With war already raging in Europe and the Far East, Roosevelt and Congress passed the Two-Ocean Act on July 19, 1940, authorizing 257 new warships and the Sailors needed to operate them.Īs the nation's shipyards started building the ships, the Navy's efforts to man them faced an uphill battle. Roosevelt declared a "limited national emergency," initially calling for increasing the Navy end strength from 125,202 to 145,000 by the end of 1940. But until the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, the country was heavily divided on whether to enter the war or remain neutral. The nation's war footing started in 1939 when the clouds of war became visible on our horizon. This impetus, seized in the early days of the war, set Midway's stage and, more importantly, gave the initiative back to the Allied forces. Faced with all-out war, the Chief of Naval Personnel's team pulled out all the stops and accomplished the greatest naval manpower buildup in world history. In the six months between the attack on Pearl Harbor and the "Miracle at Midway," the nation unified and was mobilizing. The combination of Nimitz's warriors stopping the Japanese advance in 1942, and the parallel stubby pencil work in Washington, allowed the United States Navy to capitalize on the momentum gained at Midway. To get the complete picture of the Battle of Midway and what it meant for the war effort, you need to know what happened behind the scenes in Washington, 5,523 miles away. But, instead, what the Midway miracle did was buy a little more time for America's war machine to get up to full speed. Though Nimitz's scrappy fighters managed to stop the Japanese advance, their massive war machine was far from defeated.Īrguably the victory could have easily been in vain if that battlefield momentum was not coupled with a fast-moving mobilization back on the home front. It would take four more years to defeat the Japanese juggernaut. A month later, those forces swept north, licking their wounds, and stopped the northern Japanese counterpunch aimed squarely in our Pacific backyard. Chester Nimitz's gritty forces stopped the Japanese advance in the South Pacific with May 1942's slugfest during the Battle of the Coral Sea. Navy's stunning victory at the Battle of Midway against overwhelming changed the course of World War II paved the opening miles of the road to victory in the Pacific war.
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