The Japanese operation included two seaborne invasion forces, a minor one targeting [[Tulagi]], in the Southern Solomons, and the main one aimed at Port Moresby. These would be supported by land-based airpower from bases to the north and by two naval forces containing a small aircraft carrier, several cruisers, seaplane tenders and gunboats. More distant cover would be provided by the big aircraft carriers ''Shokaku'' and ''Zuikaku'' with their escorting cruisers and destroyers. The [[U.S. Navy]], tipped off to the enemy plans by superior communications intelligence, countered with two of its own carriers, plus cruisers (including two from the Australian Navy), destroyers, submarines, land-based bombers and patrol seaplanes.
==American preparations==
Good communications intelligence allowed the U.S. Pacific Fleet to prepare to meet the planned Japanese offensive against Port Moresby, though available resources provided little margin for error. The freshly overhauled carrier [[USS ''Lexington'' (CV-2)|USS ''Lexington'']], rushed out from Pearl Harbor, joined [[USS Yorktown (CV-5)|USS ''Yorktown'' ]] in the probable action area on May 1, doubling Rear Admiral [[Frank Jack Fletcher]]'s carrier forces and bringing along another experienced flag officer, Rear Admiral [[Aubrey W. Fitch]]. These carriers and their consorts engaged in several days of refueling from the oilers USS ''Neosho'' (AO-23) and USS ''Tippecanoe'' (AO-21), while awaiting the arrival of two Australian cruisers to reinforce the six already on hand.
On May 3 a small Japanese naval force carried out a landing at Tulagi, on the northern side of the Coral Sea, where they quickly established a seaplane base to provide reconnaissance deeper into Allied waters. Leaving ''Lexington'' behind and detaching ''Neosho'' to join her, Rear Admiral Fletcher took ''Yorktown'' off to interfere with the landings. On the morning of the 4th, his planes hit the invasion force. Though results were modest, to some extent due to humid air fogging the dive bombers' sights, the destroyer ''Kikuzuki'' was fatally damaged and a few other ships and seaplanes were sunk.
Fletcher then turned back south, rejoining Fitch on May 5 to top off his fuel tanks. The Japanese were now advancing into the Coral Sea with the Port Moresby Invasion Force and the separate Covering Force and aircraft carrier Striking Force. Both the American and Japanese carrier commanders spent the 6th moving westward, unaware just how close they had come -- at one point they were but 70 miles apart.
==The Battle==
===May 7, 1942===
[[Image:Shoho.jpg|thumb|200px|right|IJN carrier ''Shoho'' in flames, May 7, 1942.]]
The first day of the carrier battle of Coral Sea saw the Americans searching for carriers they knew were present and the Japanese looking for ones they feared might be in the area. The opposing commanders, U.S. Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher and Japanese Vice Admiral Takeo Takagi and Rear Admiral Tadaichi Hara, endeavored to "get in the first blow", a presumed prerequisite to victory (and to survival) in a battle between heavily-armed and lightly-protected aircraft carriers. However, both sides suffered from inadequate work by their scouts and launched massive air strikes against greatly inferior secondary targets, which were duly sunk, leaving the most important enemy forces unhit.
Japanese scouting planes spotted ''Neosho'' and her escort, the destroyer USS ''Sims'' (DD-409), before 0800 in a southerly position well away from Admiral Fletcher's carriers. Reported erroneously as a "carrier and a cruiser", these two ships received two high-level bombing attacks during the morning that, as would become typical of such tactics, missed. However, about 1200 a large force of [[Aichi D3A|dive bombers ]] appeared. As was normal for that type of attack, these did not miss(Japanese dive bombers had an 80% success rate at this point in the war). ''Sims'' sank with very heavy casualties and ''Neosho'' was reduced to a drifting wreck whose survivors were not rescued for days.
Meanwhile, a scout plane from ''Yorktown'' found the Japanese Covering Group, the light carrier ''Shoho'' and four heavy cruisers, of which faulty message coding transformed into "two carriers and four heavy cruisers". ''Yorktown'' and ''Lexington'' sent out a huge strike: fifty-three scout-bombers, twenty-two [[Douglas TBD Devastator|torpedo planes ]] and eighteen fighters. In well-delivered attacks before noon they overwhelmed ''Shoho'', which received so many bomb and [[torpedo ]] hits that she sank in minutes. Her passing was marked by one of the most famous radio messages of the war: "Scratch one flattop!"
Adding to the confusion, if not to the score, Japanese land-based torpedo planes and bombers struck an advanced force of Australian and U.S. Navy cruisers, far to the west of Admiral Fletcher's carriers. Skillful ship-handling prevented any damage. Australia-based U.S. Army B-17s also arrived and dropped their bombs, fortunately without hitting anything.
===May 8, 1942===
[[Image:Lexingtonburning.jpg|thumb|200px|right|USS ''Lexington'' after the battle; she was abandoned without the loss of a single man, then sent to the bottom by U.S. torpedoes.]]
Before dawn both the Japanese and the American carriers sent out scouts to locate their opponents. These made contact a few hours later, by which time the Japanese already had their strike planes in the air. The U.S. carriers launched theirs soon after 0900, and Rear Admiral Fletcher turned over tactical command to Rear Admiral Fitch, who had more carrier experience. Each side's planes attacked the other's ships at about 1100. At that time the Japanese were partially concealed by thick weather, while the Americans were operating under clear skies.
By the end of the day, both sides had retired from the immediate battle area. The Japanese sent ''Zuikaku'' back for a few days, even though her aircraft complement was badly depleted, but they had already called off their Port Moresby amphibious operation and withdrew the carrier on May 11. At about the same time ''Yorktown'' was recalled to Pearl Harbor, where she would receive enough repairs to make her battle-ready in time for her vital role in the [[Battle of Midway]] in early June.
==External Links==
*[http://www.historyanimated.com/CoralSeaPage.html Battle of the Coral Sea] at Historyanimated.com
{{License|license = This work is in the [[public domain]] in the United States because it is a work of the United States Federal Government under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the US Code.| source = [http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/coralsea/cs-5.htm]}}
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[[Category:United States Navy]]
[[Category:World War II Battles]]