The Coral Sea: The Battle Fought by Planes, Not Ships
In May 1942, two fleets fought a naval battle in which the ships never saw each other only their aircraft did the killing.
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Japan aimed to isolate Australia by seizing Port Moresby in New Guinea. U.S. carriers, alerted by codebreaking, intercepted the invasion force in the Coral Sea.
For the first time, opposing fleets fought without their surface ships exchanging a single shot. Aircraft sank the enemy's carriers and warships from hundreds of miles away.
Both sides lost a carrier, but Japan's expansion was halted and a key carrier was unavailable for the coming battle at Midway.
"Carriers struck each other over the horizon. The age of the big-gun duel was over; the age of the aircraft carrier had arrived."
Coral Sea stopped Japan's drive toward Australia and was a strategic check that set up the decisive victory at Midway a month later. It marked the first time in history that a naval battle was decided entirely by aircraft launched from carriers.
The Full Story
War Over the Horizon
Scout planes found the fleets, and dive and torpedo bombers did the damage. The fleets themselves stayed beyond gun range, a revolution in naval warfare.
A Strategic Check
Tactically a draw, Coral Sea was strategically a Japanese setback: the Port Moresby advance was abandoned and a carrier was lost ahead of Midway.
The Shape of Future Wars
Coral Sea proved the aircraft carrier, not the battleship, was the fleet's capital ship. Every major Pacific battle afterward followed its template.