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Battle of the Coral Sea

The Battle of the Coral Sea, from 4 to 8 May 1942, was a major naval battle between the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and naval and air forces of the United States and Australia. Taking place in the Pacific Theatre of World War II, the battle was the first naval action in which the opposing fleets neither sighted nor fired upon one another, attacking over the horizon from aircraft carriers instead.

This article is about the battle. For the film, see Battle of the Coral Sea (film).

To strengthen their defensive position in the South Pacific, the Japanese decided to invade and occupy Port Moresby (in New Guinea) and Tulagi (in the southeastern Solomon Islands). The plan, Operation Mo, involved several major units of Japan's Combined Fleet. Two fleet carriers and a light carrier were assigned to provide air cover for the invasion forces, under the overall command of Admiral Shigeyoshi Inoue. The U.S. learned of the Japanese plan through signals intelligence and sent two U.S. Navy carrier task forces and a joint Australian-American cruiser force to oppose the offensive, under the overall command of U.S. Admiral Frank J. Fletcher.


On 3–4 May, Japanese forces invaded and occupied Tulagi, although several supporting warships were sunk or damaged in a surprise attack by the U.S. carrier Yorktown. Alerted to the presence of enemy aircraft carriers, the Japanese fleet carriers advanced towards the Coral Sea to locate and destroy the Allied naval forces. On the evening of 6 May, the two carrier fleets closed to within 70 nmi (81 mi; 130 km) but did not detect each other in the darkness. The next day, both fleets launched airstrikes against what they thought was the enemy fleet carriers, but both sides actually attacked other targets. The U.S. sank the Japanese light carrier Shōhō, and the Japanese sank the Sims, a destroyer, and damaged the fleet oiler Neosho. On 8 May, both sides finally located and attacked the other's fleet carriers, leaving the Japanese fleet carrier Shōkaku damaged, the U.S. fleet carrier Lexington critically damaged and later scuttled, and the fleet carrier Yorktown lightly damaged.


Both sides having suffered heavy aircraft losses and carriers sunk or damaged, the two forces disengaged and retired from the area. Because of the loss of carrier air cover, Inoue also recalled the Port Moresby invasion fleet. Although the battle was a tactical victory for the Japanese in terms of ships sunk, it has been described as a strategic victory for the Allies. The battle marked the first time since the start of the war that a major Japanese advance had been turned back. More important, the damage to Shōkaku and the aircraft losses of Zuikaku prevented both ships from participating in the Battle of Midway the following month.

(1959)

Battle of the Coral Sea

Crusade in the Pacific, Episode 5: The Navy Holds: 1942 (13m:30s – 19:37), a segment of an episode from a TV documentary series aired originally in 1951 and made from the theatrical releases of in 1942.

Movietone News

War in the Pacific, Part I: The Pacific in Eruption, an episode from another documentary but made from the same Movietone News newsreels of 1942. Also available in DVD format.

Battle of the Coral Sea – Lest We Forget, online documentary released in 2010.

United States Navy in World War II

Imperial Japanese Navy in World War II

Pacific Theater aircraft carrier operations during World War II

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Brett, J. H. Jr. (10 May 1942). (Report). United States Navy. Archived from the original on 4 October 2008. Retrieved 6 November 2008 – via HyperWar Foundation. (Primary source)

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Coulthard-Clark, Chris (1991). Action Stations Coral Sea: The Australian Commander's Story. Australia: Allen & Unwin.  0-04-442251-2.

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Dicken, Robert James (18 May 1942). (Memorandum). United States Navy. Archived from the original on 4 October 2008. Retrieved 6 November 2008 – via HyperWar Foundation. (Primary source)

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Drea, Edward J. (1991). . Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas Press. ISBN 0-7006-0576-2.

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Generous, William Thomas Jr. (2003). Sweet Pea at War: A History of USS Portland (CA-33). University Press of Kentucky.  0-8131-2286-4.

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Greene, Jack (1995). The Midway Campaign. Pennsylvania: Combined Books.  0-938289-11-X.

ISBN

Johnston, Stanley (1942). Queen of the Flat-tops (The USS Lexington and the Coral Sea Battle, With Pictures). E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc.  B000QJ1VSU.

ASIN

Kawasaki (川崎), Tōru (浹) (2003). Aru zerosen pairotto no kiseki ある零戦パイロットの軌跡 [The trajectory of a Zero Fighter pilot] (in Japanese). トランスビュー (Toransubyū).  4901510177. OCLC 54483634.

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Ledet, Michel (2006). Samourai Sur Porte-Avions (in French). Lela Presse.  2-914017-32-4.

ISBN

Ludlum, Stuart D. (1997). They Turned the War Around at Coral Sea and Midway: Going to War with Yorktown's Air Group Five. Merriam Press.  1-57638-085-8.

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Lundstrom, John B. (1977). . Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-185-4.

First South Pacific Campaign

Nelson, Hank. . Retrieved 13 December 2006.

"Report on Historical Sources on Australia and Japan at war in Papua and New Guinea, 1942–45"

Nowack, H. F. (15 May 1942). (Memorandum). United States Navy. Archived from the original on 11 October 2008. Retrieved 6 November 2008 – via HyperWar Foundation. (Primary source)

USS Lexington (CV2), Action Report

Regan, Stephen D. (1994). In Bitter Tempest: The Biography of Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher. : Iowa State Press. ISBN 0-8138-0778-6.

Ames, Iowa

Sinclair, Don (1997). Cooktown at War: A Record of Activities in Cooktown During World War II. Cooktown and District Historical Society.

Smith, Douglas V. (2006). Carrier Battles: Command Decision in Harm's Way. U.S. Naval Institute Press.  1-59114-794-8.

ISBN

Smith, W. W. (17 May 1942). (Memorandum). United States Navy. Retrieved 6 May 2009 – via HyperWar Foundation. (Primary source)

United States Pacific Fleet: Task Unit Seventeen Two Two, Action Report

(2011). Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941–1942. New York: W. W. Norton.

Toll, Ian W.

(2000). "Battle of the Coral Sea, 7–8 May 1942". Online Library of Selected Images: EVENTS – World War II in the Pacific. Archived from the original on 26 June 2004. Retrieved 20 November 2006.

United States Naval Historical Center

United States Navy (8 May 1942). (Report). United States Navy. Archived from the original on 4 October 2008. Retrieved 6 November 2008 – via HyperWar Foundation. (Primary source)

Preliminary Report, U.S.S. Lexington, Loss in Action

United States Navy (n.d.). . United States Navy. Archived from the original on 21 October 2008. Retrieved 6 November 2008.

"The Course to Midway"

United States Strategic Bombing Survey (Pacific), Naval Analysis Division (19 October 1945). (Report). Interrogations of Japanese Officials. United States. Retrieved 6 November 2008 – via HyperWar Foundation. (Primary source)

Interrogation Nav No. 10, USSBS No. 53: Solomon Islands Operations and Battle of Coral Sea (Interrogation of: Captain Yamaoka, M., IJN)

United States Strategic Bombing Survey (Pacific), Naval Analysis Division (17 October 1945). (Report). Interrogations of Japanese Officials. United States. Retrieved 6 November 2008 – via HyperWar Foundation. (Primary source)

Interrogation Nav No. 8, USSBS No. 46: Coral Sea Battle, 7–8 May 1942, Battle of Eastern Solomons (Interrogations of: Commander Sekino, H., and Commander Okumiya, Masatake, IJN)

Media related to Battle of the Coral Sea at Wikimedia Commons