# Battle of Midway: what time? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 21, 2025, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-midway-what-time/1021167 "2025-07-21T23:32:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Timz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Timz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timz)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2025, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-midway-what-time/1021167/1 "2025-07-21T23:32:47Z")
Everyone’s read about the history-making five minutes, 10:25 to 10:30, when the Dauntlesses hit the three Japanese carriers. Was that Hawaii time, or what? How far west did the battle take place? First guess is it was Hawaii time, like _Bismarck_ sinking _Hood_ at 6:00 AM, meaning 4:00 Greenwich Time. But I’ve never seen the straight dope. (Dunno whether Hawaii set its clocks forward in 1942 the way the US did – was Hawaii 9-1/2 or 10-1/2 hours behind Greenwich?) ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2025, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-midway-what-time/1021167/2 "2025-07-21T23:54:10Z")
Midway time (11 hours after UTC). ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2025, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-midway-what-time/1021167/3 "2025-07-21T23:55:00Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/6HkBW7X7LaU/maxresdefault.jpg "The Battle of Midway - Animated") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HkBW7X7LaU) ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2025, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-midway-what-time/1021167/4 "2025-07-22T09:34:24Z")
> The dive bombing attacks by both ENTERPRISE and YORKTOWN squadrons began at about the same time, between 1020 and 1025. Many hits were made on each carrier. Fleet action report, CincPac A16/(90) Ser. 01693 of 6/15/42. Midway is almost exactly opposite London, so if that is Z time, it would put the events at 10:30 PM local time. But we know that it was a daylight action… We infer that the report used local time. Without knowing anything at all about the subject, _orders_ were made using Z time (GMT solar time), because (I thought) ships use ship time, not fleet time. I’m surprised that the official report used local time: I infer that CincPac was “managing up” and that the report was for his civilian commanders. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2025, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-midway-what-time/1021167/5 "2025-07-22T14:07:02Z")
To muddy things further, there is the international date line. Isn’t there some weird factoid about some planes taking off today to attack their target yesterday and returning to their ships tomorrow? ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2025, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-midway-what-time/1021167/6 "2025-07-22T19:50:45Z")
I don’t believe that was the case at Midway, but there can be some confusion based on the fact that the IJN always kept Tokyo time. So according to their records the battle took place on 5 June.