The Battle of Midway Island

Presented by Claire Cappelle

Midway Island

Back Story•Previous battle: The Battle of Coral Sea (American Victory)•Yorktown Aircraft damaged from previous battle•Commander-in-Chief (Japan): Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto•Commander-in-Chief (USA): Admiral Chester W Nimitz

Before the Battle

Japan• Wanted to Capture Midway

Island as a base for taking the rest of the Pacific Islands

• Planned to take Midway on June 3

• Wanted to meet at Midway to destroy US Fleet

• War Planners Careless

United States• US Naval Officers found out

Japanese were planning to bomb Midway Island

• Adm Nimitz carefully planned planes carefully according to the code that was broken

• Force led by Rear Admiral Raymon Sprunace

A fighter plane in the midst of the Battle of Midway

Information

• Task Force 16 led by the Enterprise left on May 28• Japan had 6 aircraft carriers, 11 battle ships, 13

cruisers and 45 destroyers• US had ¼ supplies of Japanese• Aircrafts (US)– USS Enterprise– USS Hornet– USS Yorktown (Damaged from previous battle)

Morning of June 4

• USS Enterprise, USS Hornet, and USS Yorktown main aircrafts, led by USS Enterprise

• Japanese launches air attack with 108 planes• US saw planes on Radar & went into position• US failed on brutal Japanese attack• Japanese destroyed most American torpedoes• Skies became very dark because of constant

shooting

USS Yorktown is being attacked by a Japanese torpedo.

Afternoon

• Japanese destroyed USS Yorktown but Nimitz places the rest of the ships correctly

• Skies were set up for American dive-bombers• American aircraft caught Hiryu and damaged it• 3 main flyers dropped bombs and torpedoes

on 3 of four Japanese carriers• Within 5 minutes US killed 3 of 4 Japanese

ships

VT-8 TBF at Midway Island

After Five Minutes…

• All Japanese torpedoes shot• Japan lost ½ of its carrier force• Japanese greatly damaged Midway, but could

not capture the field• Japanese lost its frontline aviators and 250

aircraft• Japanese retreated and reversed the tide of

the war: Japan was on the defense

Battle of Midway Memorial

The Importance of the Battle of Midway

• Japanese code broken• Displayed that the USA could win something • Proved the stamina of the USA• Japan could not advance further

Midway Island Today

Significance of World War II

• Japan was now on the defensive side• Japan’s best naval officers were wiped out • Japan was not able to advance anymore • USA was the one who Japan watched out for

Sources• American History Textbook• http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/worldwari1/p/Midway.htm• http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/battle_of_midway.htm• Battle of Midway: World War II in Color shttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v4I6RGRW50• http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/midway.htm• http://www.answers.com/topic/battle-of-midway• Images: • http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/g410000/g414423.jpg• http://cdn.dipity.com/uploads/events/eb15affd35163a2f1e9a65bbdb7f42f8.jpg• http://history-world.org/ww2mapsnazi.jpg• http://www.wikipediaondvd.com/wp-0.5/img/f/p/p.png• http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/fileadmin/historyLearningSite/guad.jpg• http://www.usmilitary.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/naval-battle-of-midway.jpg• http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/g10000/g17063.jpg• http://www.boerner.net/jboerner/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/MidwayMemorial.jpg• http://www.travelwithachallenge.com/Images/Travel_Article_Library/Midway-Atoll/Midway-Atoll.jpg