[colorado tanker]

The huge Navy we would have later in the War was still under construction. Nimitz was gambling with just about all the sea power he had left. The guy had brass balls.

I highly recommend Miracle at Midway by Gordon Prange.

[SunkenCiv]

Parshall says much the same thing in the Q&A. :^) Nimitz also had the intel about the coming attack when and where, from one of our codebreakers, just in time, and shifted everything available to Midway. The US carriers attacked from near the limit of their range, and the Japanese had better range in their planes, but didn't figure out what US naval assets were present before the Japanese carriers turned turtle.

[oldvirginian]

“Nimitz was gambling with just about all the sea power he had left. The guy had brass balls.”

Strangely Nimitz was a submarine guy, for most of the time between wars he commanded subs and sub flotillas.
He did serve on a couple of battleships, cruisers and destroyers but subs were his area of expertise.

During the years between wars Nimitz developed the Underway Replenishment system that would serve him so well in the Pacific.

When Nimitz took over command of the Pacific Fleet 10 days after the attack on Pearl Harbor the Change of Command ceremony had to be conducted on the deck of a submarine (some irony there) as all the battleships were sunk or damaged and the cruisers were either sunk, damaged or away with the carriers which were shuttling planes to Midway and Wake islands when the Japanese attacked.

Fortunately for the US Navy Nimitz was not a timid man. He went to war with the navy he had instead of the navy he wanted. It’s a testament to the mans aggressive attitude and aptitude that he quickly learned how to use the carriers as the workhorses of his navy.
He also had William “Bull” Halsey a great carrier proponent under his command. I wonder how much Halsey influenced Nimitz?