Battle of the Coral Sea

[aap1966]

70 years ago.

Not forgotten.

Thanks.

[2.70Racer]

I spent a month in New Zealand on business several years ago. At a very nice going away dinner the New Zealand customers expressed thanks to the US Navy for stopping the very real Japanese threat early in the Pacific war.
I was somewhat embarrassed to not know the history of WWII in the Pacific and the very real threat to Australia and New Zealand.
I have since read several accounts of the US Navy battles with the Japanese fleet, Coral Sea, Midway, Leyte Gulf and more.
At a time when the US Navy was significantly out numbered it fought the Japanese fleet and prevailed, not without serious losses.
The courage of the men involved in these battles was imense. Against a powerful enemy the US Navy stopped and defeated a previously undefeated enemy.
The courage of our Ausie and Kiwi friends and Allies, likewise, will always be remembered.

[Hawktel]

The world is use to the current american navy.

That habit of winning started before WWII. It became the way the navy does business in WWII though.

[Joeaksa]

This was not long after Pearl Harbor and many felt that the Jap's were unstoppable.

Well the US Navy opened up a medium sized can of whoop-azz and let them have it. I was lucky enough to visit several of the islands in that area about 10 years ago. Lots of interesting things to see out there, but sure is a long way out in the middle of the ocean!

[Danimal16]

Remember this is after these disasters:
Singapore;
Philipines;
Wake Island;
Guam;

This famous battle was the first over the horizon sea battle, which was waged by carriers.

[nota]

#3 after Battle of Taranto - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

and Attack on Pearl Harbor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

coral sea was the first two sided carrier battle but not the first carrier battle

[Baz]

Originally Posted by aap1966

70 years ago.

Not forgotten.

Thanks.

aap:

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. My late father fought in the Pacific Theater the entire duration of the war, although not at this battle. I'm so happy we have a long-standing positive relationship with Australia. I couldn't think of a better country to have at our side.

I ran across this video - which talks a bit about this important battle in case it's of interest:

[tabs]

Originally Posted by nota

#3 after Battle of Taranto - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

and Attack on Pearl Harbor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

coral sea was the first two sided carrier battle but not the first carrier battle

Not to mention Doolittles Raid on Japan..wt those B 25's taking off from a carrier...

[rcooled]

The USS Lexington exploding from a direct bomb hit during the Battle of the Coral Sea

[tabs]

Coral Sea was a PUSH tactically but a victory strategically.

In the first year of that gut busting blue ocean Navy war the US and Japan traded each other ship for ship lost. The US soon made up and surpassed its losses while Japan could not. What really broke the Japs back was that they could NOT replace Aircrews...even by Midway the loses were begining to be felt. The Japanese system of training aircrews was similar to the rigours of how we would train todays aircrew. In other words those Jap pilots were the BEST IN THE WORLD

[tabs]

Further the Japs were experts at fighting surface battles at night (without Radar) and they had an advantage over the US with their Long Lance torpeados. US Torps at the time had a tendency to be Duds...The Japs used Torpedos extensivily even placing them on Cruisers while the US Navy only had them on Desroyers.

There are a coupla good books that were written by the Japs after the war.

Japanese Destroyer Captain...Hara

Samuari...Subaro Saki (the highest scorein Jap ace to survive the war with 62 kills including a B 29. Saki was wounded during the Gudacanal campaign being blinded in one eye. This caused him to sit out most of the rest of the war.)

Both of these are VERY informative books that give a flavor of what it was like to fight the Ameircans.

[Hugh R]

Not to PARF it up but when NBC compared the hunt for OBL to Normandy, I thought that dishonored those who sacrificed in WWII.

[tabs]

Originally Posted by Hugh R

Not to PARF it up but when NBC compared the hunt for OBL to Normandy, I thought that dishonored those who sacrificed in WWII.

The point in the piece I wrote about NBC and BO was that the downisde if everything went wrong was that BO has egg on his face and probaly would lose the election. Pakistan would Beotch hollar and yell but that would be about it. If D Day went wrong the course of WW2 and the world would have been far different..Thus D Day was a very meomentous decison where the stakes were sky high..

[Baz]

Originally Posted by Hugh R

Not to PARF it up but when NBC compared the hunt for OBL to Normandy, I thought that dishonored those who sacrificed in WWII.

Hugh: I don't really look at that ignorant statement "politically" as much as just a reality check of how damn little those in the media (and modern society) know of past world military history.

BTW....here's an interesting video tied in with our WW II discussion (the USS Arizona Memorial) - perhaps as it relates to how little we know about that war and the aftermath. I didn't know about this until my uncle sent me the link.

Tabs: Good for you and your knowledge & thanks for sharing your insights - good stuff, sir.

[Danimal16]

Originally Posted by nota

#3 after Battle of Taranto - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

and Attack on Pearl Harbor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

coral sea was the first two sided carrier battle but not the first carrier battle

The significance of Coral Sea is that both maneuver units were over the horizon carrier groups. In the other two one side surprised the other, i.e. the targets of a carrier battle group, and could have been anything. They were not a surface engagement.

[Hugh R]

Baz, wow and wow. I've been there a few times and had no idea. That really moved me.

[BE911SC]

This is over Midway a few months later. Douglas SBD (Scout Bomber Douglas) dive-bombers. Photo from the Life archive.

[Seahawk]

The Battle of Coral Sea was the sea change, the end, really, of significant ship to ship warfare within sight of each other in the Pacific (submarine warfare excluded) without relying on air assets.

In the Atlantic, the Med, the North Sea and the Baltic the combatants still engaged ship to ship, gun to gun.

Amazing stuff.

Originally Posted by Danimal16

The significance of Coral Sea is that both maneuver units were over the horizon carrier groups. In the other two one side surprised the other, i.e. the targets of a carrier battle group, and could have been anything. They were not a surface engagement.

[BlueTone]

The Battle of Java Sea and the following Battle of Sunda Straight occured early in WWII (Feb. 1942). My uncle (mother's brother) served on the USS Houston, which was sunk on Feb 28. No one stateside knew of the fate of the USS Houston for almost 9 months, my mother's family didn't know if he was killed or MIA. He was killed that night, some of the survivors were in the Bataan Death March.
USS Houston (CA-30) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia