Battle of Midway

June 4–7, 1942 · Pacific Theater

Phases

1. 1Jun 4, Dawn — The Trap Is SetJune 4, 1942 — 4:30 to 9:00 AM
2. 210:22 AM — Five MinutesJune 4, 1942 — 9:20 to 10:30 AM
3. 3Afternoon–Jun 7 — Hiryu & the ReckoningJune 4–7, 1942

June 4, 1942 — 4:30 to 9:00 AM

Yamamoto’s plan hinges on surprise — but Rochefort’s codebreakers at Station Hypo have read it, and Nimitz’s three carriers wait northeast of Midway at Point Luck, exactly where the Japanese are sure no carrier can be. At dawn Nagumo strikes Midway itself; the island’s aircraft counterattack and are massacred, but they keep the Japanese flight decks busy — while American search planes find the Kido Butai and the US strike goes into the air.

• ➤Nagumo’s dawn strike — 108 aircraft against Midway atoll
• ●Kido Butai — four carriers, flight decks cycling
• ●Point Luck — Enterprise, Hornet, and the “sunk” Yorktown
• ●Midway — the unsinkable carrier