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Map showing the location of Midway Atoll in the Hawaiian island chain. Midway Atoll (colloquial: Midway Islands; Hawaiian: Kuaihelani, lit. 'the backbone of heaven'; Pihemanu, 'the loud din of birds') [3] [4] is a 2.4 sq mi (6.2 km 2) atoll in the North Pacific Ocean.
The islands were discovered in 1859, and placed under Navy control by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1903. They gained importance in the mid-1930s as a seaplane stop for the Pan American Airways Clipper planes. A Navy presence then began building up, and Naval Air Station Midway Islands was established on Eastern Island in August 1941. [1]
The Midway Atoll's unique location halfway between the United States and Japan ensured it would hold a strategic position. This island was the site of the pivotal Battle of Midway which shifted the balance of sea power in the Pacific towards the United States. The atoll's two main islands, Eastern Island and Sand Island, were both fortified by ...
Brown boobies atop pier posts at Johnston Atoll, September 2005. The United States Minor Outlying Islands is a statistical designation applying to the minor outlying islands and groups of islands that comprise eight United States insular areas in the Pacific Ocean (Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Midway Atoll, Palmyra Atoll, and Wake Island) and two ...
The Battle of Midway has often been called "the turning point of the Pacific". [183] It was the Allies' first major naval victory against the Japanese. [184] Had Japan won the battle as thoroughly as the U.S. did, it might have been able to capture Midway Island.
Marine Corps aircraft lands on the Pacific island of Peleliu, site of one of the bloodiest battles of World War II, and a possible basing option to counter China.
Midway Atoll, sometimes referred to as Midway Island, is a 2.4 sq mi (6.2 km 2) archipelago. For quite some time, it had a permanent population of naval personnel. It is one of the northwesternmost islands, located 161 miles (259 km) east of the International Date Line. Kure Atoll is the
The First Bombardment of Midway, or the First Bombardment of Sand Island, or Attack on Midway, was a small land and sea engagement of World War II. It occurred on the very first day of the Pacific War, 7 December 1941, not long after the major attack on Pearl Harbor. Two Imperial Japanese destroyers bombarded Sand Island of Midway Atoll.