05/05/2026
Remembering WW II – Historic Naval Battle of the Coral Sea
The battle of the Coral Sea off the eastern coast of Australia was fought May 4 – 8, 1942, the first naval battle in which participants never saw their enemy. The battle was fought by the US Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy only using fighters launched from aircraft carriers. Although the US lost the carrier Lexington, and several other vessels, carrier planes from the Lexington prior to its sinking and the USS Yorktown sank the Japanese carrier Shoho and a number of other combat vessels. The Japanese naval losses were such that it caused the cancellation of their planned invasion of Australia.