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| -Land of the Free |
| 75 years ago: The Battle of Coral Sea |
| 2017-05-07 |
| The Battle of the Coral Sea fought from 4–8 May 1942, was a major naval battle between the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and naval and air forces from the United States and Australia, taking place in the Pacific Theater of World War II. The battle is historically significant as 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 its defensive position in the South Pacific, Japan decided to invade and occupy Port Moresby (in New Guinea) and Tulagi (in the southeastern Solomon Islands). The plan to accomplish this was called Operation MO, and involved several major units of Japan's Combined Fleet. These included two fleet carriers and a light carrier to provide air cover for the invasion forces. It was under the overall command of Japanese Admiral Shigeyoshi Inoue. The U.S. learned of the Japanese plan through signals intelligence, and sent two United States Navy carrier task forces and a joint Australian-American cruiser force to oppose the offensive. These were under the overall command of American Admiral Frank J. Fletcher. On 3–4 May, Japanese forces successfully invaded and occupied Tulagi, although several of their supporting warships were sunk or damaged in surprise attacks by aircraft from the U.S. fleet carrier Yorktown. Now aware of the presence of U.S. carriers in the area, the Japanese fleet carriers advanced towards the Coral Sea with the intention of locating and destroying the Allied naval forces. Beginning on 7 May, the carrier forces from the two sides engaged in airstrikes over two consecutive days. On the first day, the U.S. sank the Japanese light carrier Shōhō; meanwhile, the Japanese sank a U.S. destroyer and heavily damaged a fleet oiler (which was later scuttled). The next day, the Japanese fleet carrier Shōkaku was heavily damaged, the U.S. fleet carrier Lexington critically damaged (and later scuttled), and Yorktown damaged. With both sides having suffered heavy losses in aircraft and carriers damaged or sunk, the two forces 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. More at the link |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #7 What turned the corner for us against Japan with the huge losses in pilots within the IJN. The IJN training programs could not produce them faster than we could shoot them down. AND we did a better job of protecting our pilots, recognizing the intellectual property of the pilot was more valuable than the aircraft. Also, we rotated our vets back to train the new batch. The Japanese kept their vets on the front until they were killed and all that experience died with them. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2017-05-07 21:42 |
| #6 Almost every bit of combat gun camera footage from our side shows IJN aircraft quickly erupting flames due to lack of armor/self-sealing gas tanks. A contributing factor even when the early Wildcats (F4F) were matched with the superior Zero. |
| Posted by: NoMoreBS 2017-05-07 18:45 |
| #5 The human value of a trained pilot vastly exceeds that of the aircraft he flew, regardless of whether the high commander woke up to smell their own bushido. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2017-05-07 18:34 |
| #4 What turned the corner for us against Japan with the huge losses in pilots within the IJN. The IJN training programs could not produce them faster than we could shoot them down. AND we did a better job of protecting our pilots, recognizing the intellectual property of the pilot was more valuable than the aircraft. The fact that most IJN pilots were enlisted or Warrants not officers clearly expresses their view of pilots as a form of cannon fodder much as they viewed their infantry. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2017-05-07 13:30 |
| #3 After the Doolittle raid in April and the stalemate at the Coral Sea, those two events set the stage for Midway. |
| Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 2017-05-07 10:23 |
| #2 Just think how much more quickly we would have defeated the Japanese if our crews had had proper diversity training. Also, at the time we seemed to be hung up on this whole "victory" thing. Let us not forget the words of The Lightbringer: "I'm always worried about using the word 'victory,' because, you know, it invokes this notion of Emperor Hirohito coming down and signing a surrender to MacArthur," Obama told ABC News. |
| Posted by: Matt 2017-05-07 08:42 |
| #1 ...And with Shoho gone, and Shokaku crippled, Japan was short two carriers - and hundreds of priceless aircraft and aviators - a month later off a nondescript little island called Midway. The US had two extra carriers in the Atlantic - Wasp and Ranger - (and Lexington's sister ship Saratoga was still in repair after being torpedoed) but they were needed there for ASW work and to help the Royal Navy. Had six IJN carriers gone up against our three at Midway, history might be a tad different... Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2017-05-07 08:10 |