and Japanese carrier forces lofted scout planes, seeking each other. Mindful of the Moresby-bound force, on the morning of May 7 Fletcher detached Task Force Forty-Four to watch the passage off the east tip of New Guinea. Combined Japanese air strength at the Battle of the Coral Sea was 141, with 127 under Takagi and fourteen in Shoho. They included a covering group with the light carrier Shoho and five escorts, and Vice Admiral Takeo Takagi’s striking arm: Carrier Division Five with heavyweights Shokaku and Zuikaku screened by eight escorts. The Japanese, in typically complex fashion, deployed five naval forces. In addition to some 130 carrier planes, he benefited from long-range patrol bombers in Australia.
#REAL WAR AIR LAND SEA PLUS#
His combined strength was two carriers, eight cruisers, and thirteen destroyers, plus two vital fleet oilers. Knowing the advantage of mass in the military equation, on May 6 Fletcher merged Task Force Seventeen with Fitch’s unit and Task Force Forty-Four, a surface force of U.S. For the moment, the Japanese were forced off-balance. An exuberant news release claimed a major victory, with fourteen Japanese ships sunk. The cost was three aircraft with all four fliers rescued. In three waves “Old Yorky’s” air group swarmed the anchorage, sinking a destroyer and three minesweepers while damaging other vessels. Nevertheless, Fletcher proceeded to launch strikes against Tulagi on May 4. However, communications concerns prevented Yorktown’s Task Force Seventeen under Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher from coordinating with Lexington’s Task Force Eleven under Rear Admiral Aubrey Fitch. In the lead-up to the Battle of the Coral Sea, the Americans decided to strike Tulagi before turning to face the carrier threat. A separate unit aimed at Tulagi, with an anchorage just north of Guadalcanal, largest of the Solomon Islands. The Moresby convoy consisted of a dozen transports with escorts including a light carrier, while a covering force included the Fifth Carrier Division’s two flattops. Nimitz had a good idea of Japanese forces. Hornet and Enterprise were unavailable, just returned from the Doolittle raid. He countered with two task forces built around Lexington and Yorktown.
#REAL WAR AIR LAND SEA CODE#
American code breakers learned of “Operation MO” and provided Admiral Nimitz with ample intelligence. Meanwhile, in early May the Japanese dispatched a convoy to land troops at Port Moresby, New Guinea, where long-range bombers could interdict sea communications with northern Australia, and extend the defensive perimeter for Japan’s major base at Rabaul, New Britain. A plan quickly evolved to force them into decisive combat against superior odds in Hawaiian waters. Pacific Fleet carriers had to be destroyed. Following the Doolittle Raid of 1942, in which American forces bombed Tokyo in retribution of Pearl Harbor, the Japanese high command became convinced that U.S.
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