In June 1942, the U.S. Navy destroyed a Japanese fleet, reversing the tide of World War II in the Pacific.
The Early War in the Pacific Pearl Harbor
When World War II opened in the Pacific, the Japanese made quick gains, They took small island outposts named Guam and Wake. They captured Thailand and Burma, including the British fortress at Singapore. They conquered the Philip-pines as well. The Japanese seemed unstoppable. The Japanese launched their attack on the U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. They badly damaged the Pacific Fleet, but the Japanese made two mistakes. First, they did not completely destroy the base's repair facilities and oil storage tanks. Thus it could still function. Second, they did not seek out the American aircraft carriers, which had not been at Pearl Harbor. With its carriers intact, the United States could strike back. The first blow came in April 1942, Sixteen bombers launched from the deck of an American carrier bombed tokyo. The Japanese command was shocked. Then a U.S. force led by two carriers won victory at the Battle of the Coral Sea.
New Strategy to win the war, Japanese admiral Isoroku Yamamoto knew,he had to destroy the American carriers. He assembled a huge fleet split into eight groups. Four groups would mount a small attack at the Aleutian Islands just off Alaska. At the same time, four larger groups would head to Midway Island. Almost 1,200 miles northwest of Hawaii. Midway was an airfield and lookout post. The heart of this attack force was four large carriers. When the U.S.fleet came north to save the Aleutians, the Japanese ships would destroy them. Fortunately for the United States, the US Navy knew of Yamamoto's plans. Intelligence officers had cracked the Japanese code. Admiral Chester Nimitz assembled a small fleet of three carriers. One was the Yorktown, damaged during the Coral Sea battle. Seventy-two hours of round-the-clock repairs at Pearl Harbor made it seaworthy. The American force streamed to Midway, to hide northeast of the island.
The Fight at Midway
The Battle of Midway was brief but decisive. Japanese planes left their carriers' deck at dawn on June 4, 1942, to bomb Midway. But their main target-the U.S.bombers based on the island-was not hit. Knowing of the attack, the Ameri-cans had launched these planes to strike the Japanese fleet. They. caused no damage, however. While the Japanese prepared a second wave of planes to attack Midway, they got a surprise. A Japanese scout plane radioed news of the presence of the U.S. ships, Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, in charge of the carriers, ordered a change in his planes' armament. The bombers should be fitted with torpedoes instead of bombs so they could attack the ships. Then confusion struck. The scout plane reported that the U.S. fleet had no carriers. Half an hour later, it confirmed the presence of carriers. With each report, Nagumo ordered his crew to refit the planes- first for the bombs again and then once more for the torpedoes. The changes cost the Japanese valuable time. Then dive bombers from the American carriers struck. The first wave failed; 35 of 61 planes were shot down by Japanese fighters and anti aircraft fire. But a second group got through. With in minutes their bombs struck three of the four Japanese carriers, including Nagumo's ship. Explosion after explosion racked the decks. Fires burned every where. Listing decks spilled burning planes into the sea. The last of the Japanese carriers launched two fights that badly damaged the Yorktown. The American captain ordered his. men to abandon ship. But a scout plane from the Yorktown spotted the last Japanese carriers. It radioed the location to the U.S. fleet. A last group of bombers arrived to sink the fourth Japanese carrier. Knowing that he had no air power left to combat the American fleet, Yamamoto broke off the attack in the early hours of June 5. His four large carriers had been destroyed in one afternoon, three of them within minutes of each other.
