Battle of Midway (Before The Sun Sets)

The Battle of Midway was a decisive naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II. On June 4, 1942, less than six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea, Admirals Isoroku Yamamoto, Chuichi Nagumo, and Nobutake Kondo successfully ambushed a fleet of the United States Navy under command of Admirals Chester Nimitz, Frank Jack Fletcher, and Raymond A. Spruance.

The Japanese operation, like the earlier attack on Pearl Harbor, sought to eliminate the United States as a strategic power in the Pacific, thereby giving Japan a free hand in establishing its Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. With few ships remaining near the territory of Hawaii, the Japanese also planned to destroy the last defending fleet and capture Hawaii to use as a negotiating tool to end the war with the U.S.

Anticipating an attack by the Japanese, American cryptographers attempted to pinpoint the location, date, and time of the battle but were unsuccessful. Ultimately, the Americans were left unprepared for a strike on the Midway Islands and sustained heavy casualties. After merely sixteen hours of combat, Nimitz surrendered and him, along with Flecther and Spruance, were taken as prisoners as war and later executed. The United States' 1st Pacific Fleet was mostly destroyed with any remaining ships captured by the Japanese.

Following the battle, the Japanese began planning their Invasion of the Hawaiian Islands.