The battle of Midway was clearly the turning point in the Pacific War for the United States. A number of factors lead to the US victory: American morale had been imporoving since Pearl harbor. Admiral Nimitz's use of commanders and ability to bring the US back on the offensive was critical. The work of Hypo can not be underestimated. Nimitz had knowledge of where Japan would attack and the approximate strength they would use. This eliminated the possibility of surprise and also made the Aleutian diversion completely useless. Coral Sea damaged two carries and reduce Japanese attack forces by 1/3 Japan had what many Japanese survivors would later call "Victory Disease." After a string of impressive victories, they began to underestimate the American's and had the belief that the First Air Fleet was invincible. Part of this can also be seen in Japan's belief that the US could not crack their Naval codes. The Japanese plan was very complex. It depended on the United States doing exactly what the Japanese planned on to succeed. The Japanese brough a huge armada to Midway, but was never able to engage the US in a surface battle. The majority of the fleet returned home from Midway without ever firing a shot Nagumo's indecision and inability to account for US carriers arriving before he planned. Because of this, he was unable to either complete the bombing of Midway, nor was he able to attack the US Fleet in force. The Japanese plan called for two objectives: 1)Occupy Midway 2)Destroy the US Fleet. The Japanese were never able to reconcile these two different types of operations and thus completed neither. A good US plan: The United States had the advantage of a simpler plan which focused on the single objective of holding Midway. A bit of luck ... the US found the Japanese Fleet first and through a series of often futile attacks against the Japanese were finally able to hit their targets and put three Japanese carriers out of action quicly.