une 9th 1780- the Frigate Proctor of the Massachuesetts Navy engages the HMS Admiral Duff in a battle near New Foundland Banks. The Duff catches fire and the Proctor is victorious

June 1 1813- The USS Chesapeake is attacked and captured by the 52 gun Frigate Shannon. The Chesapeake puts up a fierce fight and her captain utters the immortal words: Don’t Give Up the Ship

June 14th 1814 The USS Adams captures the HMS Brigantine Hunter

June 28th 1814- The USS Wasp captures the British the HMS Reindeer in the North Atlantic

June 17th 1863- The USS Weehawken captured the Confederate gunboat Atlanta


Battle of Midway
Japanese Admiral Yamamoto proposed a plan to capture Midway Island. It lay 1,135 miles west north west of Pearl Harbor. While many in the Japanese high command opposed the plan, Yamamoto threat to resign was enough to convince the Japanese to go ahead. Yamamoto had four heavy and two light carriers, seven battleships, ten heavy cruisers, four light cruisers 44 destroyers and many auxiliary ships at his disposal.

The plan called for a diversionary attack on the Alietian which Yamamoto hoped would draw off the American fleet, which would then return to attempt to retake Midway and be destroyed. Unfortunately for the Japanese the Americans had broken the Japanese codes and knew the Japanese plans,

The US navy was as ready as it could be for the Midway attack. Admiral Nimitz had sent whatever reinforcements that were available to the island, including numerous aircraft that included B-17’s. He assigned Admiral Spruace a non aviator to temporarily replace Admiral Halsey who was hospitalized. Spruace had the carriers Enterprise, Hornet and Yorktown which was repaired in three days instead of the projected 3 months. The first act in the Midway battle took place on June 3 when a Catalina spotted part of the invasion fleet. Six B-17 made an attack on the fleet but scored no hits. After midnight on the 4th four Catalinas which were fitted with makeshift torpedo releases made the first torpedo attack by Catalinas, they sunk one Japanese tanker.
On June 4th the Japanese carriers under the command of Admiral Nagumo launched there first air attack on Midway. The attack was met with heavy opposition from the ground, and did little major impact. American forces on Midway also launched an air attack on the japanese fleet with no results. Nagumo then ordered another attack on Midway. Meanwhile however, the American fleet had located the Japanese carriers and was launching an attack, which was timed to coincide with the rearming on the Japanese planes. The existence the American fleet was unknown to the Japanese until 809 on the 4th when a Japanese reconnaissance plane reported the existence of American cruisers and destroyers. At the last moment the plane also reported the existence of a carrier. It was too late. Americans aircraft were nearing their target. The first squadron to attack were the VT-8 torpedo squadron from the Hornet. They were flying Douglas Devastators. Their attack and that followed by VT-6 from the Enterprise failed. No torpedos hit and most of both squadrons were wiped off. However, they succeeded in bringing the complete combat air patrol of Zeros down to defend against them. Thus a few minutes later when SBD Dauntless dive bombers arrived on the scene, they were unopposed. They began their attacks, and within minutes the The japanese carriers, the Akagai, Soryu, and Kaga were ablaze.
The battle was not totally one sided. Japanese planes from the Hiryu managed to find the task force and land three bombs on the Yorktown. This was enough to stop her dead in the water. She was later sunk by torpedos from a Japanese submarine. Meanwhile the Enterprise and Hornets launched planes against the only surviving Japanese carrier the Hiryu. She was found and sunk.