The Battle of Midway was not won by superior numbers; it was won by timing, luck, and unthinkable sacrifice. When Navy, Marine, and Army torpedo squadrons attacked the Japanese carrier force without fighter cover, they were slaughtered. But their sacrifice pulled the Japanese Combat Air Patrol down to sea level, leaving the sky clear. Between 1020 and 1025, dive bombers from Enterprise and Yorktown struck Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu—three carriers burning in five minutes. The Japanese would never again take the strategic initiative in the Pacific. Admiral Spruance later noted that the torpedo plane attacks, while "not in themselves very effective," had been "of an especially gallant nature." Gallantry, in this case, proved decisive.