If US lost the battle of Midway

I think United States would have rely on long range Bomber and Submarine if Japan win at Midway.

Japan not able to attack United States direct so United States have safe zone on West Coast to build ship and attack Japan.  Hawaii would be main United States outpost in Pacific, with PBY to spot and B-25 and Submarine to sink Japan ship that try to move past Midway.

Nuclear Weapon still end Pacific War in 1945 even if second Doolittle raid required to get bomb in range.

The loss would only extend the war. There is no way in hell that the US is going to surrender if they lose 3 carriers. In a years time they outnumber the japanese pilots and carriers and it just gets worse from that point.

In the mean time Japan would have another crack at Port Moresby and attack Australia and gain more traction in China and have an airbase at Midway and start bombing Hawaii. They would take Christmas Island, the Solomons and a few other islands, but nothing more. They had no plan except to get us to “grow tired” of the war, which was not gonna happen based on the Dec 7th bombing. Never.

If the U.S lost the Battle of Midway the war would have only been lengthed by no more than another year. I say this for the point, the Japanese could not restock trained aircrews and ships as the U.S could. The lust of revenge on Peaerl Harbor would keep the U.S in the war.

yep

The Japanese Aircraft models, which had little in the way of pilot or aircraft protection, demanded that Japan needed to turn out a large number of skill air crews. Had the Japanese won Midway the IJN could not easily replenish thier carriers.

Much like Wake Island, if Midway were occupied by Japanese troop, the IJN would been hard pressed to resupply the Midway garrison.

@ShadowHAwk:

@ABWorsham:

The Japanese Aircraft models, which had little in the way of pilot or aircraft protection, demanded that Japan needed to turn out a large number of skill air crews. Had the Japanese won Midway the IJN could not easily replenish thier carriers.

Much like Wake Island, if Midway were occupied by Japanese troop, the IJN would been hard pressed to resupply the Midway garrison.

Well it all depends on how you define winning. If the tables had been turned and US would have lost all 3 carries while IJN would only loss a handfull of pilots it would be quite different. Not much to replace, control of the ocean, abbility to take out pearl and capture it, the possibilities are pretty big there.
It will be hard to determine if the US public would still support a war if the IJN could bomb cities at the coast and when the huge loss of lives would become known.
The US would not surrender ofcourse but a peace treaty would not be impossible imo.

It would have been foolish for the IJN to start bombing West Coast Cities. This action would place IJN carriers in danger of shore based aircraft and submarines. The bombing of these cities would cause a strong public out cry for revenge. The U.S public demanded a strong response when the Japanese ocupied the worthless frozen Aleutian Islands, multiply that response if the U.S Pacific Fleet is destroyed and California cities are damaged.

Had the Japanese targeted the Panama Canal early in the war, what effects would this have on U.S logistics?

Thats what i would have done. Sink a large japanese ocean liner in the middle of the canal. That would buy the japanese 6 more months of delay of American military power projection to the Pacific.

But a 3rd strike and even a go for broke invasion of Hawaii in Dec 41 would have done us much more damage.

USA would have no ships available except a few carriers against 6 front line carriers.

At Midway Japan brought 4 real carriers against 3 of ours and we DIDN’T know they were coming. This would have been a huge victory if they pressed for the all out go for broke approach.

Doing all 3 would have really been Japans best bet.

Agreed with pervious post. Its not that Americans had a “better military” They did but the advantages are overexagerated. Its only because Americans knew Japans codes that we were able to defeat them. A victory at midway would have prolonged the inevitable.

@ABWorsham:

Much like Wake Island, if Midway were occupied by Japanese troop, the IJN would been hard pressed to resupply the Midway garrison.

This get’s to the point.  In my opinion, the Japanese plan to attack Midway was foolhardy and a misuse of their resources.  If Japan had won the battle decisively, say killing all three US carriers and losing only one themselves, they still have one major challenge that the US will beat them up with.  I do not think Japan could have supplied Midway and would be forced to abandon the men there in a few months.  I believe this because of the different approach to the use of Submarines by both sides.  The Japanese used subs to augment their naval strategy against the US naval forces.  We used our subs to disrupt their supply lines.  Because of this philosophical difference, the Japanese appear to have neglected planning for how they would use Midway.  The US could and would have used subs to prevent any ship from ever making it to Midway.  Without resupply by ship, the Japanese forces on Midway would have been forced to surrender.

In the meantime, Japan would have initially tried to get a substantial base there to work on the remainder of the Hawaiian Island chain, oblivious to the long term logistics problem.  Initially supplies would trickle in until the US sub net was firmly established.  The Japanese might well try and ferry in gas and bombs from carriers operating west of Midway and then continue to use the airfield to attack Hawaii.  Unfortunately for the Japanese, this would strain their petroleum reserves and place at least one carrier group in danger of US attack.  It would have probably taken two carrier groups just to maintain the supply lines to Midway eating up more petroleum and naval assets.

