Fought from 4 to 8 May 1942, the Battle of the Coral Sea was a major naval action between the Imperial Japanese Navy and naval and air forces of the United States and Australia. It was the world’s first carrier-vs.-carrier battle, and the first naval action in which the opposing fleets neither sighted nor fired upon one another, but instead used airpower launched from aircraft carriers.
Although often overshadowed by the events at Midway a month later, Coral Sea proved to be of strategic significance. It marked the end of the previously relentless Japanese advance into the Pacific, stopping the drive toward the strategic Port Moresby and saving Australia’s fragile lifeline.
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