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Battle Of Midway

The Battle of Midway was fought just a month after the Battle of the Coral Sea and took place between June 4th - 6th, 1942 . The battle was a plan devised by the Japanese to try and draw the American carrier fleet into a trap. With the remaining American ships destroyed, the Japanese hoped to avenge bombing of the Japanese home islands which had occurred two months earlier during the Tokyo Air Raid. They also hoped to stop the hole in their Eastern Defensive perimeter which the US had control over because of their holding of Midway. Japan hoped to finish off the American Pacific Fleet, maybe even attack and invade Hawaii. The Americans hoped the Midway Battle would be a decisive one, soon to find out that it was.

Imperial Headquarters in Japan set the stage for the Battle of Midway going by its order of May 5th. The plan was produced by the Combined Fleet Staff and involved almost the entire Japanese Navy. A total of close to 200 ships including; 8 carriers, 11 battleships, 22 cruisers, 65 destroyers and 21 submarines, as well as accompanied by more than 600 aircraft. Admiral Nimitz, on the American side, could only get together 76 ships, and a third of these would never come into battle .

For the Midway operation the Japanese used several different forces that all had a separate task. An advanced submarine force was deployed intended to cripple the American naval countermoves. There was an invasion force of twelve escorted transports, carrying roughly 5000 troops, with close support from four heavy cruisers and a farther distance support from four more heavy cruisers, two battleships and a light carrier. Also Chuichi Nagumo's First Carrier Force of four fleet carriers, carrying over 250 planes and was escorted by two battleships. Finally the main battle fleet under Yamamoto, was made up of three battleships, with a destroyer screen and one light carrier, this force consisted of the recently built giant battleship, the Yamato, weighing 70,000...