21. Japan’s Navy Thought it Was Sailing to Inflict a Crushing Blow Upon the US but Was Actually Sailing Into an Ambush
In addition to cracking Japan’s secret codes, the Americans had more aircraft carriers in the Pacific than the Japanese expected. One US carrier had been transferred from the Atlantic, and another that had been damaged in an earlier battle and was expected to take months to fix, was rushed back into service after 48 hours of repairs. Thus, the Japanese sailed out to meet three American carriers, and an alert enemy waiting in ambush, rather than one or two carriers caught off guard.
The Japanese launched a carrier strike against Midway on the morning of June 4th, 1942. They inflicted significant damage, but a second strike was necessary. So the Japanese aircraft were recovered and readied. While doing that, the Japanese learned that American carriers were nearby. Midway wasn’t going anywhere, and destroying aircraft carriers was more important. So orders were given to switch bombs from ones intended for ground targets, to anti-ship bombs and torpedoes. That decision backfired spectacularly: while that was going on, the American carriers launched their own aircraft against the Japanese.
