[Homer_J_Simpson]

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John Toland, The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Barbara W. Tuchman, Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45

[henkster]

Battle of the Coral Sea, the first of the great carrier duels fought in the next six months. The battle wound up costing the Japanese a lot more than it appears. Shokaku was badly hurt, almost capsizing on her long trip back to Japan for repairs. She is scratched for Operation MI set for next month. Zuikaku avoided injury, but her air group has been slaughtered. Japanese doctrine had air groups wedded to their carriers, so they scratched Zuikaku from Operation MI too. Of course, had they really wanted to put Zuikaku with the other four carriers, they could have cobbled together an air group. But they didn’t. Contrast this with the US Navy’s crash effort to get Yorktown repaired and out to sea to fight at Midway.

So the real victory of Coral Sea was a month in its realization; with the scratching of Carrier Division 5, the Japanese lost their carrier superiority over the United States Navy for the battle of Midway.