Midway

8 Pages 1962 Words

ambush. The focal point of his plan, the aptly named Midway Island, was used as an Allied air base, halfway across the Pacific, some 1900km (1,200 miles) west of Hawaii.
American Admiral Chester Nimitz, commanding from Pearl Harbor, had few ships, but he gained a priceless advantage when his Intelligence Service (the program dubbed M.A.G.I.C.) deciphered the Japanese radio code. With the Japanese fleet widely dispersed, Yamamoto was forced to transmit his strategy by radio in a code the U.S. was familiar with. And thus the Americans were able to recover about 90 per cent of the plan. With the information they had, it was not hard to confirm that the target was Midway.
Yamamoto's plan was complex and his subordinates tried to tell him this. They even pleaded to put off the planned attack, but Yamamoto was determined to strike immediately. He believed that an immediate attack was needed to offset loses at recent engagements (Japan had been demoralized at the battles of Port Moresby and Coral Sea). He relied on a submarine-launched air reconnaissance to locate the American carriers at Pearl Harbor and a submarine ambush to sink them as they responded to his attacks. The Japanese plans were laid in the belief the Americans had no more than two carriers, confident they had sunk the USS Yorktown at the Coral Sea. Instead the damaged ship was repaired in just two days at Pearl Harbor after estimates reported it would take 90 days. There existed a massive imbalance between the two fleets. The Americans had three carriers, eight cruisers and 15 destroyers in two task forces. Yamamoto com...