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Midway Campaign
Midway Atoll comprises two small islands enclosed in an atoll, for a total land area of only about two square miles. The group, about 1,300 miles northwest of Pearl Harbor, had only a limited anchorage. The only facilities available on the outbreak of the war were a cable station, a light house, and a Pan Am seaplane base, with a U.S. Navy seaplane base under construction. It was valuable as a reconnaissance base, and as the northernmost anchor of the Hawaiian chain. During the war the U.S. Navy developed it into a modest air base and home port for submarines and light craft. In June of 1942 it was the focal point of the most decisive naval action of the Pacific War.
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