Battleships

The Battle of Midway (June 3-6, 1942) was one of the most important confrontations between the US Pacific Fleet and the Japanese Imperial navy during the Pacific War. Fought almost entirely with aircraft, the battle saw the destruction of Japan's first-line carrier strength and most of its best trained naval pilots. It brought the two fleets to a virtual parity and ended the threat of further Japanese invasion in the Pacific. See below for more background info. This game takes some serious liberties with the history. It also assumes that you'll be on the US side. If that doesn't bother you too much, have a go!

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"...We have located the Imperial fleet under the command of Admiral Yamamoto, but do not yet have visual contact. We suggest the best course of action is to fire at random into their vicinity and listen for the impact of the shells...

...Our intelligence sources indicate the composition of the enemy fleet is the same as our own, and has likewise been forced to resort to the same tactics as ourselves. In accordance with the rules of war, fire will be exchanged one shell at a time and vessels lost will be announced immediately...

...As per your orders you have been placed directly in command of the fleet's guns. Select the target location by clicking in the left-hand grid above. The right hand grid shows the status of our own fleet. Information as to the remaining strength of the enemy will be relayed directly to your status bar...

...We believe this battle will not be over until one or other fleet is sunk in it's entirety. Our gunners await your commands. We're counting on you, Sir..."

Despite a setback in May 1942 in the indecisive Battle of the Coral Sea, the Japanese had continued with plans to seize Midway Island and bases in the Aleutians. Seeking a naval showdown with the numerically inferior U.S. Pacific Fleet, Adm. Yamamoto Isoroku sent out the bulk of the Japanese fleet, including four heavy and three light aircraft carriers, with orders to engage and destroy the American fleet and invade Midway.

U.S. intelligence had divined Japanese intentions after breaking the Japanese naval code, however, and the Americans were ready: three heavy aircraft carriers of the U.S. Pacific Fleet were mustered. These ships were stationed 350 mi northeast of Midway and awaited the westward advance of Yamamoto's armada. Whereas the Japanese had no land-based air support, the Americans from Midway and from Hawaii could commit about 115 land-based planes.

The battle began on June 3, 1942, when U.S. bombers from Midway Island struck ineffectually at the Japanese carrier strike force about 220 mi southwest of the U.S. fleet. Early the next morning Japanese planes from the strike force attacked and bombed Midway heavily, while the Japanese carriers again escaped damage from U.S. land-based planes.

But as the morning progressed the Japanese carriers were soon overwhelmed by the logistics of almost simultaneously sending a second wave of bombers to finish off the Midway runways, zigzagging to avoid the bombs of attacking U.S. aircraft, and trying to launch more planes to sink the now-sighted U.S. naval forces. A wave of U.S. torpedo bombers was almost completely destroyed during their attack on the Japanese carriers at 9:20 Am, but at around 10:30 Am 36 carrier-launched U.S. dive-bombers caught the Japanese carriers while their decks were cluttered with armed aircraft and fuel. The U.S. planes quickly sank three of the heavy Japanese carriers and one heavy cruiser.

In the late afternoon U.S. planes disabled the fourth heavy carrier (scuttled the next morning), but its aircraft had badly damaged the U.S. carrier Yorktown. On June 6, a Japanese submarine fatally torpedoed the Yorktown and an escorting American destroyer; that day a Japanese heavy cruiser was sunk. The Japanese, however, appalled by the loss of their carriers, had already begun a general retirement on the night of June 4-5 without attempting to land on Midway.

Courtesy of Britannica.com