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In this timeline the USN does not intercept the Japanese plans for the attack on midway unlike IOTL.

Battle of Midway: Decisive IJN Victory
The Japanese assault midway with massive aerial bombardments and naval strikes.
The resistance of the garrison on midway island is formidable, repulsing 2 Japanese assaults to take the island. Admiral Yamamoto orders the island to be besieged. On July 24th 1942, starvation and lack of munitions and supplies force the US garrison to surrender. The Rising Sun flies over Midway Island, and Hawaii is wide out in the open.

Admiral Nimitz is unwilling accept a Japanese base 1000 miles from Hawaii, and scraps Operation Torch in order to deal with the Japanese. The combined USN with 6 aircraft carriers comes out to retake Midway Island and destroy the expected Japanese fleet of 4 aircraft carriers, 2 light carriers and a number of battleships and cruisers. However this is what Yamamato planned for, and executed a fateful gamble to destroy the American fleet.

At the dawn of August 21, 1942 after months of sailing and preparation the USN begins to launch its planes and prepare for battle, but is shocked to find Japanese Zeros already skybound swoop down from the sky and engage the unsuspecting fleet. Most american planes are destroyed on the deck, and what few take off are easily picked off by Japanese Zeros. With air superiority and with naval bombers inflicting heavy damage on the aircraft carriers the IJN engages with the distracted and crippled USN. The results of this gamble for the US is calamitous. The Enterprise, Yorktown, Saratoga, and Hornet are sunk by the afternoon , when the rest of the fleet is ordered by Nimitz to withdraw.

The Japanese are not done however. Seeking the opportunity to destroy the US fleet entirely Admiral Yamamoto orders the withdrawing fleet to be sunk. Most of the few ships remaining make it out. However, the USS Wasp and the USS Ranger were heavily damaged in the battle and were eventually overrun. This victory does not come without cost. The IJN nevertheless paid dearly with 150 planes lost, 1 aircraft carrier and heavy cruiser sunk, and 4 destroyers sunk or damaged most of which came from the pursuit of the remaining US fleet.

Meanwhile Admiral Nimitz resigns and goes into a humiliating retirement. With the US pacific fleet destroyed, the US abandons the "Germany First" strategy to try and defend Hawaii, leaving Europe behind. What remains the US Navy and Pacific theater is under command of General Douglas MacArthur, who vows to defend Hawaii at all costs.

While the Japanese celebrate the decisive victory at Midway, Yamamoto is torn. He knows that his fleet is overstretched and under-supplied. Even worse, he knows that the US will use its massive industrial might to strike back soon. Admiral Yamamoto decides the only way to win is to further take the offensive and strike Hawaii fast. He and his fleet begin preparations for a desperate invasion of Hawaii, docking at Midway to await for additional ships, transports, and supplies from Japan.

With the US Navy out of the Pacific Theater the fall of Papua New Guinea occurs in September. The Japanese invasion of Hawaii is set for December 7th, 1942 on the monthly anniversary of Pearl Harbor. With 75,000 troops, 8 aircraft carriers, 500 airplanes and dozens of battleships and cruisers it is the largest and most complex seaborne invasion yet seen in World War 2. Raids by the US submarine fleet inflict minor damage with little strategic gains.

December, 1942: Japanese naval bombers and Zeros are once again spotted over Pearl Harbor, this time bombing vital industrial bases and anchored ships in preparation for the incoming invasion. The US are prepared and send out immediately fighters to destroy the wave of aircraft, inflicting moderate losses. However, the Japanese expected this resistance, and the Zeros being faster and superior to their American counterparts soon gain air superiority. A massive Japanese fleet is spotted off 50 miles off the coast of Oahu taking a direct course to the island. The Japanese invasion of Hawaii begins.

How will the Japanese invasion of Hawaii go? Find out in part 2!
https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/reverse-midway-part-2-the-2nd-day-of-infamy.414414/
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