At the end of Pearl Harbor the American's had 7 carriers to cover the entire pacific coast. By the time of Midway, the American's had committed all of their carriers in one roll of the dice, The Enterprise, was, Hornet and a badly damaged Yorktown. If the American's had lost at Midway, the entire West Coast of the United States would have been exposed.
Instead thanks to a excellently planned bushwack by Raymond Spruace who had replaced Bull Halsey, and some poorly conceived scouting and arrogance and bad command decisions by the Japanese, the American's managed a strong victory that included the sinking of 4 Japanese fleet carriers to one American fleet carrier,
However there are some historical misconceptions. Midway really didn't turn the war, the Japanese still had dominance over the Pacific. What turned the war was the American industrial strength which allowed them massively out produced the Japanese in terms of ships, carriers and planes. The American's also came out with superior designs nullifying the formerly dominant Zero.
At the same time Ray Spruance was never able to replicate his success at Midway, while he had victories at Iwo Jima and Saipan, he was often criticized for being overly cautious. He was not in the same mold as Halsey.
The question always comes up, would the battle have resulted in a different outcome if Halsey hadn't have been hospitalized and Spruance had taken its place?
The feeling is that the American's probably would have had the same result in the battle, however the feeling is that Halsey probably would have tried to pursue the Japanese fleet and the American's would have been at a strong disadvantage due to the Japanese at that point being considered to be superior at night fighting. The consensus is that Halsey might have put the remaining and only 3 carriers left in the Pacific fleet in unnecessary danger.
Hornet was the last American Fleet carrier sunk under enemy fire. Its also important to note that the CV-12, a Essex class carrier was renamed upon her commissioning as Hornet.
__________________
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
|
