At 10:20 on the morning of June 4, 1942, the Imperial Japanese Navy still held the initiative in the Pacific. Minutes later, three of its fleet carriers were burning.
American codebreakers had identified Midway as Japan’s target. Admiral Chester Nimitz positioned three carriers northeast of the atoll, turning the planned ambush back on its authors.
The vulnerable moment
Earlier American torpedo attacks had failed at terrible cost, but they pulled Japanese fighters down to low altitude. When U.S. dive bombers arrived, the sky above the carriers was briefly open.
Bombs struck Akagi, Kaga, and Sōryū. Later that day, Hiryū was found and attacked. Japan lost four fleet carriers and many experienced aircrew it could not quickly replace.
A turning point, not an ending
Midway did not end the Pacific War. Hard campaigns at Guadalcanal and elsewhere still lay ahead. But it stopped Japan’s sequence of victories and shifted the strategic balance toward the United States.