Can you imagine what the world looked like in ancient and modern days? To answer this question, let’s talk about it. During the ancient time, the technology was limited at that moment. This means that we had neither gadgets nor machines to conduct activities. Without them, the only mechanism to do so was to rely on humans’ work. It was very time-consuming and tiresome. The worst part was the world had suffered with many malicious obstacles like the merciless war, slavery, and poverty before. Men and women were unequal. On the other hand, in modern days, most of the countries had already attained independence and become harmonious. We can carry out activities that we want. Men and women in society are equal. Many devices and machines are invented. We can even go overseas too. No more slavery and poverty in this tremendous world.
Now, let’s reflect to the past. Let’s talk about the most humongous and well-known war history----World War II. Among the scenes for World War II, one of them was the battle of the Midway. What was it talking about?
Battle of the Midway was a major naval combat in the Pacific Ocean Theater that took place on 4 to 7 June 1942, which was 6 months after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and 1 month after combating on the Coral Sea. There were reasons why Japanese selected Midway as a battle strategy. The Japanese Combined Fleet under the ordinance of Isoroku Yamamoto, a Marshal Admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy and commander, endured an intentional conquered by the U.S. Pacific Fleet, which was a stone threw away from the Midway Atoll that was about 1300 mi (1100 nmi, or 2100km) at the northwest of Oahu, Hawaii, United States. Isoroku Yamamoto had decided to grasp Midway and lurked out to damage the U.S. Pacific Fleet. The Japanese also hoped to force the U.S. into a negotiated peace that would secure its territorial rise and dominance in the region.
Before Battle of the Midway occurred, Japan intended to enhance its Pacific conservation perimeter to defend its operations in Asia and allow early warnings of American movements, especially after the Doolittle Raid of Tokyo, which was the capital of Japan in April 1942, and to clear the ocean for invasion on Midway, Fiji, Samoa and Hawaii. On 3 June, a related Japanese attack on the Aleutian Islands, Alaska, United States began 1 day earlier. The Japanese soldiers struck force at Midway, or Kido Butai, under the command of Chuichi Nagumo. Isoroku Yamamoto’s plan for the operation, which relied on accurate timing and coordination, was eroded by its immense dispersal of forces that left the rest of the fleet cannot encourage the Kido Butai productively.
On 4 June, the Japanese soldiers embarked to bomb the Midway by waiting for the Pacific Fleet to approach from Pearl Harbor to protect the island. For Isoroku Yamamoto, he concealed that U.S. code breakers, or cryptographers had decoded Japan’s strategy and organized the date and location of his decisive attack, which permitted the Americans soldiers to prepare their ambush. How can that be done so? Chester Nimitz, who is the commander of the Pacific Fleet, had sent a ginormous force under Frank Jack Fletcher, who was an admiral in the United States Navy during World War II to the Midway area before the Japanese had reached. That strategy involved mingling of codebreaking techniques, traffic analysis, and a smart ruse to make sure the goal of the latest attack. Precisely, the code breakers at Station HYPO used a machine to destroy the Japanese naval code, JN-25, comprising of PURPLE, before the invasion of Pearl Harbor, enabling them to go through some diplomatic information. They invented an analogue machine to decipher, which was maximum to 75 information for 1 day of Japanese naval codes. Later, they used the traffic analysis strategy, which encompassed of monitoring patterns in Japanese interactions to determine the place and time the attack might occur. That consisted of Japanese naval ships and aircraft. They confirmed the aim of an operation, in which they sent a false information to Midway, mentioning about a water shortage. That strategy was also known as the ruse. When the Japanese hindered the information and reported the same shortage at "AF", the cryptographers confirmed that "AF" was Midway, the goal of the future attack. Thus, the battle of the Midway began.
After the decoding, land-based planes from Midway and carrier-based planes from the U.S. Fleet flabbergasted and invaded Nagumo’s force. At that moment, the American carriers launched too. Its torpedo bombers started to attack one of the Japanese fleet carriers, Soryu. After 1-hour, American dive-bombers devastated Akagi, Kaga and Soryu crucially. To revenge back, another Japanese fleet carrier, which was Hiryu, its dive-bombers destroyed the USS Yorktown momentously. Therefore, in the evening, the American dive-bombers collided with Hiryu. That resulted in the sinking of all the four Japanese fleet carriers, Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, and Hiryu, as was the hefty cruiser namely Mikuma.
