The first naval battle where neither fleet ever saw the other — fought entirely by carrier aircraft, it stopped Japan's advance toward Australia and changed naval warfare forever.
The Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942 was unlike any naval battle in history: the two fleets never came within sight of each other. All the fighting was done by carrier aircraft flying over 100 miles to find and attack enemy ships — the first proof that the aircraft carrier had replaced the battleship as the dominant weapon of naval warfare.
Japan's objective was Port Moresby on the southern coast of New Guinea — a base that would put Australian cities within bomber range and threaten Allied supply lines across the Pacific. The US Navy intercepted the invasion fleet using code-breaking intelligence and moved to block it.
The USS Lexington, one of America's largest carriers, survived the main battle and her crew thought they had saved her — until fumes from ruptured aviation fuel tanks ignited in a massive internal explosion hours after the fighting. She was scuttled by a US destroyer to prevent capture.
By the traditional measure of ships and aircraft lost, Japan won the battle. But the strategic objective — the invasion of Port Moresby — was abandoned. Australia remained safe. In this new form of warfare, the strategic result mattered far more than the tactical scorecard.
Two Japanese carriers damaged at Coral Sea — Shōkaku and Zuikaku — missed the Battle of Midway a month later. Their absence reduced Japan's carrier strength at the war's most decisive naval engagement. Coral Sea's strategic impact echoed across battles that hadn't yet been fought.
For the Allies, Coral Sea was a psychological turning point. After months of disaster — Pearl Harbor, the Philippines, Singapore — the Japanese advance had finally been stopped. Not cleanly, not decisively, but stopped. It was the first sign that the Pacific war could be won.