Battle of the Coral Sea

Part of the Pacific Theater of World War II

The aircraft carrier USS Lexington explodes on 8 May 1942, several hours after being damaged by a Japanese carrier air attack.

Date	4–8 May 1942
Location	Coral Sea, between Australia, New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands
Result	Japanese tactical victory Allied strategic victory Japanese invasion repelled

Belligerents

United States

Australia

Empire of Japan

Commanders and leaders

Strength

2 fleet carriers,
9 cruisers,
13 destroyers,
2 oilers,
1 seaplane tender,
128 carrier aircraft.

2 fleet carriers,
1 light carrier,
9 cruisers,
15 destroyers,
5 minesweepers,
2 minelayers,
2 submarine chasers,
3 gunboats,
1 oil tanker,
1 seaplane tender,
12 transports,
127 carrier aircraft.

Casualties and losses

1 fleet carrier scuttled,
1 destroyer sunk,
1 oiler sunk,
1 fleet carrier damaged,
69 aircraft destroyed.
656 killed

1 light carrier sunk,
1 destroyer sunk,
3 small warships sunk,
1 fleet carrier damaged,
1 destroyer damaged,
2 smaller warships damaged,
1 transport damaged,
92 aircraft destroyed.
966 killed

The Battle of the Coral Sea, fought during 4–8 May 1942, was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II between the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and naval and air forces from the United States and Australia. The battle was the first action in which aircraft carriers engaged each other, as well as the first in which neither side's ships sighted or fired directly upon the other.

In an attempt to strengthen their defensive positioning for their empire in the South Pacific, Japanese forces decided to invade and occupy Port Moresby in New Guinea and Tulagi in the southeastern Solomon Islands. The plan to accomplish this, called Operation MO, involved several major units of Japan's Combined Fleet, including two fleet carriers and a light carrier to provide air cover for the invasion fleets, under the overall command of Japanese Admiral Shigeyoshi Inoue. The US learned of the Japanese plan through signals intelligence and sent two United States Navy carrier task forces and a joint Australian-American cruiser force, under the overall command of American Admiral Frank J. Fletcher, to oppose the Japanese offensive.

On 3–4 May, Japanese forces successfully invaded and occupied Tulagi, although several of their supporting warships were surprised and sunk or damaged by aircraft from the US fleet carrier Yorktown. Now aware of the presence of US carriers in the area, the Japanese fleet carriers advanced towards the Coral Sea with the intention of finding and destroying the Allied naval forces. Beginning on 7 May, the carrier forces from the two sides exchanged airstrikes over two consecutive days. The first day, the US sank the Japanese light carrier Shōhō, while the Japanese sank a US destroyer and heavily damaged a fleet oiler (which was later scuttled). The next day, the Japanese fleet carrier Shōkaku was heavily damaged, the US fleet carrier Lexington was critically damaged (and was scuttled as a result), and the Yorktown was damaged. With both sides having suffered heavy losses in aircraft and carriers damaged or sunk, the two fleets disengaged and retired from the battle area. Because of the loss of carrier air cover, Inoue recalled the Port Moresby invasion fleet, intending to try again later.

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