a. The Impending Crisis. In July 1940, American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt shut off scrap iron, steel, and aviation fuel to Japan while allowing American oil to flow to the empire. In retaliation, Japan entered southern Indochina in July 1941 to invade British Malaya. This led Roosevelt to freeze all Japanese assets in the US on July 26, 1941, cutting off Japan's oil supply. That prompted Japan to secretly prepare its "Southern Operation," a huge attack against American assets in the Pearl Harbor. The Japanese Imperial Navy ordered a fleet of 414 planes on six aircraft carriers to sail on November 26, 1941. Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku, who had studied at Harvard and served as Japan's naval attaché in Washington,…show more content… Battle of Midway. The IJN fleet was a strong opponent for the US navy in achieving dominance in the Pacific Ocean. The US Navy had to win a decisive battle against IJN to do so. Thus on 4th June 1942, the two naval super powers met head on in the Pacific. On 7th June, the Americans won the decisive battle against Japan. One of the main reasons for IJN’s failure at the Battle of Midway was because of the outcome of “Nagumo Dilemma”. Admiral Nagumo's mistake cost the IJN gravely. Initially, Americans correctly predicted the Midway Atoll invasion. Thus, the IJN's Midway atoll strike did little damage to American Air assets. Admiral Nagumo planned a third air attack after the second one. Meanwhile, an IJN aircraft found the American Fleet. Nagumo had to decide whether to dispatch the 2nd wave of homebound planes to engage the fleet or launch the third wave to attack the American Fleet. Realizing the second wave aircraft were short on fuel and could not strike the fleet, he ordered them back and changed the 3rd wave's bombs to torpedoes. This decision endangered the IJN fleet. The aircrew violated safety regulations due to the abrupt armament change. The careers' flight decks were scattered haphazardly with bombs and torpedoes. American planes took advantage of the vulnerability. Thus, every bomb dropped on IJN ships wounded them by a
