Eighteen American warships and hundreds of American warplanes were destroyed or badly damaged in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and it would take months or years for American industry to replace them all. So in the spring of 1942 the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Admiral Nimitz, needed time.

But Admiral Yamamoto, who commanded the Japanese Combined Fleet, was eager to fight a major sea battle before the U.S. Navy could regain its strength. He planned to sink the remaining American warships after luring them into a trap—with the little islands of Midway as bait.

In this book Edmund L. Castillo tells what happened when Admiral Nimitz's limited forces confronted the massive strength of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Captain Castillo also shows why Midway turned out to be the most important naval battle of World War II.

From the book