On June 4, 1942, the Japanese launched an aerial raid on Midway Island in the central Pacific, a rare naval operation in history, but the warships of both sides did not appear in each other's field of vision from beginning to end. Because the main combat weapon of this battle is the "aircraft carrier".
Open UC Browser to see more wonderful pictures
By the time of May 1942, Japanese commanders had planned to further expand their ambitions to conquer the territories, relying on the landing at Port Moresby in the southern part of the Bab Archipelago, and their aircraft carriers could directly threaten targets in Australia. The Allied forces were led by the American aircraft carriers USS Lexington and Yorktown, escorted by American and Australian cruisers and destroyers.
Fighting the United States were three major Japanese forces: the Port Moresby Invading Army, which was primarily responsible for transport and escort; the other was a cover force, including a small aircraft carrier, the Xiangfeng, and four cruisers; and the last was a small task force that would land in the Tulagi area of the Solomon Islands and establish a military base there.
After the initial encounter, the main military operation finally began on May 7. American aircraft sank a small Japanese carrier, the Xiangfeng, and in retaliation, the Japanese aircraft carrier sank an American oil tanker and a destroyer. A full-scale aircraft carrier battle was officially launched on the 8th. The Japanese were victorious from the outset and sank the Lexington, causing serious damage to the Yorktown. However, the "Xianghe" aircraft carrier was also hit hard by the US military, and many aircraft on the Japanese "Ruihe" aircraft carrier were also destroyed. As a result, neither aircraft carrier could participate in Midway's battle plan, the Next Japanese's combat deployment, and the invasion of Port Moresby was cancelled.
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, who was also the chief commander of the Japanese Navy, had long recognized that their victory at Pearl Harbor would not be enough unless they could completely destroy the U.S. Navy's aircraft carrier forces. He planned to occupy midway, and he was confident that the operation would force the Americans into the war. The Japanese plan was rather intriguing, with a transport and cover force approaching the Midway area and gathering from all directions. Two smaller carriers and other large warships were put into action and contained U.S. forces in the Aleutian Islands, while their main forces consisted of four carriers, one battleship and another cruiser cluster.
It was a deep pity for the Japanese that their intentions were discovered by the American codebreaking forces. Thus, the Americans could ignore the Forces of the Aleutian Islands and concentrate their main forces on their main forces near Midway, which was too late for the Japanese to know. The Americans deployed the aircraft carriers Hornet and Enterprise, as well as other support ships, who joined the battle at the last minute and quickly repaired the Yorktown.
Plans for an airstrike on Midway were officially launched on June 4, when Japanese Admiral Minamimoto believed that the attacks had not yet reached a satisfactory outcome and did not know that the U.S. aircraft carriers were in covert operations, so he ordered the Japanese aircraft carriers to prepare for another attack on Midway. But at the time of the attack, strikers from Midway and fighters from American aircraft carriers arrived just in time. But most of them were easily shot down by Japanese fighters.
However, the last dive bomber cluster from the US aircraft carrier "Enterprise" also caused fatal blows to the Japanese "Akagi", "Kaga", and "Soryu", and finally all sunk. The fourth Japanese aircraft carrier, the Wyvern, also launched the latest round of attacks on the U.S. military and seriously damaged the Yorktown, but later the Wyvern itself was fatally attacked. Isoroku Yamamoto eventually abandoned his battle plan for Midway.
Although Yorktown was sunk by a Japanese submarine on 7 June, the Battle of Midway brought the Americans an unexpected victory. The backbone of the Japanese fleet was destroyed, and they not only lost a lot of battleships, but more importantly, many well-trained pilots were killed in the Battle of Midway, which will be an irreparable shortcoming for Japan in future battles.