Yamamoto had sent orders to the commander of the Japanese Fourth Fleet at Rabual, commanded by Admiral Shigeyoshi Inouye, to attack.Their first target was to take the small island of Tulagi, in the Solomans, and Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea.Two naval squadrons supported amphibious assaults were sent to these objectives.The light carrier Shoho, with four crusiers and one destroyer, escorted the force to Tulagi on May 3rd, and then returned to the Shortland Islands to escort a larger invasion convoy heading towards the Loiusiade Archipelago and Port Moresby.To prevent any American interference, a striking force consisting of the heavy carriers Shokaku and Zuikaku, with four crusiers and six destroyers,hovered around the eastern Solomons.While the Japanese were taking Tulagi, the U.S. Navy was concentrating their only two available carriers, the Yorktown and Lexington, in the South Pacific.The Hornet and Enterprise were still returning from the Doolittle Raid and didn't make it.
While the Japanese were making their first landings on Tulagi, the American carrier task force was gathering southwest of the New Hebrides Islands, in the eastern Coral Sea.While the Lexington was refueling, the task force commander, Admiral Frank Fletcher, dashed north in the Yorktown to raid Japanese positions at Tulagi on May 4th.The results were disappointing, since they were only able to sink one destroyer and three smaller vessels.The next day, the Lexington and Yorktown steamed about 350 miles west to intercept the Japanese invasion convoy had started out from Rabual to Port Moresby.The same day, the Japanese carriers sailed around the eastern Solomons and headed into the Coral Sea.On May 6th, the two carrier squadrons were on converging courses in the northern Coral Sea.Neither force was aware of the other.Scouting was poor on both sides, hindered by bad weather.Shortly after dark, the two forces were actually 70 miles from each other! The next day, Flectcher sent three crusiers and three destroyers under the command of Austrailian Admiral J.C. Crace to block the approaching invasion convoy.He sent out his scouts to find them, but he missed the two large Japanese carriers, but they did wrongly report the carriers north of the island of Misiha in the Louisaides.They actually found the sreening force, so, Fletcher sent all of his planes to attack.A few minutes later, he realized the mistake, but, since the Japanese carriers weren't in sight, he decided to let the attack continue anyway.About 11:00, the American planes found the Shoho.The Americans immediatly attacked, sinking the Shoho with at least 13 bombs and 7 torpedoes.The planes returned to their carrier without loss.
Meanwhile, the Japanese had been receiving faulty information from their scouts.Rear Admiral Tadaichi Hara, commander of the Fourth Fleet, received reports of three American carrier groups.In addition to correctly reporting the Yorktown and Lexington, southeast of the Louisaides, they mistook Crace's squadron for a carrier task force, and the oil tanker U.S.S. Neosho, accompanied by the destroyer U.S.S. Sims and mistook them, too! For the remainder of the day Admirals Inouye and Hara thought they were up against at least five or six American carriers spread across the Coral Sea.So, Inouye immediatly sent his planes from Rabual to attack Crace's squadron.The attack began at 2:25 in the afternoon, and the six Allied vessels were forced to steam a zig-zag course to avoid bring hit.The ships weren't hit, but the Japanese pilots reported sinking a battleship and a crusier, while seriously damaging another battleship.Crace's ships barely got out of that attack just in time to be attacked by a squadron of American B-26's sent to attack the Japanese invasion convoy.They had mistook Crace's squadron to be that convoy, and again they had to zig-zag to avoid the bombs.About noon, the carriers of the main Japanese sriking force launched a full attack on the Neosho and Sims.The Sims was hit first and went under.The Neosho, taking seven hits plus a suicide attack, didn't sink.Her crew kept the burned-out hulk afloat.Four days later, they were rescued by a U.S. destroyer, which then sank the tanker.
Meanwhile, while his planes were attacking the Neosho and Sims, Hara finally realized the mistake, and he also learned of the loss of the Shoho, and realized his invasion force was without air cover.So, he recalled his planes and steamed westward at full speed to protect the troopships.In the late afternoon, the Japanese found the Yorktown and Lexington.Hara, therefore decided to surprise the Americans with a dusk air attack.But in the foggy gloom, the Japanese attack planes couldn't find the carriers.The Americans, however, seen the Japanese planes using their radar sets, and Fletcher sent his F4F Wildcats aloft.Ten of the Japanese planes were shot down, and eleven more were lost in the water attempting to land in the dark.Only six got back to their carriers safely.The next morning, scouting planes on both sides found each other at about 8:15.At this time, Flecher had 120 planes on the Lexington and Yorktown, while Hara had 122 on the Shokaku and Zuikaku.In addition to their greater combat experience and better torpedoes, the Japanese had one other advantage; their task force was in a cloud-covered area, while the Americans were under clear skies.At about 9:00, each side launched simultaneous strikes against each other, with all avalible attack planes.Just before 11:00, the Yorktown's planes sighted the Shokaku (The Zuikaku was under a rainsquall). The inexperienced Americans scored only two hits, and not one of the torpedoes struck.Only 20 of the Lexington's planes found and attacked Shokaku, and they only got one hit in.But, though she was hit only three times, these hits damaged the flight deck so bad that she was out of action for a year.Admiral Hara ordered her to report to Truk immediatly.