high-

level bombing attack by USAAF B-17 bombers, shortly after

8AM, 4 June 1942.Note ship's flight deck

markings, including Katakana identification character "hi" on

her after flight deck.

The burning Japanese aircraft carrier Hiryu, photographed by a plane from the carrier Hosho shortly after sunrise on 5 June 1942. Hiryu sank a few hours later. Note collapsed flight deck over the forward hangar.

SBD "Dauntless" dive bombers from USS Hornet (CV-8)

approaching the burning Japanese heavy cruiser

Mikuma to make the third set of attacks on her, during the

early afternoon of 6 June 1942.Mikuma had been hit earlier by

strikes from Hornet and USS Enterprise (CV-6), leaving her dead in the water and fatally

damaged.Photo was enlarged from a 16mm color motion picture

film.Note bombs hung beneath

these planes.

A Japanese heavy cruiser of the Mogame class on fire after attack by planes of Task Force-16 during the Battle of Midway. Near Midway, 1942

USS Hammann (DD-412) sinking with stern high, after being torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-168 in the afternoon of 6 June 1942.

Scene on board USS Yorktown (CV-5), shortly after she was hit by three Japanese bombs on 4 June 1942. Dense smoke is from fires in her uptakes, caused by a bomb that punctured them and knocked out her boilers.

Original caption: This official United States Navy photo, released in Washington July 14, shows the American aircraft carrier Yorktown, already listing badly to port, as she received a direct hit from a Japanese bomber in the Battle of Midway Island, June 3rd to 6th. The black puffs in the photo are exploding U.S. antiaircraft shells.

U.S.S. Yorktown Sinking After Japanese Attack

Original caption:Listing heavily to port and with her guns still pointing defiantly upward, the U.S.S. Yorktown -- 19,900 ton aircraft carrier -- is slowly going down to her death after a terrific pounding from Jap air bombs and sub torpedoes on June 6th. The destroyer USS Hamann was sunk while assisting the Yorktown. The destroyer beside the carrier in this photo is not identified. Casualties were

U.S. soldiers stand silently at attention before the flag-draped bodies of their comrades, who died during the Battle of Midway.

Statistics of the Battle of Midway

U.S. Ships Sunk

Carriers:USS Yorktown

Cruisers:None

Destroyers:USS Hammann

KIA: 340

Aircraft: 145

Japanese Ships SunkCarriers:

Akagi, Hiryu, Kaga, SoryuCruisers:

MikumaDestroyers:

NoneKIA: 3,057Aircraft: 228

Ensign George H. Gay at Pearl Harbor Naval Hospital, with a

nurse and a copy of the "Honolulu Star-Bulletin"

newspaper featuring accounts of the battle. He was the only

survivor of the 4 June 1942 Torpedo Squadron Eight (VT-8)

TBD torpedo plane attack on the Japanese carrier force.

Gay's book "Sole Survivor" indicates that the date of this photograph is probably 7 June

1942, following an operation to repair his injured left hand and a

meeting with Admiral Chester W. Nimitz.

Yorktown Found May 199817,000’ beneath the surface

Battle of Midway Animation