The Battle of The Coral Sea

May 2013 some 71 years after the original battle we will have the opportunity to relive this historic battle.  

The Japanese Port Moresby Invasion Force, commanded by Rear Admiral Kōsō Abe, included 11 transport ships carrying about 5,000 soldiers from the IJA's South Seas Detachment plus approximately 500 troops from the 3rd Kure Special Naval Landing Force (SNLF). Escorting the transports was the Port Moresby Attack Force with one light cruiser and six destroyers under the command of Rear Admiral Sadamichi Kajioka. Abe's ships departed Rabaul for the 840-nautical-mile (1,556 km) trip to Port Moresby on May 4 and were joined by Kajioka's force the next day. The ships, proceeding at 8 knots (9 mph; 15 km/h), planned to transit the Jomard Channel in the Louisiades to pass around the southern tip of New Guinea to arrive at Port Moresby by May 10.[19] The Allied garrison at Port Moresby numbered around 5,333 men, but only half of these were infantry and all were badly equipped and undertrained.

 

Leading the invasion of Tulagi was the Tulagi Invasion Force, commanded by Rear Admiral Kiyohide Shima, consisting of two minelayers, two destroyers, six minesweepers, two subchasers, and a transport ship carrying about 400 troops from the 3rd Kure SNLF. Supporting the Tulagi force was the Covering Group with the light carrier Shōhō, four heavy cruisers, and one destroyer, commanded by Rear Admiral Aritomo Gotō. A separate Cover Force (sometimes referred to as the Support Group), commanded by Rear Admiral Kuninori Marumo and consisting of two light cruisers, the seaplane tender Kamikawa Maru, and three gunboats, joined the Covering Group in providing distant protection for the Tulagi invasion. Once Tulagi was secured on May 3 or 4, the Covering Group and Cover Force were to reposition to help screen the Port Moresby invasion.Inoue directed the MO operation from the cruiser Kashima, with which he arrived at Rabaul from Truk on May 4.

 

Gotō's force left Truk on April 28, cut through the Solomons between Bougainville and Choiseul and took station near New Georgia Island. Marumo's support group sortied from New Ireland on April 29 headed for Thousand Ships Bay, Santa Isabel Island, to establish a seaplane base on May 2 to support the Tulagi assault. Shima's invasion force departed Rabaul on April 30.[24]