Second Sino-Japanese War. Taking place in the Pacific Theatre of World War II , the battle was the first naval action in which the opposing fleets neither sighted nor fired upon one another, attacking over the horizon from aircraft carriers instead. It was also the first military battle between two aircraft carriers. Two fleet carriers and a light carrier were assigned to provide air cover for the invasion forces, under the overall command of Admiral Shigeyoshi Inoue.
The U. Navy carrier task forces and a joint Australian -American cruiser force to oppose the offensive, under the overall command of U. Admiral Frank J. On 3β4 May, Japanese forces invaded and occupied Tulagi , although several supporting warships were sunk or damaged in a surprise attack by the U.
Alerted to the presence of enemy aircraft carriers, the Japanese fleet carriers advanced towards the Coral Sea to locate and destroy the Allied naval forces. On the evening of 6 May, the two carrier fleets closed to within 70 nmi 81 mi; km but did not detect each other in the darkness.
The next day, both fleets launched airstrikes against what they thought were the enemy fleet carriers, but both sides actually attacked other targets.
Both sides having suffered heavy aircraft losses and carriers sunk or damaged, the two forces disengaged and retired from the area. Because of the loss of carrier air cover, Inoue also recalled the Port Moresby invasion fleet. Although the battle was a tactical victory for the Japanese in terms of ships sunk, it has been described as a strategic victory for the Allies. The battle marked the first time since the start of the war that a major Japanese advance had been turned back.
