The Battle of Midway | 10 Question History Multiple Choice Quiz

Answer: Dutch Harbor

On June 3, 1942 the Japanese Fleet invaded Dutch Harbor Alaska but were forced to call off the attack because of bad weather. Nimitz already knew they were coming and that the attack was a diversion. The real action was on Midway where the whole Japanese Fleet was located.

This raiding party only had a small number of ships and all of them were taken out in hours of the attack. Japan did invade Kiska and Attu and held them for a year before they were forced to give it up.

Answer: Strawberry 5

Strawberry 5 spotted Kaga first and radioed it in. Midway then sent up VMSB 241 to look for Kaga they found the invasion force but all their bombs missed and they had to return to base. Subs and escort ships took out the invasion force. Spruance and Fletcher then order their torpedo bomber and bomber squadrons to take off. VT-8 takes off from Yorktown but once they reach Kaga all of them are shot down by Zekes and Captain George Gay is forced to bail out.

He spends the rest of the battle on a life raft. VT-3 did make it to Kaga but their torpedoes missed and none of them hit.

They also get jumped by Zekes, and Lloyd Chilvers managed to make it back to the ship but because of bullet wounds he had to ditch in the ocean and was rescued by the crew of the Enterprise. VB-6 made it to Kaga after running low on fuel and followed the destroyer Arashi to Kaga and took her out.

Answer: Yes

Kaga was an accident waiting to happen. Kates and Vals were parked so close to each other that their wingtips touched. The correct procedure would have been to fold the wings and chain the planes to the deck. Kaga also turned off their aviation sprinklers while they were fueling.

This is dangerous because the fuel can ignite fires and the fumes are toxic. The correct procedure would have been to turn on the sprinklers and cover the deck in foam while the fuel was being loaded into the belly tanks then unfold the wings after the planes were in launch position and fuel them.

The biggest factor that led to Kaga's demise was bombs littered the deck - and their timers were armed. The correct procedure would have been to stow the bombs and bring them up one at a time to attach to the aircraft.

This was all that VB-6 needed to take her out. Dickenson dropped the first bomb. It hit on the bridge taking it out and disabling the ship. Galaher dropped the second bomb it hit on the arming area and blew up all the planes getting ready to take off.

The final bomb was dropped by Dusty Kleiss. It hit on the meatball on the bow of the ship, and went down into the hanger deck and the powder magazine and detonated. Kaga was in flames and Nagumo was forced to abandon ship for a destroyer. The same fate awaited Akagi and Soryu VB-6, VB-5, and VB-8 raked their decks with bombs and bullets. Three Japanese carriers were sunk and Nagumo was furious. He started cursing in Japanese, and Hiryu launched her fighters and bombers to find the Pacific Fleet and finish them off.

Answer: Yorktown

Hiryu's target was Yorktown. Yorktown was not in fighting condition. Fletcher hastily repaired her after Coral Sea and deployed her as support only. The Japanese found Yorktown and dropped three bombs on her deck in the same places that she was hit in Coral Sea. Yorktown was burning, but a repair crew from Pearl managed to patch her up and get her back into the fight.

This victory was short lived, as Nagumo sent subs and Kates from Hiryu to finish her off. USS Hammann and fleet tug Vireo tried to tow her back to Pearl but three torpedoes were launched from the Kates and a fourth was launched from the Japanese sub I-168 causing the ship to sink. Yorktown went down with 141 of her crew, and there it remained at the bottom of the ocean until Bob Ballard found her on May 19, 1998, 56 years to the day that she went down.

Answer: Elevator shaft

Earl Gallaher led the attack on Hiryu. Just as he dropped his bomb Nagumo ordered a hard turn to port and the bomb missed. Dusty followed him and his bomb hit where it should hit - on Hiryu's elevator. The bomb went into the shaft and exploded in the hanger.

The next three bombs followed it. The second bomb followed Dusty's and exploded in the hanger, and blew up the powder magazine detonating all the bombs and starting fires. The third landed on the deck and took out any Zekes getting ready to take off. And the final bomb also landed in the hanger and fueled the explosion, which crippled Hiryu and caused her to sink.

Answer: 150

The US lost 150 planes. Most of them were Yorktown's torpedo bombers and aircraft from Sand Island on Midway.

Answer: 292

The Japanese lost 292 aircraft in the battle all of them came from the four carriers that were sunk. Half of the aircraft were shot down by batteries on Sand Island during the first wave of the attack.

Answer: Arashi attacking Nautilus

This event spelled the beginning of the end for the battle. Nagumo and Fletcher could not find each other and every scout party sent out only got within 3 miles of each other's fleets before they were forced to turn back. Because the range was limited in Midway and each ship was on radio silence the only option left was to use subs to find each other's fleets.

After the first wave Fletcher sent out a counter attack which was lead by USS Nautilus. Nautilus went to where the invasion fleet was and spotted Battleship Kirishima, Heavy Cruiser Nagara, and Destroyers Arashi and Akatsuki. Nautilus fired on Kirishima but narrowly missed.

This lead Kirishima to break radio silence, and send a Zeke and Destroyer Arashi to find Nautilus and sink her. After losing Nautilus Nagumo ordered Arashi back to the fleet to guard Kaga but it was too late. VB-6 found her and followed her wake right to Kaga and sank her.

Answer: Japan was forced on the defensive

Midway was a turning point because it proved the Japanese could be beaten. The Japanese Empire lost four of their six carriers along with thousands of men and 292 of their aircraft. While the Americans had larger casualties it would be the Japanese who would concede defeat. Yamamoto thought it was Two against Four instead it was Four against Three.

He was not fighting the smaller Lexington Class escort carriers; he was facing three fully armed Yorktown Class super carriers which had 96 planes and were fully loaded.

Although the Japanese succeeded in sinking Yorktown the loss of their carriers and all their pilots put an end to Yamamoto's carrier strategy and improved that of the Allies. Months after Midway Newport News Shipbuilding went to work replacing Lexington and Yorktown and the Essex Class was born.

Answer: Solomon and Guadalcanal

After losing Midway Japan made plans to invade Solomon and set up a base on Guadalcanal. The Allies put a stop to this plan and took over the base. This base and the one on Midway were renamed Henderson Field in honor of Major Henderson who was shot down in Midway.