may 8, 1942 - The Battle of the Coral Sea

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At the beginning of May 1942, the Japanese Empire was wrapping up the triumphant initial campaigns which had initiated its war in the Pacific. Practically the entire western Pacific basin was now under Japanese control. The British had been crushed in Hong Kong, Malaya, and Borneo, ending with the humiliating surrender of Singapore in February. World War II naval and air engagement in which a U.S. fleet turned back a Japanese invasion force that had been heading for strategic Port Moresby in New Guinea. Shōkaku was heavily damaged; Zuikaku's air group had been shot to pieces. The Japanese held the initiative, and India and Australia both now seemed directly threatened. US losses: One carrier was destroyed, one damaged, one oiler and one destroyer sunk, 66 aircraft were lost, and 543 men were killed or wounded. Japan losses: 1,617 people died. The Allied forces lost 543 and the Imperial Japanese Navy lost around 1,074 sailors and airmen.

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