On 6 June 1942, two days after the costly defeat of the Japanese carrier force, the U.S. aircraft carrier Saratoga (CV-3) arrived at Pearl Harbor from the West Coast. Rushed back into service after receiving battle damage repairs, she brought out badly needed replacement aircraft for the depleted air groups of Enterprise and Hornet. When she joined the other two carriers operating in the Midway area on 10 June, Saratoga became Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher's new flagship.

Reinforcements were also sent to the Midway base, both to repair battle damage and to further enhance its value to the war effort. The cruiser USS Pensacola (CA-24) landed more Marines later in June. During July, Midway became an important forward base for U.S. Navy submarines, making them more effective in carrying the war into Japanese home waters and elsewhere in the vast Pacific.