Aircraft Carriers

Battle of The Coral Sea

        In the months leading up to the Battle of The Coral Sea U.S. military intelligence intercepted Japanese coded messages and deciphered them. The decipered messages spoke about an operation Mo. The Americans deduced that the Japanese were going to attack Port Moresby, New Guinea soon, a stratigically important point due to its close proximity to Australia.(1) Admiral Nimitz responded by sending two aircraft carriers, The USS Yorktown and The USS Lexington, into the Coral Sea.(2) It began to become very clear that aircraft carriers were going to be at the center of the fighting in this battle. On May 7 the Japanese and Americans deployed fighter planes to attack each others carriers.(3) The ensuing battle would be the first of its kind. The two nation’s fleets, separated by 175 miles of water, never saw each other. Instead, the battle was fought solely by aircraft. The two carriers exchanged fire by sending waves of bombers and fighters to each others ships. The battle lasted two days and ended in a draw. The United States sunk more ships, but the Japanese lost more planes.(4) Both nations lost one aircraft carrier, which was a heavier blow to Japan who did not have the same production capabilities as the U.S. Even though the battle ended in a draw, it was technically considered an American victory because Japan’s southern advance had been halted. Carriers had now become a vital piece of both Japan and America’s fleets, and were now the center of naval warfare. America had won its first battle solely fought with an aircraft carrier task force, and was about to pivot from the defensive to offensive in the Pacific Theater. The Aircraft Carrier was crucial in winning The Battle of the Coral Sea, and was about to prove its power even more in the coming months. The surviving carrier from The Battle of The Coral Sea, The Yorktown, headed towards the island of Midway to participate in one of the most important naval battles of the War.