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UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995

3-6 June The Battle of

Midway-A strong Japanese

thrust in the Central Pacific to

occupy Midway Island, was

led by a four-carrier Mobile

Force, supported by heavy

units of the Main Body (First

Fleet) and covered by a diver-

sionary carrier raid on Dutch

Harbor in the Aleutians. This

attack was met by a greatly

outnumbered United States

carrier force composed of

Task Force 17 (Rear Admiral

Frank 1. Fletcher) with

Yorktown, and Task Force 16

(Rear Admiral R. A. Spruance)

with Hornet and Enterprise,

and by Navy, Marine Corps,

and Army air units based on

Midway. Planes from Midway

located and attacked ships of

the Japanese Occupation

Force 600 miles to the west (3

June), and of the Mobile

Force ( 4 June) as it sent its

aircraft against defensive

installations on Midway.

Concentrating on the destruc-

tion of Midway air forces and

diverted by their torpedo,

horizontal, and dive bombing

attacks, the Japanese carriers

were caught unprepared for

the carrier air attack which began at 0930 with the

heroic but unsuccessful effort of Torpedo Squadron 8,

and were hit in full force at 1030 when dive bombers

hit and sank the carriers Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu. A

Japanese counter attack at noon and another 2 hours

later, damaged Yorktown with bombs and torpedoes so

severely that she was abandoned. In the late afternoon,

U.S. carrier air hit the Mobile Force again, sinking

Hiryu, the fourth and last of the Japanese carriers in

action. With control of the air irretrievably lost, the

Japanese retired under the attack of Midway-based air-

craft (5 June) and of carrier air (6 June) in which the

heavy cruiser Mikuma was sunk and the Mogami

1942-Contin ued

erable damage to installations

ashore. PBYs located the car-

riers on the fourth but attacks

by 11 th AAF bombers were

unsuccessful.

Formation of Grumman TBF Avengers 417667

severely damaged. Japanese losses totaled two heavy

and two light carriers, one heavy cruiser, 258 aircraft,

and a large percentage of their experienced carrier

pilots. United States losses were 40 shore-based and 92

carrier aircraft, the destroyer Hammann (DD 412) and

the carrier Yorktown, which sank 6 and 7 June respec-

tively, the result of a single submarine attack. The deci-

sive defeat administered to the Japanese put an end to

their successful offensive and effectively turned the

tide of the Pacific War.