In this segment, Les Sinclair talks with historian Rick Britton about TODAY IN U.S. HISTORY – On June 4, 1942—seventy-nine years ago today—the Battle of Midway was fought against the Japanese. A major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II Midway took place not quite six months after the devastating Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. As its name implies, Midway Atoll is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, roughly equidistant between North America and Asia. During the war, it boasted a U.S. Navy air base and about 120 planes.

With superior naval forces attacking from several directions, the Japanese hoped to capture Midway—they’d brought along an army contingent to man it—and then use it as a base from which to attack Fiji, Samoa, and Hawaii itself. They believed that the Americans were still reeling from the Pearl Harbor losses, and would be unable to react quickly. They hoped to lure American aircraft carriers into a battle they just couldn’t win. Fortunately for the U.S., however, American cryptographers were able to determine the date and location of the planned enemy attack, enabling the U.S. Navy to prepare its own ambush.

Four Japanese and three American aircraft carriers participated in the battle. The four Japanese fleet carriers—they’d participated in the Pearl Harbor attack—were sunk, as was the Japanese heavy cruiser, Mikuma. The U.S. lost the carrier Yorktown and the destroyer Hammann. Two U.S. carriers—USS Enterprise and USS Hornet—survived the battle fully intact.

After Midway and the disastrous Solomon Islands campaign, Japan lost the ability to replace its losses in materiel (particularly aircraft carriers) and men (especially well-trained pilots and maintenance crewmen). The United States, on the other hand, was just starting to gear up its massive industrial capabilities.

The Battle of Midway is widely considered a turning point in the pacific war. One military historian has called it “the most stunning and decisive blow in the history of naval warfare.”