Battle of Midway
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50 free Battle of Midway trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
The Battle of Midway was fought over four days in June 1942, six months after Pearl Harbor, and it turned the Pacific War. Isoroku Yamamoto meant to seize a tiny atoll and lure the surviving American carriers into a trap; instead, US code breakers read his plan in advance and Chester Nimitz laid an ambush of his own. By the afternoon of 4 June all four Japanese fleet carriers were burning. These 50 questions cover the whole story: Station HYPO's fake water-shortage message that confirmed the target, the 72-hour patch-up that got Yorktown back to sea, Nagumo's agonising re-arming decision, Torpedo Squadron 8's lone survivor, the dive bombers that followed a destroyer's wake to the carriers, and the Japanese admiral who chose to go down with Hiryu. There are questions on the Aleutians sideshow, the submarines Nautilus and Tambor, and the wrecks located decades later. Easy questions stick to commanders and carriers; the hardest ask about scout planes, codebooks and casualty counts. Every answer is cited to the page we checked, with a short explanation so you learn something even when you miss. Play it solo or print it for a history night.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who was president of the United States during the Battle of Midway?
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt. As the battle ended, a newspaper story revealed that the Navy had known Japan's plan in advance, and his administration tried to have the journalists prosecuted.
Q 02Which admiral commanded the Japanese Combined Fleet at Midway?
Isoroku Yamamoto
Isoroku Yamamoto sailed aboard the battleship Yamato several hundred miles behind his carriers, too far back for his big guns to play any part when the carriers were caught.
Q 03Who commanded the Japanese carrier strike force, the Kido Butai, at Midway?
Chuichi Nagumo
Chuichi Nagumo chose to land his returning planes before striking the American carriers, and their dive bombers caught his ships with fuelled, armed aircraft crowding the hangars.
Q 04Who commanded the US Pacific Fleet during the Battle of Midway?
Chester Nimitz
Chester Nimitz trusted his code breakers' forecast over doubters in Washington and sent all three of his carriers to lie in wait before the Japanese fleet arrived.
Q 05The four Japanese carriers sunk at Midway had all struck which American base six months earlier?
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor. Six carriers launched that raid, and after Midway only the two that had missed the battle were still afloat.
Q 06Which US destroyer was sunk alongside Yorktown while helping to salvage the crippled carrier?
Hammann
Hammann. A torpedo broke her in two, and as she went down her own depth charges exploded among the swimming survivors, causing many of the roughly 80 deaths.
Q 07Which American raid in April 1942 helped push Japan into its attack on Midway?
The Doolittle Raid
The Doolittle Raid. Sixteen Army bombers flown off a carrier did little damage to Tokyo, but the shock convinced Japan it had to push its defensive line out to Midway, and soon.
Q 08Which island chain did Japan attack one day before Midway?
The Aleutians
The Aleutians. American code breakers had already shown that this northern attack was not Japan's main effort, so the US carriers stayed where they were, waiting off Midway.
Q 09How did Navy code breakers in Hawaii secretly tell Midway to broadcast a fake distress message?
By undersea cable
By undersea cable. A telegraph line had reached the atoll in 1903, and unlike radio it could not be overheard, so Japan's listeners caught only the uncoded plea that followed.
Q 10Which technology did the American fleet at Midway have that the Japanese fleet lacked?
Radar
Radar. Sets on Midway and aboard the American ships picked up incoming strikes early enough to get fighters into the air, while Japan's carriers could give their own fighters little warning.
Q 11Which American patrol plane, flying from Midway's lagoon, found the Japanese fleet before the battle?
PBY Catalina
PBY Catalina. The lumbering flying boats also made a night torpedo attack on a tanker, and theirs turned out to be the only American aerial torpedo to hit anything in the whole battle.
Q 12What fake shortage did Midway broadcast in the clear to confirm it was the Japanese target?
Water
Water. The trick was aimed at doubters in Washington: when Japanese radio traffic reported that 'AF' was running short of it, the code breakers had their proof that AF meant Midway.
Q 13Which commander led the Navy code breakers in Hawaii who predicted the Japanese attack on Midway?
Joseph Rochefort
Q 21Which Japanese rear admiral chose to go down with his flagship, the last of Japan's carriers to sink at Midway?