This is similar to the events that played out at Guadalcanal.  One difference is that Guadalcanal was much closer to the Japanese supply base so it wasn’t the strain the Midway campaign would have been.  Also, the many islands in the Guadalcanal theatre helped protect the Japanese supply lines.

Midway was a wonderful success for the US as everyone knows.  However, even a Japanese victory would have become a defeat which actual history managed to conceal.

an even better what-if: what if the US high command saw japanese coming to pearl harbour?
the leading admiral (forgotten name) said that if he knew the japs were coming, he would of assaulted them with carriers and entire fleet, and he most likely would of lost entire fleet.

or smaller: what if carriers were at pearl harbor at 7 december 1941?

if the Japanese had attacked Pearl a third time and destroyed the fuel depot and oil reserves…that would have damaged the US a lot more than if they lost ALL their battleships in the harbor…

However…if the US had lost the battle of Midway…i agree with a lot of the posters here…it would have prolonged the war maybe an extra year…thats about it…

Rem:  The US had broken the JN5 code and knew practically everything what the Japs were going to do…also…US war production was AWESOME!!!..Yamamoto said so…the US had access to better production facilities than the Japanese did…

sooner or later…the Japanese would have started running out of materials and trained pilots, soldiers and sailors to continue the Pacific War

I don’t know, it would be difficult to determine.  It would have slowed the US in the pacific by atleast a year maybe two or three depending on the extra details.  If Germany would have still fallen at the same time it did, I could see the US sueing for peace and allowing Japan to keep some of her spoils as in 45 we were quite tired of the war.  I don’t think we would have allowed her to keep everything, but some perhaps.  Another possible outcome could be Russia deciding not to stop in Berlin, along with an alliance with Japan.  Its very far fetched, but man that would have been something very very bad.

It definitely would have lengthened the war in both theaters. It probably would not have changed the outcome because we could out produce Japan in every capacity. Also some of the Japanese leader understood they could not beat the United States in a drawn out war. That was one of the reasons for the strike on Pearl Harbor, keep the US out of the war long enough to secure the pacific. The only way the eventual outcome could have changed is a loss of support for the war. A democracy is the hardest government to fight a war with and public opinion can do a lot more damage to campaign than a lost battle.

On the other hand, midway would have been the second successful “Long Shot” gamble that Japan had undertaken. It may have only been a matter of time until they took one that failed.

remember also…even if the Japs had taken midway…the logistics of supply and overall command would have been very difficult for the Japanese from the that distance from the home islands

As long as the topic is “What if?”, what if Japan recognized that carriers were the new super weapon and not battleships and had built a dozen carriers instead of the Yamato-class battleships and other less valuable warships?  And then add in, “What if they had sunk the US carrier fleet either at Midway or Pearl Harbor?”  Picture Japan with a dozen fleet carriers and denying the US access to Hawaii and Midway so the US has to operate from the West Coast.

It is hard to say if the United States would have been able to take back control of the Pacific by 1945 to have dropped anything on Japan, let alone an atomic bomb.  Furthermore, Japan might have gotten one by then too.  The US was not the only power researching atomic weapons.  And they were prohibitively expensive.  Had we sent a B-29 with one aboard and it didn’t make it, that would have been half a billion dollars in irreplaceable uranium and plutonium.

Also, a Japan not worried about the US as much in the Pacific could have brought far more trouble to bear on Russia in 1942 or 1943 making Russia’s fight against Germany more difficult.  And Japan could have reduced India’s output to the UK war effort if they controlled the Pacific as controlling the Indian Ocean would have been much easier as well.  Suddenly the UK doesn’t have enough raw materials to fight Germany with.

And as the war progressed, Japan did realize carriers were the real threat, not battleships.  Had they won at Midway, or before, I think they would have focused on a strategy of keeping the US tied to the West Coast as long as possible.  But it is clear what happens the moment Japan loses control of the Pacific.

@Epiphany:

As long as the topic is “What if?”, what if Japan recognized that carriers were the new super weapon and not battleships and had built a dozen carriers instead of the Yamato-class battleships and other less valuable warships?  And then add in, "What if they had sunk the US carrier fleet either at Midway or Pearl Harbor?"  Picture Japan with a dozen fleet carriers and denying the US access to Hawaii and Midway so the US has to operate from the West Coast.

A detailed article which discusses these kinds of questions can be found here:

http://www.combinedfleet.com/economic.htm

Very cool link CWO, thanks for that!

How would the War have played out, if Japan launched a 3rd strike at Pearl Harbor and located the USS Enterprise and sank the carrier during the raid?

Is this question poll question worthy?

I read somewhere (linked to from here I believe) that even if the entire Pacific fleet had been wiped out by mid 1942 it would have set the US back about 6-12 months only.