On 5 June, the U.S. naval forces pursued the withdrawing Japanese Fleet. That was led by Rear Admiral Spruance. The Japanese, with their lost carriers, Hiryu and Akagi, and their opposing rights, had to cancel their plans to captivate Midway. American dive-bombers from the USS Enterprise, and Hornet continued to attack the Japanese to inflict further remuneration.
On 6 June, during the late afternoon, the Japanese submarine I-168 fired the torpedoes which were located at USS Yorktown, sinking the devastator, USS Hammann, and destroying Yorktown. In spite of the damage, that afternoon, Yorktown managed to stay afloat and attended in the fight. On 7 June, United States defeated Japan, ending the battle of the Midway. Japan's plan to launch humongous-scale offensives in the Pacific was cancelled. That also saw the submission of the Japanese retreat, concluding the engagement officially. USS Yorktown, which had been hit by Hiryu's aircraft earlier, was seriously damaged and eventually sunk by a Japanese submarine. Thus, salvage attempts on it were obstructed. In that battle, 3000 Japanese men, comprising of many well-trained and sophisticated-to-replace pilots, were lost. In the other hand, the U.S. lost the carrier, which was USS Yorktown, and the damager named Hammann, while other carriers such as Enterprise and Hornet under the ordinance of Raymond Spruance, United States Navy admiral during the fight, survived without impairment.
The battle of the Midway, together with the Guadalcanal campaign, which was also known as the battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed by the United States as Operation Watchtower, was considered a turning point in the Pacific theater. Why? It was because of the strategic victory of the U.S. Navy attained over the Japanese. Here are more details on its reasons: A major blow to Japanese Naval Power was dealt. That can be proved when the sinking of four Japanese aircraft carriers, Akagi, Hiryu, Soryu and Kaga, crippled the Japanese fleet, hindered their expansionist ambitions in the Pacific efficiently. This victory shifted the balance of abilities significantly, permitting the allies to embark their island-hopping campaign and ultimately pruning to Japan's defeat. Consequently, allied morale was boosted. That demonstrated the susceptibility of the Japanese navy. In addition, the battle of the Midway aided to set the stage for future victories when the U.S. launched more offensives, which consisted of the invasion on Guadalcanal and the subsequent defeat of Japan. All in all, that battle was one of the most decisive and eventual naval engagements in the history.
Battle of the Midway makes many differences for us till today. What are they? First and foremost, it made a historical significance. The role of the Midway was to become a reminder of the effect of strategic decisions and discernment in warfare. Through that battle, it provided a lot of lessons in the naval warfare. What were the lessons? This question will be answered lastly. Additionally, that combat influenced the global dispute. Midway formed the trajectory of World War II and a wider geopolitical prospect.
It was time to answer the questions on the
lessons from the battle of the Midway. To start with, aircraft carriers are
essential for modern naval warfare. What are they? They have their tremendous tactical
and strategic benefits. Let’s talk about the tactical benefits first. One of
the is the airpower projection. Aircraft carriers launch and recover fixed-wing
aircraft like battling jets and attack aircraft, providing an important airpower
projection ability in a competing area. Another prospective of it is the
flexibility and potency. The aircraft carriers can move faster to answer to upgrading
battlefield scenarios and project power to many types of places. They can
control the sea and air over a large area to block the enemy logistics, limit
airspace, and give air cover for other ships and their units as well. Contrastingly,
here are the strategic benefits. One of them is deterrence. Aircraft carries
helped to deter functional adversaries from involving in war, giving signals of
a strong military presence. It also makes a global reach. They can operate further
from their home bases, projecting power across the world without depending on
land-based facilities in other territories. These carriers mitigate dependence
on third-party countries. They operate in international waters cuts down
the necessity for obtaining allowance from other nations to use their land,
which can cause diplomatic complications. They helped to enhance logistical
effectiveness. They decrease the logistics burden collaborated with a long-distance
air operation by giving a mobile launch and recovery platform, which raise the
time of the aircraft to arrive on the battle zone. Furthermore, it makes an
enormous transformation to naval warfare. For instance, traditional gunfights
between battleships were changed to long-range air strikes.
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