Battle of the Coral Sea

Battle of the Coral Sea, major naval and air engagement of World War II, fought May 7-8, 1942, by American and Japanese forces. The battle marked a turning point in the war because it effectively checked the Japanese advance to the south.

The Japanese, already in command of a vast area in the Pacific region, were looking to Australia as their next conquest and were trying to move into position for an invasion. A Japanese offensive to this effect was begun on May 4 with the seizure by one Japanese naval force of the port of Tulaghi in the Solomon Islands, while a second and larger force steamed toward the Louisiade Archipelago, southeast of New Guinea. Two American task forces joined to oppose the Japanese moves. On May 4, American carrier-based bombers and torpedo planes inflicted severe damage on the Japanese vessels at Tulaghi. The American fleet, consisting of several cruisers and aircraft carriers and a flotilla of destroyers, then moved to intercept the second Japanese naval force in the Louisiades. American carrier-based planes caused the Japanese to retire with heavy losses, making this engagement the first naval battle in history in which ships of both sides did not encounter one another directly. In the two encounters the Japanese lost 2 aircraft carriers, 2 destroyers, numerous other vessels, about 100 planes, and about 3500 men. American losses were the aircraft carrier Lexington, the destroyer Sims, and the tanker Neosho; the aircraft carrier Yorktown was damaged. The U.S. lost 65 planes and a total of 540 personnel.