Editing Midway Atoll (section)

===World War II===
{{Main|Battle of Midway}}
{{Infobox NRHP
|name=[[World War II Facilities at Midway]]
|nrhp_type=nhld
|nocat=yes
|image=Battle of Midway (Japanese air raid).jpg
|image_size=263px
|caption=Burning oil tanks during the [[Battle of Midway]]
|location=Sand Island, [[Midway Islands]], [[United States Minor Outlying Islands]]
|locmapin=
|area=
|built=1941
|architect=[[United States Navy]]
|architecture=
|designated_nrhp_type=May 28, 1987<ref name="nhlsum">{{cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalregister/database-research.htm#table |title=National Register Database and Research (search term: Midway) |access-date=April 4, 2022 |work=National Register of Historic Places |publisher=National Park Service |archive-date=August 28, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180828223402/https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalregister/database-research.htm#table |url-status=live }}</ref>
|added=May 28, 1987<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2008a|dateform=mdy}}</ref>
<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalhistoriclandmarks/list-of-nhls-by-state.htm#onthisPage-54 |title=List of NHLs by state |access-date=April 4, 2022 |work=National Historic Landmarks |publisher=National Park Service |archive-date=October 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023014928/https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalhistoriclandmarks/list-of-nhls-by-state.htm#onthisPage-54 |url-status=live }}</ref>
|refnum=87001302
}}
The military importance of the location of Midway in the Pacific included its use as a convenient refueling stop on transpacific flights and for Navy ships. Beginning in 1940, as tensions with the Japanese rose, Midway was deemed second only to [[Pearl Harbor]] in importance to the protection of the [[West Coast of the United States|U.S. West Coast]]. Airstrips, gun emplacements, and a seaplane base quickly materialized on the tiny atoll.<ref name="preparing">[http://www.fws.gov/refuge/Midway_Atoll/preserving_the_past/Preparing_for_War.html Preparing for War] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150520232543/http://www.fws.gov/refuge/Midway_Atoll/preserving_the_past/Preparing_for_War.html |date=May 20, 2015 }} Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and Battle of Midway National Memorial.</ref> The channel was widened, and [[Naval Air Station Midway]] was completed. Midway was also an important submarine base.<ref name="preparing"/>

On February 14, 1941, President [[Franklin Roosevelt]] issued [[Executive Order (United States)|Executive Order]] 8682 to create naval defense areas in the central Pacific territories. The proclamation established the "Midway Island Naval Defensive Sea Area", which encompassed the territorial waters between the extreme high-water marks and the {{cvt|3|mi|km|adj=on|spell=in}} marine boundaries surrounding Midway. "Midway Island Naval Airspace Reservation" was also established to restrict access to the airspace over the naval defense sea area. Only U.S. government ships and aircraft were permitted to enter the naval defense areas at Midway Atoll unless authorized by the [[United States Secretary of the Navy|Secretary of the Navy]].

Midway's importance to the U.S. was brought into focus on December{{nbsp}}7, 1941, when the Japanese [[attack on Pearl Harbor|attacked Pearl Harbor]]. Two destroyers bombarded Midway on the same day; this was the [[first Bombardment of Midway]].<ref name="preparing"/> A Pan-Am flying clipper stopped at Midway and evacuated passengers and Pan-American employees from Wake island, which had also been attacked earlier that day. The clipper was on its usual passenger route to Guam when the attack on Pearl Harbor happened; it then made a return journey going from Wake to Midway, Honolulu, and back to the USA.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Clippers At War @ flyingclippers.com |url=http://www.flyingclippers.com/clippersatwar.html |access-date=2023-11-13 |website=www.flyingclippers.com |archive-date=September 11, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100911111440/http://www.flyingclippers.com/clippersatwar.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

A Japanese submarine bombarded Midway on February{{nbsp}}10, 1942.<ref name="auto">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=30gRAGjXrIIC&q=midway+%22+feb.+10%22+1942&pg=PA14 |title=World War II: the Encyclopedia of the War Years, 1941–1945 |first1=Norman |last1=Polmar |first2=Thomas B. |last2=Allen |date=August 15, 2012 |publisher=Courier Corporation |access-date=September 16, 2016 |via=Google Books |isbn=9780486479620 |archive-date=August 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813234030/https://books.google.com/books?id=30gRAGjXrIIC&q=midway+%22+feb.+10%22+1942&pg=PA14 |url-status=live }}</ref> In total, Midway had been attacked four times between 7 December 1941 and the Japanese submarine attack of 10 February 1942.<ref name="auto"/>

Four months later, on June 4, 1942, a major naval battle near Midway resulted in the U.S. Navy inflicting a devastating defeat on the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]]. Four Japanese fleet [[aircraft carrier]]s, {{ship|Japanese aircraft carrier|Akagi||2}}, {{ship|Japanese aircraft carrier|Kaga||2}}, {{ship|Japanese aircraft carrier|Hiryū||2}} and {{ship|Japanese aircraft carrier|Sōryū||2}}, were sunk, along with the loss of hundreds of Japanese aircraft, losses that the [[Empire of Japan]] would never be able to replace. The U.S. lost the aircraft carrier {{USS|Yorktown|CV-5|2}}, along with a number of its carrier- and land-based aircraft that were either shot down by Japanese forces or bombed on the ground at the airfields. The [[Battle of Midway]] was, by most accounts, the beginning of the end of the Imperial Japanese Navy's control of the Pacific Ocean.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Taylor |first1=Alan |title=World War II: Battle of Midway and the Aleutian Campaign - The Atlantic |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2011/08/world-war-ii-battle-of-midway-and-the-aleutian-campaign/100137/ |website=www.theatlantic.com |access-date=29 December 2021 |language=en |archive-date=December 29, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211229183015/https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2011/08/world-war-ii-battle-of-midway-and-the-aleutian-campaign/100137/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Starting in July 1942, a [[submarine tender]] was always stationed at the atoll to support submarines patrolling Japanese waters. In 1944, a [[Dry dock#Floating|floating dry dock]] joined the tender.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Midway_Atoll/preserving_the_past/After_the_Battle_of_Midway.html |title=After the Battle of Midway |date=November 23, 2016 |website=Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge |publisher=Fish & Wildlife Service |access-date=June 5, 2017 |archive-date=June 10, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170610113704/https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Midway_Atoll/preserving_the_past/After_the_Battle_of_Midway.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
After the Battle of Midway, a second airfield was developed on Sand Island. This work necessitated enlarging the island through landfill techniques that, when completed, more than doubled its size.
[[File:KM6CE QSL.jpg|alt=KM6CE QSL card|thumb|KM6CE [[QSL card]]]]