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#Battle fleet 2 saving series#

their armaments (the number and size of their guns).their weight (measured by the amount of water they displaced).They did this by forming a protective screen around the carrier. Hence, in battle, all other ships had to protect the vulnerable but essential aircraft carriers. The one exception was the carriers, which were large, but displaced relatively little water, because they were lightly armed - their role being to provide the launching pad for aircraft rather than to shoot at other ships. Generally, the larger the ship, the more guns it had, the heavier the armour for protection, the heavier it was, and the slower it became. The main target of the Allied carriers was the Japanese Carrier Striking Force, with the aircraft carriers Zuikaku and Shokaku, and protecting cruisers and destroyers, commanded by Admiral Takagi.Their task was to stop the invasion, and to do this they would have to tackle the Japanese carriers accompanying and protecting it. There was also a second Allied force of two aircraft carriers, the USS Lexington (commanded by Rear-Admiral Fitch) and the USS Yorktown (commanded by Rear-Admiral Fletcher), together with protective cruisers and destroyers.This force was commanded by the Australian Rear-Admiral Crace.

They were sent to find and attack the Port Moresby Invasion Group.

The Allied Task Force 44 consisted of a group of Allied warships, including the two Australian ships, the heavy cruiser HMAS Australia and the light cruiser HMAS Hobart.

There was a Japanese Port Moresby Invasion Group, with a Support Force (Marushige) and a Covering Group (Goto), that included the small aircraft carrier, Shoho and several cruisers.

There were basically four major groups of ships engaged in different parts of the fighting over the four-day period. Each carrier group sent out planes to find the other, but the limited range of the planes, the limited skills of many of the air crews in ship identification, the often poor weather and the huge areas involved all made it very difficult for the planes to find their targets. This covers an area of many thousands of square kilometres, and for much of the time the opposing forces did not know where the enemy was. A map of this area appears as part of the battle description later. The battle took place in the Coral Sea, in an area separating the Solomon Islands, the eastern tip of New Guinea, and the north-eastern coast of Australia from Townsville to Horn Island. But we need to try and understand what it was like at the time, and to appreciate the great variety of factors that contributed to the outcome-including poor communications and intelligence creating uncertainty, variable weather conditions, the vulnerability and slowness of massive ships, the human weaknesses and strengths of crew and pilots, the limitations of technology and equipment, and the bravery or lack of it of the men involved. Sixty years on it is easy to see the apparent inevitability of what actually happened. The battle certainly seemed more significant at the time than modern history books rate it.

This is an exaggerated claim, but there is some validity to it. the battle stopped the Japanese sea-borne invasion of Port Moresby.įor many people this was the ‘battle that saved Australia’.it was the first time in World War 2 that the Japanese experienced failure in a major operation and.The battle was significant for two main reasons:

All attacks were carried out by aeroplanes.It is also the largest naval battle that has ever been fought off Australia’s shores. It was the first aircraft carrier battle ever fought, and the first naval battle in which the opposing forces of surface ships at no stage sighted or fired at each other. Some of the aircraft involved were land-based, but most were from the opposing aircraft carriers. It was fought by Allied (United States and Australian) and Japanese aircraft against four different major groups of warships.

#Battle fleet 2 saving series#

The Battle of the Coral Sea was a series of naval engagements off the north-east coast of Australia between 4 and.