My Dad was in that battle on a destroyer. Truly the greatest generation.
Even then, the inexperienced pilots almost expended all their efforts on just one carrier - but McCluskey recognized the error at the last second and diverted others to two other carriers.
That victory was a gift from God and razor-thin.
Midway was one of the most important US naval battles of all time. The two most important game changers were not what the author of the article perceives.
The loss of experienced veteran Japanese naval aviators at Midway changed the air war and carrier war in the South Pacific onward. The most experienced carrier pilots in the world were lost, and because of a lack of effective training programs before and after, the experience was never recovered.
The loss at Midway by the Japanese gave the United States time. That was time to turn it’s industrial might into military equipment. By 1945, the US produced more military equipment than the rest of the world....COMBINED. The Japanese could never win a protracted war against such industry, they knew it, even if we had not realized it at the time. Midway deprived them of them of the initiative by allowing the US to gear up, and the Japanese not having the air superiority that they had enjoyed early in the war.
bkmk
The Battle of Midway was a great thing, but don’t think there was any question about who was going to win the war. The Japs had a great front line, but they had no depth.
Yamamoto speculating on the results of an attack on Pearl Harbor: “In the first six to twelve months of a war with the United States and Great Britain I will run wild and win victory upon victory. But then, if the war continues after that, I have no expectation of success.”
He was right, it was six months.
Churchill reflecting on having heard of the attack on Pearl Harbor: “Now at this very moment I knew that the United States was in the war .... So we had won after all! ... Hitler’s fate was sealed. Mussolini’s fate was sealed. As for the Japanese, they would be ground to a powder. All the rest was merely the proper application of overwhelming force.”
He was right, it was overwhelming force.
The training of skilled carrier pilots took the Japanese years while the Americans could do it in months.
The dive bomber group launched but after flying a very long time ended up not finding the Japanese carriers where they were supposed to be.
They were low on fuel and a big decision:
Return to their carriers or hunt around more, risking a mass ditch after running out of fuel..?
Nearby, they spotted a small Jap cruiser all alone in the expanse of ocean:
It was kicking up a considerable wake at full speed, knifing along with no zig-zagging or precautions at all. The travel of this lone cruiser seemed to be purposeful —like it might be making haste to rejoin a larger body of ships (this cruiser had been attempting to sink American sub that had been spotted by the Japanese main force much earlier and had remained behind).
The fliers risked it all while low on fuel, changing their flight direction to their guess at where this Japanese cruiser was headed over the horizon.
They hit the jackpot:
The found the carriers, and SCRATCH three carriers, all in 5 minutes.
Aside from the atomic bombings, NO other single decision by any US officer had a bigger impact on the war in the Pacific.
If Today's Media Reported the Battle of Midway
https://www.strategypage.com/militaryforums/532-228.aspx#startofcomment
http://www.politicsforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=48826
http://forum.pafoa.org/showthread.php?t=27201
https://www.ign.com/boards/threads/if-todays-media-reported-the-battle-of-midway.103231398/