Battle of Coral Sea

The Battle of Coral Sea was a World War II naval engagement which took place in the Pacific Theater. It was fought between the US Navy's Task Force 17/11 and the Imperial Japanese Navy, from May 4 to May 8, 1942. The Americans strike force was reinforced by minor Australian naval vessels. It was the first naval battle in which aircraft carriers decisively and actively took part to destroy enemy warships. The Battle of the Coral Sea was also the first naval battle in history in which neither side’s ships sighted or fired directly upon the other but through the fighters and dive bombers from the carriers.

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the United States declared war on Japan. In order to reinforce their defensive positioning in the South Pacific, Imperial Japanese forces decided to occupy Port Moresby in New Guinea and Tulagi in the southeastern Solomon Islands. The plan to carry out this invasion involved several major units of Japan’s Combined Fleet, which included two fleet carriers and a light carrier to provide air cover for the invasion fleets, under the overall command of Shigeyoshi Inoue. When the United States found out about the Japanese plan through signals intelligence, it sent two Navy carrier task forces and a joint Australian-American cruiser force, under the overall command of Frank Jack Fletcher, to oppose the Japanese offensive.

Admiral Fletcher began to operate in the Coral Sea on May 1. The Japanese invasion group left Rabaul on May 3; thus Fletcher had the upper hand by being in the projected combat zone before his opponent. When Fletcher heard that the Japanese had taken Tulagi in the Solomon Islands, he ordered that the aircraft carrier Yorktown steam in north-north-west direction, towards Tulagi, to make his first attack. At 06:30 hours, on May 4, 12 Devastator torpedo-bombers and 28 Dauntless dive-bombers took off from the Yorktown and attacked the Japanese ships stationed near Tulagi. On their first raid, the American planes seriously damaged one destroyer, the ‘Kikuzuki’, and sank three minesweepers. After their first attack, the American bombers landed back on the Yorktown. Two more attacks throughout the day brought little reward – two Japanese seaplanes were destroyed and four landing barges.

On May 5, the Yorktown and the Lexington joined forces at a designated point, while the Japanese fleet were sailing into the Coral Sea. Admiral Takagi’s Striking Force moved down along the Solomons, turned west and passed north of Rennel Island. The Port Moresby Invasion Force and the Support Group approached the Jomard Passage. The Japanese bombed Port Moresby on May 6. Then Frank Jack Fletcher decided to attack the Japanese force. American Intelligence informed him that it was almost certain that the Japanese would come through the Jomard Passage on May 7.

Fletcher maneuvered his force to be in striking distance. Japanese spotter planes reported back the position of some American warships. 15 Japanese bombers attacked the American ships but failed to hit their targets. Later attacks hit the ‘Sims’, a destroyer, and it quickly sank with the loss of 379 lives. The oil tanker ‘Neosho’ was also hit. The ‘Neosho’ was scuttled. The Lexington’s aircraft spotted one Japanese carrier, the Shoho, three cruisers and some destroyers just 25 miles from the Lexington. Planes from the Yorktown and Lexington viciously attacked the Shoho, which sank at 11:35 hours after having been hit by 13 bombs and 7 torpedoes.

Although the Americans lost a fleet carrier, the Battle of the Coral Sea was an important tactical victory for them as the Japanese were forced to abandon their plan to invade Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea. Effectively, the USS Lexington was hit and sunk by two torpedoes during the fighting. However, also the Japanese lost an aircraft carrier (Shoho), as well as a light carrier, a destroyer, some smaller ships, and 92 planes, which had been shot down by the American fighters. Meanwhile, Shokaku was seriously damaged by bombs and the Zuikaku’s air group was badly depleted. Those two Japanese carriers would not see combat action at the Battle of Midway, which would take place the following month.

Below, the IJN carrier Shoho being struck by the American bombs