Battle of Midway

The battle of Midway really began with Doolittle's Raids on April 18th, 1942. The United States, led by James H. Doolittle of the USS Hornet, began B-52 attacks on 16 targets in Tokyo and Nagoya, Japan. 8 of the U.S. airmen were captured, and three of them were executed, but this battle really got the Japanese to change their strategy in order to better protect their emperor from attacks hitting so close to home. This led to the Midway.

On June 4th, 1942, Japanese Commander Yamamoto decided to launch a decisive naval victory against the United States. The Americans, however, used their code-breaking system to find out about this plan, as well as the location of the Japanese fleet. With the information that their base at the island of Midway was going to be attacked, Rear Admiral Raymond Spruance led U.S. Task Force 16 to defend the island. With planes from the U.S. carriers the Enterprise, the Hornet, and the Yorktown attacking the Japanese while the Japanese were changing out bombs and weaponry, the Americans managed to destroy 4 of their enemy's carriers, as well as a cruiser and 2 destroyers. The U.S. and the Allies, in turn, lost the aircraft carrier the Yorktown, but was triumphant in the overall battle.

In the Battle of Midway, the United States managed a victory due to their code-breaking technology called Magic, as well as their enemy's conviction that battleships would beat aircraft carriers in this war. This battle served as a turning point for the war in the Pacific, as the Japanese turned to the defensive and the U.S. took its turn on the offense.