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Show Battle of Coral Sea Termed First Big Defeat for Japan In the battle of that island-studd d ocean known as the Coral sea, which is near the Solomon islands and about 1,000 miles northeast of Australia, Aus-tralia, America's first real victory of the war with Japan was scored. The action occurred on May 4, 1942, and called for deeds of valor as thrilling as any in all American history. The Coral sea battle was the first great naval defeat ever dealt the imperial Japanese fleets. And yet this battle was fought entirely in the air, by the planes of opposing aircraft carriers. The ships engaged in this battle never got sight of each other. They slugged it out without firing a single gun at another shirj the first engagement en-gagement of its kind in history. In this first great victory for the U. S. In this global war the Japs lost more than 15 ships sunk and at least 20 others severely damaged. The action perhaps saved Australia from Invasion. Inva-sion. However, America paid a high price for her victory in the sultry Coral sea. In this engagement the aircraft carrier, Lexington, lamed ship that laid the foundation of our modem navy's aircraft carrier operations, op-erations, went to tha bottom. This happened on May 7. |
