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The Battle of the Coral Sea, the first carrier battle in history, marked a critical turning point in the Pacific War. In April 1942, Japan sought to isolate Australia by seizing strategic locations but was intercepted by American carriers Lexington and Yorktown, thanks to decrypted Japanese plans.
During the Pacific War's early months, the USS Lexington played a pivotal role in the Battle of the Coral Sea, marking the first carrier battle in history where opposing ships never saw each other.
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The Battle of Coral Sea Pioneered a New Form of War for the U.S. Navy The costs were high as the Navy learned how to fight this new kind of war. Yet the battle would set the stage for Midway. Here's What You Need to Remember: The challenges of this new form of warfare began with locating the moving enemy force amidst the vastness of the ocean. The available radars then were short-ranged and unreliable, so the seas had to be combed by submarines, flying boats, smaller floatplanes, and carrier-based scouts. The scouts also had to evade defending aircraft long enough to radio the position of th...
After many close calls, the Lexington finally arrived, prepared for battle. Here's What You Need To Remember: Sixteen days later it was back in Pearl Harbor, where the venerable carrier finally had its eight-inch gun turrets removed in exchange for additional rapid-fire antiaircraft batteries. The Navy finally appreciated that the carrier’s ability to launch and defend against swarms of aircraft that could attack targets hundreds of miles away was more important than a few extra big guns. On March 4, 2018 an expedition funded by philanthropist Paul Allen discovered the shattered remnants o...