Quote:
Originally Posted by 1967 R50/2
5. In the modern era: Midway. Battle could have gone either way and would really have decided the fate of the war in the Pacific.
|
While midway could have gone either way, it would not have mattered in the end. The Japanese lost WWII the instant the first bomb landed on a US target at Pearl Harbor.
By the end of WWII the USN had IIRC 173 carriers of all types. The 3 at Midway were not going to make any real difference at all even if we lost all of them. For this reason, one cannot really argue that Midway was decisive...because the outcome of the war was already a foregone conclusion.
As for the Japanese, the utter destruction of Kido Butai ended all designs for pursuing an offensive doctrine in the Pacific. Forever after, they were on the strategic defensive.