Midway Islands

• The Midway Islands is an unincorporated territory of the United States in the central Pacific Ocean, northwest of Honolulu. It includes a corall atoll that encloses two main islands, Eastern (Green), and Sand islands. This territory was reported and claimed for the US back in 1859 by Captain N.C. Brooks, first having the islands named Middlebrooks and then Brooks. The name Midway dates from the Islands formal annexation in 1867 by the US. Then later President Theodore Roosevelt placed the island under the Navy's control in 1903. Along with the US Navy occupying the islands, in 1903 the atoll became a link in the Hawaiian-Guam segment of the first transpacific submarine cable, and the cable station was on Sand Island. The advent of transpacific aviation gave Midway new importance in 1935 when it was made a regular stop from San Francisco to Manila. Then 5 years later the US Navy began work on an air and submarine base there in 1940. With foreign policy involving the Midway Islands, all the United States was trying to do was spread influence with Imperialism, hence why we kept expanding westward towards the Philippines, occupying them and getting closer to our enemies in the "East." Since many countries such as China, Japan, and Russia weren't really our friends we wanted to get as close as we could to them and keep a good eye on them so they don't spread their ideology. Speaking of our enemies at the time one of the biggest naval battles happened at midway, and it was called the Battle of Midway.

• 5 July 1859 Captain N.C. Brooks of the Hawaiian Bark Gambia is the first Westerner to record the atoll. Islands were named "Middlebrook Islands". 
• 28 August 1867  Captain William Reynolds of the USS Lackawanna takes possession of the atoll for the United States. Midway becomes the first offshore islands annexed by the U.S. government
• 20 January 1903  Due to recurring complaints of Japanese squatters and poachers, President Theodore Roosevelt places the atoll under the control of the Navy.
• 20 April 1903  Commercial Pacific Cable Company's first contingent arrives on island. 
• 4 July 1903  The first "around the world" cable message was sent via Midway by President Roosevelt. The message took nine minutes
• 12 April 1935  Pan American World Airways sets up an air base for weekly Trans-Pacific Flying Clipper Seaplane service. 
• 1 August 1941  U.S. Naval Air Station Midway is commissioned. 
• 3-6 June 1942  Japanese launched an attack against Midway in the hope of engaging and destroying the U.S. aircraft carriers and occupying Midway. U.S. Fleet aircraft ambush the Japanese Fleet north of the islands inflicting heavy losses (four aircraft carriers), thus turning the tide of the War in the Pacific. 
• 15 July 1942  The submarine base at Midway is commissioned. The base was of great strategic importance in the entire Pacific arena and of operational importance to submarines based at Pearl Harbor.
• 1955-1965  Midway plays host to squadrons of Super Constellation "Willy Victor" radar aircraft and crews that played the role of the eyes and ears of the Nation forming the Distant Early Warning line in coordination with radar picket ships. 
• October 1978  Naval Air Station Midway re-designated Naval Air Facility and dependents begin to depart. As many as 5,000 personnel and dependents were stationed here at the height of the Cold and Vietnam Wars.
•  30 September 1993  Naval Air Facility Midway is "operationally closed" and the Navy initiates plans for environmental cleanup of the atoll. 
• 30 June 1997  The last U.S. Navy personnel stationed on Midway Atoll depart. 
• 4 June 2012  Veterans commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the historic Battle of Midway.

The Battle of Midway: The Battle of Midway was a decisive naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II that took place between 4 and 7 June 1942, six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea. The United States Navy under Admirals Chester W. Nimitz, Frank J. Fletcher, and Raymond A. Spruance defeated an attacking fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy under Admirals Isoroku Yamamoto, Chūichi Nagumo, and Nobutake Kondō near Midway Atoll, inflicting devastating damage on the Japanese fleet that proved irreparable. Military historian John Keegan called it "the most stunning and decisive blow in the history of naval warfare", while naval historian Craig Symonds called it "one of the most consequential naval engagements in world history, ranking alongside Salamis, Trafalgar, and Tsushima Strait, as both tactically decisive and strategically influential".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. The Japanese hoped another demoralizing defeat would force the U.S. to capitulate in the Pacific War and thus ensure Japanese dominance in the Pacific. Luring the American aircraft carriers into a trap and occupying Midway was part of an overall "barrier" strategy to extend Japan's defensive perimeter, in response to the Doolittle air raid on Tokyo. This operation was also considered preparatory for further attacks against Fiji, Samoa, and Hawaii itself.The plan was handicapped by faulty Japanese assumptions of the American reaction and poor initial dispositions. Most significantly, American cryptographers were able to determine the date and location of the planned attack, enabling the forewarned U.S. Navy to prepare its own ambush. Four Japanese and three American aircraft carriers participated in the battle. The four Japanese fleet carriers—Akagi, Kaga, Sōryū and Hiryū, part of the six-carrier force that had attacked Pearl Harbor six months earlier—were sunk, as was the heavy cruiser Mikuma. The U.S. lost the carrier Yorktown and the destroyer Hammann. After Midway and the exhausting attrition of the Solomon Islands campaign, Japan's capacity to replace its losses in materiel (particularly aircraft carriers) and men (especially well-trained pilots and maintenance crewmen) rapidly became insufficient to cope with mounting casualties, while the United States' massive industrial and training capabilities made losses far easier to replace. The Battle of Midway, along with the Guadalcanal campaign, is widely considered a turning point in the Pacific War

• Japan’s Naval General Operational Code used book ciphers, making it significantly easier to break than the Germans’ Enigma and Lorenz codes. As a result, US troops had been alerted earlier in the year that Japan was planning an attack.
• The Japanese attack on Midway involved four aircraft carriers, seven battleships, 150 support ships, 248 carrier aircraft and 15 submarines. The US defense, meanwhile, was made up of just three aircraft carriers, 50 support ships, 233 carrier aircraft, 127 land-based aircraft on Midway and eight submarines.

Considering the numbers, many thought the Japanese would win the battle and invade Midway. It had been more than 50 years since the Japanese Navy had lost a battle. Although despite their vessels being vastly outnumbered, successful US intelligence and careful planning led to a decisive victory for the Americans.

• After four days of battle, Japan withdrew from Midway on 7 June. In their attempt to invade the US territory, the Japanese lost nearly 300 aircraft, all four of its aircraft carriers and 3,500 men.

• Chuichi Nagumo was the vice admiral of the Japanese Navy and commander of the Japanese First Air Fleet. Following his successful attack on Pearl Harbor, he commanded all attacks in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.