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Midway Islands, USA  |
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"The Largest, oldest, and slowest, Air Craft Carrier. in the US Pacific Fleet." A transpacific cable station was built (1903) by the U.S. Marines on Sand Island. The atoll was declared a naval reservation by President Theodore Roosevelt in the same year. During the 1930s a Marine garrison was established and naval and air defenses constructed on Midway. In 1993 the Naval Base on Midway closed. In 1996 the island was turned over to the US Fish and Wildlife Service who have opened the Midway Atoll Wildlife Refuge. |
 
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An island pest to air operations, and entertainment to lonely servicemen far from home and their pets. An albatross, especially the black-footed albatross. Also called gooney bird. |
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Two small islands and a surrounding coral atoll in the central Pacific Ocean northwest of Honolulu. Discovered in 1859, they were annexed by the United States in 1867 and remain a U.S. territory with an important naval base. A decisive World War II Allied victory in the Battle of Midway (June 3-6, 1942) was a major turning point in the war in the Pacific. |
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A naval engagement of World War II,was fought in June 1942 near the Midway Islands by Japanese and United States aircraft carriers. On June 4 American fighters, bombers, and three aircraft carriers attacked a Japanese armada as it advanced on the Midway Islands. At the same time Japanese carrier-based planes attacked aircraft installations on Midway in preparation for an invasion. The eventual American victory at Midway terminated a Japanese attempt to capture the islands as a possible prelude to invading Hawaii. The battle tipped the balance of sea power in the Pacific Ocean in favor of the United States. |
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