Hello, I’m sharing this post as a remembrance since 84 years ago, The first battle ever between carriers was fought today; More known as the battle of the coral sea. It was also the first naval engagement where opposing sides never saw each other or even fired directly at each other.
This took place in the waters southwest to the Solomon Islands and eastward of New Guinea. With the IJN’s major goal being to isolate Australia from the US by seizing Port Moresby and then proceeding to strengthen their positions along the South Pacific.
The allied command group consisted of 2 carriers supported by US cruisers and destroyers. Commanded by Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher and Rear Admiral Aubrey Fitch, They were tasked with stopping the Japanese offensive. During this time Admiral Nimitz had ordered that the USS Enterprise and USS Hornet head to the port to support the allied forces preparing for battle, They wouldn’t arrive until the aftermath though.
Here is a quick timeline of the following days regarding the battle. May 3-4: Japan managed to seize Tulagi which was an island among the Solomon Islands. In response, Aircraft from Yorktown’s air group successfully found and struck Japanese ships off the islands coast, Sinking a destroyer, Some minesweepers along with landing barges.
May 5-6: Both carrier forces spent these days trying to locate each other in bad weather and over a huge stretch of ocean. With these contributions making information for squadrons poor, Nothing else I could find that made this day stand out other than that there was a lot of searching.
May 7th: Japanese planes found and attacked the U.S. oiler ship Neosho and the destroyer Sims, sinking Sims and fatally damaging Neosho. Meanwhile, American aircraft did manage to find IJN Shoho, Resulting in a successful attack which sunk the Shoho. A cruiser whose name I couldn’t find was sunk alongside Shoho from the attack by US planes.
May 8th: The two carrier forces finally found one another directly. IJN aircraft had then struck USS Lexington along with USS Yorktown. American planes also successfully attacked Shokaku, leaving her unable to conduct normal flight operations. Zuikaku managed to avoid damage by the US air group, But she lost a majority of her aircraft and aircrew in the battle. Thus resulting in Japans invasion force to retreat back to Rabaul; As their invasion force without air cover was now being attacked freely by allied planes.
-The US didn’t go without loss though. The damage done by the IJN was so severe that the sailors aboard the Lexington had to abandon ship and scuttle her. Yorktown was also damaged badly but was able to return to Pearl Harbor for repairs.
-Admiral Ernest J. King described this engagement as “The first major engagement in naval history in which surface ships did not exchange a single shot”
I will be listing ships below that you can find in game also that took part in this battle:
USS Lexington (CV-2) USS Yorktown (CV-5) USS New Orleans (CA-32) USS Sims (DD-409) USS Monaghan (DD-354) USS Farragut (DD-348) IJN Shoukaku CV IJN Shoho CVL IJN Aoba CA IJN Myoko CA IJN Furutaka CA IJN Yubari CL IJN Mutsuki DD