Overview

The Battle of the Coral Sea emerged from Japan's ambitious attempt to seize Port Moresby in south-eastern New Guinea, a move that, had it succeeded, would have gravely threatened Australia's strategic position. Rather than a single, coherent clash, the battle unfolded as a sequence of six inter linked air actions between 4 and 8 May 1942, collectively marking a decisive turning point in naval warfare. The opening stroke came on 4 May, when aircraft from the American carrier Yorktown struck Japanese shipping engaged in the occupation of Tulagi, in the Solomon Islands. This preliminary blow set the stage for a tense and confused hunt on 7 May, as both sides struggled to locate one another's carrier task forces across vast reaches of ocean. The day nevertheless produced dramatic results. Aircraft from Task Force 17 attacked the Japanese invasion force bound for Port Moresby near Misima Island in the Louisiade Archipelago, sinking the light carrier Shōhō-the first Japanese carrier lost in the war. That same day saw a failed Japanese night attack against the American carriers, followed instead by the destruction of the U.S. oiler Neosho and the destroyer Sims by carrier-borne aircraft in the Coral Sea. Meanwhile, land-based Japanese aircraft struck a reinforced Australian squadron advancing to intercept the enemy through the Jomard Passage. The battle reached its climax on 8 May with the first full carrier-against-carrier engagement in history. American air groups attacked the Japanese carriers Shōkaku and Zuikaku, putting Shōkaku out of action, while Japanese aircraft struck back at Yorktown and Lexington. The latter was fatally damaged and lost. Tactically costly and confused, the battle was strategically decisive: Port Moresby was saved, and Japanese expansion in the south-west Pacific was, for the first time, decisively checked.

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