Tamon Yamaguchi
Tamon Yamaguchi. That morning he had urged an immediate strike with whatever planes were ready and been overruled; that night he stayed aboard his burning flagship with her captain.
Q 22Which Japanese fighter cut down the slow, unescorted American torpedo bombers at Midway?
Mitsubishi Zero
Mitsubishi Zero. In chasing the torpedo planes down to the wave tops, though, its pilots left the sky above their carriers open just as the American dive bombers arrived.
Q 23Who was the sole survivor of Torpedo Squadron 8's 30 aircrew in its attack at Midway?
George Gay
Joseph Rochefort. Rivals in Washington took the credit for his team's forecast and blocked the medal his admiral proposed, which was awarded only after his death, four decades on.
Q 14Which admiral replaced the ailing William Halsey in command of Task Force 16 at Midway?
Raymond Spruance
Raymond Spruance gambled on launching at extreme range, knowing many of his planes might lack the fuel to return, to catch the Japanese carriers before they could strike again.
Q 15Who held overall tactical command of the American carriers at Midway from aboard Yorktown?
Frank Jack Fletcher
Frank Jack Fletcher. When his flagship was crippled he moved to a cruiser, decided he could not run a carrier battle from there and handed control to the junior admiral.
Q 16About how long did the navy yard in Hawaii take to patch up the damaged Yorktown for Midway?
About three days
About three days. Inspectors had reckoned on months of work, but the fleet's commander allowed the yard just three days, and its crews worked on her around the clock to meet the deadline.
Q 17In which battle, a month before Midway, had the carrier Yorktown been badly damaged?
Coral Sea
Coral Sea. Japan believed Yorktown had been sunk there, so its planners expected to meet no more than two American carriers at Midway.
Q 18What was the nickname of the US carriers' rendezvous northeast of Midway?
Point Luck
Point Luck. The Japanese scouting line sent to watch the route from Hawaii took up station only after the American carriers had passed, so the ambush waiting there stayed secret.
Q 19Which Japanese carrier was the flagship at Midway, abandoned by its admiral for the cruiser Nagara?
Akagi
Akagi took only one direct hit, but the bomb burst among fuelled, armed planes in her hangar and the fires could not be put out.
Q 20Which was the last Japanese carrier still fighting at Midway after the morning dive-bomber attacks?
Hiryu
Hiryu. Alone, she launched two strikes that crippled Yorktown, but a scout from that same carrier found her, and by evening she too was a burning wreck.
George Gay. Shot down within sight of the Japanese carriers, he floated in the sea for some 30 hours while the battle raged around him before he was rescued.
Q 24Which US torpedo bomber proved obsolete at Midway and was replaced by the Avenger?
TBD Devastator
TBD Devastator. Of the 41 launched from the carriers, only six came back and not one scored a torpedo hit, so the Navy pulled the type from front-line service.
Q 25Which US dive bomber delivered the decisive blows against the Japanese carriers at Midway?
SBD Dauntless
SBD Dauntless. Within minutes of their first dives its pilots had three carriers in flames, and late that afternoon they found and wrecked the fourth.
Q 26Which air group commander found the Japanese carriers at Midway by following a destroyer's wake?
Wade McClusky
Wade McClusky. Critically low on fuel over empty ocean, he chose to keep searching rather than turn back, and the lone ship hurrying to rejoin its fleet showed him the way.
Q 27Which Army heavy bomber attacked the Japanese fleet from Midway at high altitude without hitting a single ship?
B-17 Flying Fortress
B-17 Flying Fortress. Bombs dropped from that height missed every twisting ship below, but the Japanese fighters and guns could barely touch the bombers either.
Q 28Which lieutenant is credited with the single bomb hit that doomed Akagi at Midway?
Richard Best
Richard Best. When both Enterprise squadrons dived on the same carrier by mistake, he pulled out with just two wingmen and went for the untouched Akagi instead.
Q 29How were most of the burnt-out Japanese carriers at Midway finally sent to the bottom?
Scuttled by their own destroyers
Scuttled by their own destroyers. The fleet's commander-in-chief at first held back the order for his navy's prized flagship, until he accepted that she could not be saved.
Q 30The 'Flight to Nowhere' at Midway describes which carrier's air group missing the Japanese fleet entirely?
Hornet
Hornet. Her torpedo squadron's commander broke away from the formation and did find the enemy, only to lose all fifteen of his planes attacking without escort.