Description: The Battle of Midway is widely regarded as the most authoritative naval battle of the Pacific Campaign of World War 2. Between 4 and 7 June 1942, approximately one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea and 6 months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States Navy resolutely defeated an Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) attack against Midway Atoll, inflicting irreparable damage on the Japanese. The Japanese operation, like the earlier attack on Pearl Harbor, aimed to eliminate the United States as a strategic power in the Pacific, there by giving Nippon a free hand in constituting its Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. It was hoped another demoralizing defeat would force the U.S. to negotiate an end to the Pacific War on conditions favorable to Japan. The Nipponese project was to lure the United States' few remaining aircraft carriers into a ambush. The Japanese also intended to absorb Midway Atoll as part of an overall plan to prolong their defensive perimeter in answer to the Doolittle Raid. This operation was considered preparatory for further attacks against Fiji and Samoa. The project was disabled by faulty Japanese assumptions of American reaction and poor initial disposals. Most significantly, American codebreakers were capable to find out the date and location of the attack, enabling the forewarned U.S. Navy to set up an ambush of its own. 4 Japanese aircraft carriers and a heavy cruiser were sunk in exchange for one American aircraft carrier and a destroyer. The heavy losses in carriers and aircrews permanently weakened the Imperial Japanese Navy. Japan's ship constructing and pilot training programs were unable to keep pace in replacing their losses, while the U.S. Steady expanded output in both areas.
