70 years ago today the U.S. Navy won a decisive victory over the Japanese Navy at the Battle of Midway. Just 6 months after the Pearl Harbor disaster, the Navy destroyed 4  Japanese aircraft carriers, a heavy cruiser and 248 aircraft. The Japanese had planned to seize Midway island to extend  protection of their homeland and further project their naval power in order to seize more territory. Their plan included laying a trap for U.S. carriers, destroying them which would then force the U.S. to sue for peace. U.S. code breakers deciphered enough of the Japanese naval codes to be able to intercept the Japanese as they began their assault on Midway Island.

The Washington Times has an excellent article about the battle entitled Pivotal Victory from the “Dungeon” Turned the Tide of World War II 

Additionally, there are 2 videos and some graphics showing the order of battle which can be found here.  

Battle of Midway Casualties

United States
1 carrier sunk
1 destroyer sunk
150 aircraft destroyed
307 killed

Japan
4 carriers sunk
1 cruiser sunk
248 carrier aircraft destroyed
3,057 killed

Tags: U.S. Navy

This entry was posted on Monday, June 4th, 2012 at 4:30 pm and is filed under History, Military, Patriotism, World War II. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.