Eighty-three years ago, although they did not realize it, the American and Australian forces had won the Battle of the Coral Sea. The battle which ultimately saved Australia from Japanese invasion has been largely forgotten in the US. That is a pity. Just six months from the Pearl Harbor debacle, the US Navy won a strategic victory that largely shaped the outcome of the battle of Midway, the turning point in the Pacific War.
Admiral Yamamoto, commander of the Japanese Navy, launched an invasion force to take Port Moresby on the south side of the huge island of New Guinea. Once New Guinea was taken Australia was next. Admiral Shigeyoshi Inoue, in command of the Japanese of the Fourth Fleet would command this venture.
Allied intelligence learned of this plan, and Admiral Nimitz, Naval Supreme Commander in the Pacific, sent all four of his fleet carriers to intercept the Japanese force.
A deadly game of blind’s man bluff ensued, with naval aviators searching for enemy ships, before their opposite numbers found their carriers. The Japanese succeeded in sinking the Lexington, and heavily damaging the Yorktown. The US succeeded in sinking a light carrier, and damaging the fleet carriers Zuikako and Shokaku. The US lost 69 planes to 92 for the Japanese. Each side lost one destroyer. The Japanese commander decided to retreat to friendly seas and the invasion of Port Moresby did not occur. New Guinea would ultimately be liberated by the Allies and Australia was safe from invasion for the remainder of the War.
Due to their damage the Japanese carriers missed the decisive battle of Midway fought in June. The Yorktown was present due to a heroic night and day seventy-two hour repair operation performed by sailors and civilian workers at Pearl Harbor. Go here to read about it.
“Allied intelligence learned of this plan, and Admiral Nimitz, Naval Supreme Commander in the Pacific, sent all four of his fleet carriers to intercept the Japanese force.”
The other two, the Enterprise and the Hornet, were too far away and did not arrive before the end of the battle. Nimitz had a fifth carrier, the Saratoga, under his command, but she was in Puget Sound finishing repairs to a Japanese submarine torpedo attack at the time.
What desperate times. What if Americans then acted as they do now?
Excellent summary. WWII was largely a matter of industrial strength and innovation: the USA continued to build new carriers and to innovate improved planes; the Japanese could do neither.
Part of the problem for the Japanese was that Japanese air crews were tied to their ships where ours were not and came from a number of different sources. The heavy air crew losses by the Japanese effectively put the two slightly damaged aircraft carriers out of commission.
Anyone interested in the Pacific war might look at the Unauthorized history of the Pacific War podcast. There’s something like 500 episodes.
Coral Sea was frequently referred to as a draw but it was much more. It derailed Yamamoto’s plans for the South Pacific. He had planned for an operation of which nothing could go wrong if it was to succeed. Japan did not have the capability in depth to conduct a long war or if a significant misstep was made. Although the war in the Pacific went on for over three more years, fears of an invasion of Hawaii or even the West Coast were quickly put to rest.
One thing that helped America was that the Two-Ocean Navy Act was enacted on July 19, 1940. The USA had a head start in ship building before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Georgia Congressman Carl Vinson pushed through spending bills that created the Two-Ocean Navy. He was called “The Father of the Two-Ocean Navy.” He recognized the importance of the aircraft carrier. The nuclear aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson is named after him. You can see a short video about him on “The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered.” It is titled “Carl Vinson and the Two-Ocean Navy.”
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpqtsvHMk_E