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
Task Force 11 as a diversion for an expedition under Rear Admiral Frank J. Fletcher in Saratoga (CV 3) to relieve Wake Island. TF 11 was originally formed around , then her sister ship until she was disabled by a Japanese torpedo on January 11, 1942, then "Lexington" again for the Battle of the Coral Sea, then "Saratoga" after her repairs were completed. TF 11 – as part of Task Force 61 along with Task Force 16 – was involved in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons in late August 1942, but "Saratoga" was again crippled by a submarine, and the task force