The Battle of Midway

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The Battle of Midway dealt a devastating catastrophe for the Japanese naval and air capabilities with destroying four carriers, one heavy cruiser, 248 aircraft, and 3,057 personnel. The Americans lost one aircraft carrier, one destroyer, 150 aircraft, and 307 personnel. Historically, Midway has been considered the turning point in the Pacific theater of World War II. Japan's shipbuilding and pilot training programs were unable to keep pace in replacing their losses, while the U.S. steadily increased its output in both areas that inevitably led denying Japan the ability to achieve its limited policy objective: to destroy the American carrier force in the Pacific and use the Aleutians and Midway Island as stepping stones for a Japanese invasion of Oahu in early 1943, which would force the Americans to negotiate for peace.
At the Battle of Midway in June of 1942, Admiral Chester Nimitz did the best job of addressing the issues of operational and strategic risk. First, Nimitz had a superior advantage of intelligence leading up to Midway that gave him the ability to understand the Japanese strategic and operational plan for the battle. Second, Nimitz had the industrial capacity and naval strength to match a portion of the Japanese fleet after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Third, Nimitz capitalized on a dispersed Japanese fleet with a concentrated force in a decisive naval battle. Finally, Nimitz had much less to lose than Yamamoto in a defeat at Midway, which shows that the U.S. was fighting a total war vis-à-vis Japan’s limited political objectives.
Nimitz’s Superior Intelligence
Nimitz had a superior advantage of intelligence leading up to Midway that gave him the ability to understand the Japanese strategic and operational pl...

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...capabilities after the battle at Coral Sea with repairing the Yorktown. Ultimately, Nimitz concentrated his forces to attack a portion of the Japanese fleet, which proved to be a major turning point in the Japanese expansion in the Pacific. This overall plan for Nimitz mitigated the risks to the American fleet while exploiting the weakness of the Japanese intelligence and dispersed fleet.

Bibliography
Baer, George W. One Hundred Years of Sea Power. Stanford: Stanford UP, 1993.
Parshall, Jonathan, Tully, Anthony, Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway. Washington, DC: Potomac Books, 2005.
Jones, Mike. “War in the Pacific.” Lecture, US Naval Post Graduate School, Monterey, CA, May 5-7, 2014.
Spector, Ronald H. Eagle Against the Sun: The American War with Japan. New York: Free Press, 1985.
Tzu, Sun. The Art of War. Orange Publishing, 2013.

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