The Decisive Battles of World History

Lecture 34: 1942 Midway—Four Minutes Change Everything

Japanese navy to capture the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies,

whose natural resources were vital raw materials for Japan’s

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x What did not go according to plan was that the U.S. aircraft

carriers were out of port when Pearl Harbor was attacked. As the

war progressed and it became clear that victory at sea would be

determined by air power, all that stood between Japan and its goal

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American aircraft carriers. Yamamoto began to craft a plan to lure

these ships out to do battle where the superior Japanese forces could

catch and sink them.

x Yamamoto had always had a predilection for complex, multipart

operations, but his scheme to trap the American carriers was

the most elaborate yet. It featured a vast armada and thousands

of soldiers on troop transports to carry out planned invasions.

The main strike force of four large carriers was commanded by

Admiral Nagumo.

x The key to the plan was the tiny island of Midway, the last

outpost in the American defenses before Pearl Harbor. The main

Japanese strike force would bomb Midway, and troops would land

and occupy it. Meanwhile, another task force would invade the

Aleutian island chain leading to Alaska. Yamamoto was sure that

the Americans would send their aircraft carriers and the remnants of

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they would be attacked by planes from the Japanese carriers and

sent to the bottom of the ocean.

x The Japanese believed that the Americans could not muster more

than two carriers to oppose them at Midway; thus, the four Japanese

carriers would be more than enough to deal with the Americans.

In reality, they would face three large American carriers that could

launch 233 aircraft, compared to the 248 that the four Japanese

carriers could launch. Despite the size of their armada, Japanese