Fact Finder - History

The Battle of Midway is widely considered the most decisive naval engagement of the Pacific War. Thanks to American codebreakers (Station HYPO) who had decrypted the Japanese naval code, the U.S. Navy was able to ambush the Japanese fleet. In a single day, American dive bombers sank four Japanese aircraft carriers—Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, and Hiryu—which had been the backbone of the force that attacked Pearl Harbor. The loss of these ships and their experienced pilots permanently halted Japanese expansion and shifted the initiative to the Allies. It demonstrated the new reality of naval warfare: the era of the battleship was over, and the aircraft carrier was now the dominant weapon of the seas, capable of striking enemies from hundreds of miles away.