U.S. and Japanese ships in the Battle of Midway

 The U.S. and Japanese Warships that Fought the Battle of Midway

By Curt Smothers

When Japan decided to send its 185-ship task force to wrest control of the Pacific Island of Midway from the United States, no one would have bet on America’s 28-ships to turn back the tide of Japanese conquest. But that is exactly what happened, and it occurred for a number of reasons: 

(1) an overly complex battle plan on the part of Japanese Admiral Yamamoto that included an invasion of the Alaskan Aleutian Islands,

(2) separation of the Japanese battle force kept much of his non-carrier force in reserve and out of the fight, and 

(3) better military intelligence on the part of U.S. Navy

♦ The mismatch of forces

◊ Japan (185 ships)

The Japanese deployed 4 carrier divisions: Akagi, Hiryu, Kaga, and Soryu; 11 battleships, including the top-of-the-line Yamato; and a large assortment of heavy and light cruisers, destroyers, submarines and various support ships. Admiral Yamamoto was a battleship sailor through and through, and used his aircraft carriers as forward extensions and air cover for the slower moving armored battleships. 

The Japanese deployed their carrier divisions to bomb Midway and seek out the American defenders, while he kept his main surface units back. Also, as things turned out, he should have probably saved the Aleutian Islands invasion for another time and marshaled his resources around the Midway invasion.

◊ United States (28 ships)

The U.S. faced the Japanese threat with only 3 carrier divisions: Enterprise, Hornet, and Yorktown along with their supporting cruisers, destroyers, submarines and support ships. The patched-up Yorktown returned to battle after being severely damaged during the previous month’s Battle of the Coral Sea. 

The Japanese plans did not take into account a third American task force, figuring that Yorktown was either sunk or permanently crippled, a failure of intelligence that prove fatal to Japanese hopes for victory.

♦ How the U.S. forces won the Battle of Midway

Navy code breakers were able to learn of the Japanese invasion plans, and the U.S. carrier forces lay in ambush of the forward-deployed Japanese carriers.  The Battle of Midway was essentially an air battle where the surface units involved never were in sight of each other.  Through great bravery and sacrifice on the part of U.S. Navy carrier aircraft pilots, the above-mentioned Japanese carriers suffered fatal bomb hits and the irreplaceable loss of trained carrier pilots and sailors.

♦ Aftermath

When the smoke cleared about three days later and the Japanese forces withdrew, it became obvious that Japan’s losses were indeed serious. Four carriers, two heavy cruisers, three destroyers, one submarine, and one or more transports were sunk. Carrier aircraft losses were an estimated 275 destroyed in battle or lost at sea when they had nowhere to land. Lives lost were estimated in the range of 4,800 killed or drowned. American losses were the carrier USS Yorktown and destroyer USS Hammann. U.S. aircraft losses were in the neighborhood of 150. Lives lost were reported as 307.  

Just six months into the war in the Pacific, Japan’s string of victories had been cut short in its first naval defeat ever. The battles of Coral Sea and Midway soon placed the slower and more vulnerable battleships in a “reserve” status in both the Japanese and U.S. navies. The Japanese deployed battleships in a mostly defensive mode, while the U.S. deployed its battleships in defense of the U.S. West Coast. The Japanese fought tenaciously at sea through the remainder of the war, but essentially the Imperial Japanese Navy was finished.