Joint Information Dominance Warriors Remember Predecessors in the Battle of Midway

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (NNS) -- Sailors and civilians assigned to the Joint Information Dominance (JID) Corps commemorated one of the most important moments in its history as it remembered the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Midway, June 4-7.

Navy Cyber Command/10th Fleet, Navy Cyber Forces, Naval Network Warfare Command, Navy Information Operations Command Norfolk and Navy Cyber Defense Operations Command personnel remembered their technical predecessors who, in 1942, proved key to the Pacific battle when American cryptologists broke the Japanese radio code in the weeks leading up the attack.

Their expertise led to American naval forces defeating the numerically superior Japanese naval forces, putting the enemy on the defensive for the first time during the war.

The annual Battle of Midway commemoration was presented by the JID Chief Petty Officer Board-Eligible Petty Officers First Class.

Midway "rests a little closer to our hearts," said CTN1 Clifford Stout, Navy Cyber Defense Operations Command, because cryptanalysis allowed the Navy to be prepared for the ambush that Japanese forces were planning.

"As information dominance warriors, we recognize that, while Midway was the turning point in the Pacific, it was also a pivotal point for information warfare," Stout said.

In April 1942, Japan began plans for an ambush of American naval forces at Midway, 1,500 miles from Hawaii, including the four aircraft carriers missed at the attack on Pearl Harbor six months earlier.

The Japanese naval code, known as JN 25, consisted of approximately 45,000 five-digit numbers, each number representing a word or a phrase. According to one of the leading code-breakers involved, it was like putting together a jigsaw puzzle with most of its pieces always missing.

Leading the code-breaking effort was Station Hypo, the code name for the combat intelligence unit at Pearl Harbor under then-Cmdr. Joseph Rochefort. In the dank, air-conditioned basement where the intelligence teams worked, Rochefort and his staff could work virtually nonstop, and often went for days on a few hours of sleep. By early May, the team was certain that a major enemy operation was being planned at Midway, but Rochefort's superiors in Washington weren't convinced.

To convince them, the radio station at Midway intentionally sent an unencrypted message falsely reporting that the water distillation plan on the island was broken. Within 48 hours, Station Hypo decrypted a Japanese radio transmission alerting the Japanese commanders that Midway was short of water.

"Our crypotologic ancestors demonstrated that they were willing to be both persistent and creative when confronted with a challenge," Stout said.

Then-commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet, Adm. Chester Nimitz, quickly put plans in place to counter the Japanese ambush. Three carriers were positioned northeast of Midway, away from the Japanese forces. Their aircraft, along with land-based Navy and Army Air Corps air power from Midway, sank four Japanese carriers (the entire strength of the task force) with 322 aircraft and 5,000 sailors, as well as a cruiser. America lost 147 aircraft, 300 Sailors and USS Yorktown (CV 5). More important - Japan's navy had been stopped and damaged beyond recovery.

"It is incumbent upon us to sustain the legacy of this significant battle and pass on to the Sailors who relieve us," said Master Chief Cryptologic Technician Kevin Radzewicz, Navy Cyber Defense Operations Center senior enlisted advisor, "that it was the courage and determination of our forces, with a little help from the cryptologists in Station Hypo, that helped us win the Battle of Midway."

A ceremonial bugler from the Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek/Fort Story School of Music played taps and a moment of silence commemorated those who died, ending the ceremony.

This article includes data collected from Navy archives and History Channel.com; Robert D. Ballard and Rick Archbold, "Return to Midway" (Toronto: Madison Books, 1999), 34; Battle of Midway, 4-7 June 1942: The Role of COMINT in the Battle of Midway (SRH-230) by Henry F. Schorreck.

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