On December 7, 1941, Japanese destroyers shelled the facilities at Naval Air Station Midway. The United States annexed the atoll in the nineteenth century, and by 1940 had begun constructing facilities on the islands in preparation for war. Part of the Northwestern Islands of the Hawaiian archipelago, Midway Atoll is one of the most remote atolls located more than 3,200 miles from San Francisco. This, they believed, would secure their dominance in the area and force the United States to negotiate for peace.

Japanese military planners hoped to defeat the US Pacific Fleet and take Midway, from which they could launch additional attacks on Pearl Harbor. His works have been translated into several languages and received numerous awards, including the Lincoln Prize, the Roosevelt Prize, and the Dudley Knox Medal for Lifetime Achievement.Ī major goal for Japan during World War II was to gain territory in East Asia and Southwest Pacific, effectively removing the United States as the dominate power. He is the author of 17 books, including Decision at Sea, Lincoln and his Admirals, The Battle of Midway, Neptune: The Allied Invasion of Europe and the D-Day Landings, and, most recently, World War II at Sea: A Global History. King Distinguished Professor of Maritime History at the US Naval War College. He also taught at Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, England. Symonds is Professor Emeritus at the US Naval Academy, where he taught naval history for 30 years, including four years as History Department Chair. He has also illustrated numerous books on the Pacific war (including his friend Richard Frank’s MacArthur).Ĭraig L. He has written for the Naval War College Review, the US Naval Institute’s Proceedings and Naval History magazines, World War II Magazine, Wartime (the journal of the Australian War Memorial), Flypast magazine, the Sankei Shimbun, and several overseas aviation publications. Parshall’s book, Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway, coauthored with Anthony Tully, is the definitive account of that pivotal battle in the Pacific. As an adult, that passion led him to create the foremost website devoted to the Imperial Navy,, which he founded in 1995. Jonathan Parshall saw his interest in the Imperial Japanese Navy develop early in his childhood. His talents are uniquely suited to integrate the history of the Navy with modern management theories, generating new insights relevant to both disciplines. Hone regularly writes and speaks about leadership, sense-making, organizational learning, and complexity. He studied religion and archaeology at Carleton College in Northfield, MN, and works as a consultant helping a variety of organizations improve their processes and techniques.

Trent Hone is an authority on the US Navy of the early twentieth century and a leader in the application of complexity science to organizational design.

The battle of midway symonds