bigpigeon.us webpage WWII-Japan > Japan Overreaches > Coral Sea, © 2023 by Robert A. Christiansen, updated by RAC 18 May 2022.
Operation Mo Thwarted, Battle of the Coral Sea - 4-8 May 1942
Operation Mo Thwarted, Battle of the Coral Sea - 4-8 May 1942
|
Operation Mo was the 1942 Japanese plan to seize Port Moresby, the major town in southeastern New Guinea, thus obtaining a base area possessing both harbor and air facilities. Operation Mo was viewed as the first step in isolating, and then possibly invading, Australia.
In May 1942, the Imperial Japanese Navy initiated Operation Mo, sending an invasion fleet into the Coral Sea. The Japanese fleet was intercepted by the US Navy in the Battle of the Coral Sea, the first sea battle fought exclusively by carrier-launched aircraft. Although Coral Sea was tactically a draw with equal losses on both sides, it was an Allied victory as the Japanese fleet turned back, leaving the Port Moresby undamaged and in Allied hands. |
The Coral Sea
|
Sources for Big Pigeon's Japan Overreaches > Coral Sea webpage:
Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead - Japan Overreaches > Coral Sea:
† O’Dell, Charles Henry, SN 316-78-35, US Navy, Pott. Co.
- The Coral Sea map is courtesy of https://geog.ucsb.edu at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
- The June 1942 Japanese Naval Operation MI is courtesy of pinterest.com
Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead - Japan Overreaches > Coral Sea:
- Taken from the bigpigeon.us WWII Roster module.
† O’Dell, Charles Henry, SN 316-78-35, US Navy, Pott. Co.
- Aircraft Carrier USS Lexington (CV-2); KIA 8 May 1942, Coral Sea, South Pacific, ~ 500 miles E of Cairns, Australia; Lexington sunk by Japanese aircraft, 216 dead; Japan Overreaches > Battle of the Coral Sea; BNR.