Midway Atoll

Just water and three tiny specks of land that in the early 1930s barely had anyone living on them.

Midway Atoll, Wake Island, Guam Tripp knew that if Pan American was going to cross the Pacific commercially, they needed those islands, they needed fuel, they needed radio stations, they needed somewhere for a flying boat to land and take on provisions.

So in 1935 Pan American did something extraordinary.

They sent expedition ships to Midway and Wake Island, and they essentially built infrastructure on atolls that had almost none.

Sextant, cross-checking position against radio bearings, calculating winds.

The leg from Honolulu to Midway was the one that made navigation officers earn their pay.

Midway Atoll is six square miles of land in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

In the era before GPS, finding it after 1,500 miles of open water required navigation that was genuinely precise.

Last night, Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands.

Last night, the Japanese attacked Wake Island, and this morning the Japanese attacked Midway Island.

Japan has therefore undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area.

The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves.

They arrived on 25 May.

Company C took up defensive positions on Sand Island while Company D moved to Eastern Island.

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Last night, the Japanese attacked Wake Island.

And this morning, the Japanese attacked Midway Island.

Japan has therefore undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area.

The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves.

And Midway is one of the most, probably the most important battle, perhaps in the history of this country.

The Japanese tried to take Midway Island, and the United States broke...

the Japanese code and were ready for them.

They weren't ready for Pearl Harbor, but they were ready for Midway.

Now here's where it gets interesting.

The Battle of Midway was not supposed to go the way it went.

By the spring of 1942, the Imperial Japanese Navy had been running nearly unchecked across the Pacific and Indian Oceans for six months.

The Philippines, Wake Island, Guam, Singapore, Burma, the Dutch East Indies, Japanese carrier aviation had ranged as far as Ceylon in the west and threatened Hawaii in the east.

Their commanders believed the war was essentially settled.

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto was planning his decisive move.

Midway Atoll, roughly 1,300 miles northwest of Honolulu, was the target capture.

Midway threatened Hawaii and draw the remnants of the American Pacific Fleet into a final engagement.

That enemy aircraft had flown unmolested over the Imperial capital while the Emperor remained inside it was a disgrace that could not be spoken of directly and could not be allowed to go unanswered.

Six weeks after the Doolittle raid, the Imperial Navy launched its assault on Midway Island, in part to destroy the base they believed the American bombers had departed from.

The battle was a catastrophe.

Japan lost four aircraft carriers in four days.

The Yorktown is badly damaged.

However, there's more news from Rochefort and Leighton that the Japanese are planning an offensive against what they discern is Midway Island.

That means Nimitz now has two carriers, the Hornet and the Enterprise, and he learns when the Enterprise returns that Admiral Halsey, commanding Enterprise, is so afflicted with a skin condition he can't serve.

Nimitz makes another risky choice.