Credit: heeve.com/
Although the Battle of Midway had been in preparation since the Battle of the Coral Sea one month earlier, & the battle itself continued for 4 days, it was substantially won & lost in the space of 5 minutes – at 10:201 on 04 June, attacks began which destroyed 3 Japanese aircraft carriers:
10:201 aircraft carrier Kaga
Akagi
10:25 Soryu
At 17:05 the same day, Japanese carrier Hiryu was also destroyed.
Dauntless dive bombers2 accounted for all Japanese shipping losses.
Losses3
Japan
4 carriers sunk
1 heavy cruiser sunk
1 heavy cruiser damaged
248 aircraft destroyed
3,057 killed
37 captured
USA
1 carrier sunk
1 destroyer sunk
~150 aircraft destroyed
307 killed
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Midway
http://www.heeve.com/modern-history/the-battle-of-midway.html
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1 “Battlefield S1/E3 - The Battle of Midway”, PolyGram Video International
2 Wikipedia: “Douglas SBD Dauntless”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_SBD_Dauntless#Specifications_(SBD-5)
3 Wikipedia: “Battle of Midway”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Midway / Battle of Midway decisive naval battle Pacific Theater of World War II World War 2 World War Two between 4 and 7 June 1942 six months after Japan attack on Pearl Harbor one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea United States of America USA US Navy Admirals Admiral Chester Nimitz Frank Jack Fletcher Raymond A. Spruance decisively defeated attack attacking fleet Imperial Japanese Navy Admirals Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto Chuichi Nagumo Nobutake Kondo Midway Atoll inflicting devastating damage Japanese fleet irreparable military historian John Keegan most stunning and decisive blow in the history of naval warfare operation earlier attack on Pearl Harbor eliminate the United States as a strategic power in the Pacific Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere Japanese demoralizing defeat force U.S.A. capitulate Pacific War ensure Japanese dominance in the Pacific luring American aircraft carriers trap occupying Midway overall barrier strategy extend Japan's defensive perimeter response Doolittle air raid on Tokyo operation preparatory preparation further attacks Fiji Samoa Hawaii plan handicapped faulty Japanese assumptions American reaction poor initial dispositions American codebreakers determine date location planned attack forewarned U.S. U.S.A. US USA Navy prepare ambush four Japan's large aircraft carriers Akagi Kaga Soryu Hiryu six-carrier force that had attacked Pearl Harbor six months earlier heavy cruiser sunk U.S. lost aircraft carrier Yorktown destroyer Battle of Midway exhausting attrition Solomon Islands campaign Japan's capacity replace losses materiel particularly aircraft carriers men well-trained pilots maintenance crewmen mounting casualties United States massive industrial training capabilities losses easier to replace Battle of Midway considered turning point in the Pacific War /
