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1. The US was successful because they found out about the surprise attack beforehand with their codebreakers
2. Admiral Raymond Spruance used his cautious leadership skills to prevent being trapped by the Japanese
3. The US managed to get ahead when their dive-bombers finally found the Japanese ships while they were vulnerable
4. It was crucial that they stopped the Japanese Operation K before they saw the American ships

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May 17th: US Triton sunk Japanese submarine I-64 on its way to Midway

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“Thus, according to the design of Japanese plans, a flawless performance by I-boats during the preliminary operations of the battle of Midway would not in itself have prevented the disaster. While the face remains that Japanese submarines were inept and feeble in carrying out their assignments, nevertheless, the patterns of their radio traffic alerted US Navy intelligence to a forthcoming offensive operation” (186)

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After the Doolittle raids in April 1942, Japanese submarines had to patrol near Tokyo and didn't arrive at Kwajalein until May 10th

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Japanese wanted to draw out the American carriers to destroy them, which would then destroy a large portion of their Navy

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1. Japan should have guarded secret plans better
2. Japanese were functioning on bad estimates
3. Japanese scattered their task force with poor planning
4. Japanese failed to remember their central goal and became too focused on the invasion
5. Japanese had poor reconnaissance

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US/Great Britain/Netherlands cut off oil exports to Japan (they were left with their 6,450,000 tons of reserve) which put Japanese military in danger of collapsing

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Navy officials conflicted about going to war: some believed Navy would not last a year, while others thought they needed to fight back against Ango-Dutch-American oppression

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“Tireless effort finally produced a naval establishment whose confidence in its own fighting ability was expressed in the motto, ‘We rely not upon the enemy’s not attacking us, but upon our readiness to meet him when he comes’” (18)

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Japanese ships designed with a flat deck to best suit Japanese seas. Everything was designed for superior ships in the specific operations they imagined

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Firm concept created for the Navy: defensive fleet strategy with warships created to intercept and attack offensive US ships-->maxed the ships ammunition power and speed instead of defenses and radius of action

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Japanese Naval Academy indoctrinated the idea of southward advance, which also indoctrinated the idea of clashing with the US

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1918: new Imperial Defense Policy states US as enemy #1 for the Navy and USSR as enemy #1 for the Army-->creation of a dual-standard policy

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Pre-Pearl Harbor: Japanese citizens knew Imperial Navy was building

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“As a consequence of my studies, I am firmly convinced that the Pacific War was started by men who did not understand the sea, and fought by men who did not understand the air. Had there been better understanding of the sea and air, Japan would have pondered more carefully the wisdom of going to war. And even if she had then decided that no other course was possible, many of the blunders she made could have been avoided. Because she judged the sea by land standards and applied to air warfare the concepts of sea fighting, Japan’s tragic fate was foreordained” (10)

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Japanese schedule pushed back due to loss, which caused Japanese carriers to miss Midway attack

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May 8th, 1942: Battle of the Coral Sea where US Navy managed to stop Japanese take-over of New Guinea/Australia

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April 9, 1942: American forces in Philippines surrendered and Japanese killed thousands of POWs

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Japanese Combined Fleet wanted Midway to be executed to destroy American carrier forces in retaliation

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“The result was that all remaining opposition to the early-June Midway attack deadline and other moot points of the Combined Fleet proposal promptly vanished, and Fleet Headquarters was enabled to proceed with the elaboration of the final plan of operations” (49)

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“The greatest importance of the Doolittle raid lay in its immediate effect on the controversy still going on over the Combined Fleet plan for assault on Midway” (49)

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April 18, 1942: President Roosevelt bombed Japan in Doolittle raids

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December 7th, 1941: Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor which was a surprise attack and declaration of war

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Pacific War: Japanese wanted to expand, but Europeans prevented Japan's rise to power. Japan blamed this on racism, and both groups grew with aggression

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1930s: Japanese wanted expansion, which conflicted with American interests

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"The possibility that the enemy would shift his strength northward to attack Midway or Hawaii prompted a regrouping of our naval units and a further reinforcement of the air and ground units at Hawaii, Midway, and other island outposts...it became evident that the largest concentration of enemy naval strength yet assembled for Pacific operations was headed eastward with the capture of Midway as its preliminary objective" (49)

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“A first necessity was to make good the damage in Hawaii and to strengthen its defenses and those at Midway, to establish a succession of island bases to guard the Pacific lines of communication with Australia and New Zealand and to permit the transport of bombers and transport planes and the servicing of naval aircraft and shipping. Ships in the Pacific coast harbors were immediately requisitioned, reloaded, and sent westward with combat and service personnel, aircraft equipment, and other material” (43)

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Detected submarine picket station locations based on radio traffic so American ships (Yorktown, Hornet, Enterprise) could prepare for secret ambush

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Cryptanalysts broke JN25 (Japanese naval code)-->March 10th, 1942 discovered "AF" meant Midway

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Americans noticed submarine-seaplane association that Japanese radio traffic had

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“Thus, fairly consistent routines of Japanese submarines and traffic analysis provided US Combat Intelligence with important opportunities early in the war to gain a better understand of the manner in which the Japanese conducted certain naval operations. American intelligence learned quickly” (175)

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Discovery of pattern: I-boats used up their deck-gun ammunition before leaving their patrol areas-->Midway was bombarded (January 1942) so US tracked their submarines using their transmissions

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Post Pearl Harbor: US Navy picked up lots of radio transmission from Hawaiian waters --->Japanese submarines forced to fully surface for full nights to send/receive messages with their home bases

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American naval intelligence studied Japanese I-boat operations based on their radio traffic

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June 4, 1942-June 7, 1942
1.  US intelligence discovered Midway plans
2. American carriers brought to Pearl Harbor to prepare for attack
3. US wrecks Japanese reconnaissance attempts
4. US fleet is sent to surprise ambush location
5. Americans attack Japanese first but fail to make progress
6. Japanese shoot down 47/51 American planes
7. Dive-bomb Americans finally find Japanese ships while Japanese are trying to rearm torpedoes
8. US sink/damage most of Japanese fleet
9. Japanese forced to retreat, but attempt to draw Americans out and trap them
10. US retreat instead of following Japanese
11. American victory

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How did the military context of the Americans versus the Japanese affect the outcome of the Battle of Midway?