Naval history of World War II 4–7, 1942, the United States Navy decisively defeated a Japanese naval force that had sought to lure the U.S. carrier fleet into a trap at Midway Atoll. The Japanese fleet lost four aircraft carriers to the U.S. Navy's one American carrier and a destroyer. After Midway, and the exhausting attrition of the Solomon Islands campaign, Japan's shipbuilding and pilot training programs were unable to keep pace in replacing their losses while the U.S. steadily increased its output in both areas. Military historian John Keegan called the Battle of Midway "the most stunning and decisive blow in the history of naval
Imperial Japanese Navy in World War II was also sunk by a single torpedo, from the submarine . The next day, the Japanese carrier force was subjected to an American carrier air attack, and suffered the loss of the carrier "Hiyō". The four Japanese air strikes involved 373 carrier aircraft, of which 130 returned to the carriers. Many of these survivors were subsequently lost when "Taihō" and "Shōkaku" were sunk by American submarine attacks. After the second day of the battle, losses totaled three carriers, with more than 433 carrier aircraft and around 200 land-based aircraft. Although, the defeat at the Philippine Sea was severe in terms