Task Force 16, RADM Raymond Spruance commanding, gets underway from Pearl Harbor, headed for Midway 1,100 nautical miles distant, to intercept the Japanese carrier force supporting the invasion of Midway. TF 16 consists of the carriers Enterprise and Hornet, six cruisers and nine destroyers. The Japanese force consisted of four aircraft carriers and a total of nearly 90 ships. Vice Admiral Halsey, normally commander of TF 16, was in the hospital. He recommended Spruance, his escort force commander, to replace him for the battle. This was unusual, because Spruance was a surface warfare officer, not a qualified aviator.
A third US carrier, Yorktown, remained in drydock to repair damage suffered at the Battle of the Coral Sea. In fact, Japan thought Yorktown had also been sunk at Coral Sea. It was not clear whether Yorktown could be repaired in time for Midway. RADM Frank Jack Fletcher, an aviator and senior to Spruance, was embarked in Yorktown.
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