Originally posted by Manic
Actually, the main cause of the loss at Midway was the Alleutian Islands campaign, which was going on at the same time. Yamomoto wanted all the fleet there at Midway, but the emperor split his navy in two, weakening the forces greatly.
'Fraid you are very mistaken on your history, there. First, the Emperor had nothing at all to do with the Battle of Midway; indeed, the emperor had little to do with the Japanese military at all. The entire Midway campaign, including the Aleutians, was the brain-child of Yammamoto.
Second, the Japanese fleet in the Aleutians was quite small, headed by two light carriers. The bulk of the Japanese fleet was at Midway (minus the SHOKAKU and ZUIKAKU, which were out of action due to Coral Sea). That fleet at Midway was the largest and strongest ever assembled up to that point -- not at ALL weak.
Third, the main reason the Japanese failed at Midway was because the US had broken a sizable chunk of their military codes. Through some wonderfully clever messaging, the US was able to fill in the missing info, and knew essentially what was going on.
The Dolittle raid had unnerved the Japanese High Command, as they now realized their homeland, and thus the Emperor, was vulnerable to attack. Yammamoto's objective was to draw the US carriers out via the attack on US territory (the Aleutians), then spring a trap using the bulk of the fleet when the real attack emerged at Midway. The Japanese thought we only had two carriers in the Pacific (they thought they'd sunk the YORKTOWN at Coral Sea), and figured even without the SHOKAKU and ZUIKAKU, the other four fleet carriers would easily dispatch the Americans, who would then be forced to sue for peace
However, since the US knew the plan, they didn't bite at the Aleutians (a small cruiser and destroyer force was sent, but no carriers). The US carriers left Pearl Harbor before the Japanese established their picket line of subs, and storms kept Japanese long-range patrol planes from checking to see if they were in port. YORKTOWN, HORNET, and ENTERPRISE set up an ambush of their own, waiting NE of Midway.
When the Japanese carrier craft attacked the island, the US commander (Ray Spruance) employed a measure of "calculated risk", launching his planes at extreme range, bargaining on catching the Japanese carriers at their most vulnerable -- recovering and/or launching aircraft. I won't go into the specifics, but suffice to say that through some luck it worked, and the Japanese lost all four fleet carriers on June 4, 1942. The Japanese managed to find and heavily damage YORKTOWN, which was eventually sunk by a Japanese submarine while being towed to Pearl.
Midway is a great example of effective Intelligence, and the dangers of arrogance in wartime. The entire operation was just too complex, and certain checks were not realized. It was the last major offensive operation the Japanese undertook, and their first naval defeat in centuries. But the Emperor had nothing to do with it.
