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This is an order of battle for the Battle of the Coral Sea.

Japanese Forces

[edit]
Carrier Striking Force – Vice Admiral Takeo Takagi, Commander; Carrier Division 5 - Rear Admiral Chūichi Hara, Officer in Tactical Command
Ship Type Commander Casualties Notes
Killed Wounded Total

Shōkaku
Fleet carrier Rear Admiral Takatsugu Jojima 108 40 148 Badly damaged.

Zuikaku
Fleet carrier Captain Ichibei Yokokawa 0 0 0 Bomber group commander- Kakuichi Takahashi, Torpedo group commander- Shigekazu Shimazaki (Millot, p. 154)

Haguro
Heavy cruiser Captain Tomokazu Mori 0 0 0

Myōkō
Heavy cruiser Captain Teruhiko Miyoshi 0 0 0

Ushio
Destroyer Lieutenant Commander Yoshitake Uesugi 0 0 0

Akebono
Destroyer Lieutenant Commander Minoru Nakagawa 0 0 0

Ariake
Destroyer Lieutenant Commander Shooichi Yoshida 0 0 0

Yugure
Destroyer Lieutenant Commander Kiyoshi Kamo 0 0 0

Shiratsuyu
Destroyer Lieutenant Commander Kanematsu Hashimoto 0 0 0

Shigure
Destroyer Lieutenant Commander Noboru Seo 0 0 0
Tōhō Maru Oiler Unknown (check combinedfleet) 0 0 0

Aichi D3A Type 99 "kanbaku"
Dive bomber 0 0 0 21 each on Shōkaku and Zuikaku for a total of 42.

Nakajima B5N Type 97 "kankō"
Torpedo bomber 19 on Shōkaku and 21 on Zuikaku.

A6M2 Zero
Fighter 18 on Shōkaku and 20 on Zuikaku.
Total casualties: 15 killed, 72 wounded, 87 total
Tulagi Invasion Group – Rear Admiral Kiyohide Shima, commander

Okinoshima
Minelayer ? 0 0 0 Shima's flagship. Lightly damaged. Sunk by US submarine S-42 on 10 May during Operation RY

Kikuzuki
Destroyer ? ? ? ? Sunk

Yūzuki
Destroyer Lieutenant Commander Hirota Tachibana 10 20 30 Strafed by Yorktown fighters on May 4. Moderately damaged and Tachibana killed.
Koei Maru Minelayer
Wa #1 Minesweeper Sunk
Wa #2 Minesweeper Sunk
Hagoromo Maru Minesweeper
Noshiro Maru #2 Minesweeper
Tama Maru Minesweeper Sunk
Toshi Maru #3 Submarine chaser
Tama Maru #8 Submarine chaser
Azumasan Maru Troopship
Total casualties:
Port Moresby Invasion Group - Rear Admiral Sadamichi Kajioka, commander

Yūbari
Light cruiser Captain Masami Ban 0 0 0 Kajioka's flagship

Asanagi
Destroyer ? ? ? ?

Uzuki
Destroyer

Mutsuki
Destroyer

Mochizuki
Destroyer

Yayoi
Destroyer

Oite
Destroyer
One or two smaller warships Patrol boat
Total casualties:
Port Moresby Transport Unit - Rear Admiral Kōsō Abe, commander

Tsugaru
Minelayer Abe's flagship
Ojima Auxiliary repair ship ? ? ? ?
Goyo Maru Fleet oiler
Hoyo Maru Fleet oiler
Iro Fleet oiler
W-20 Minesweeper
Hagoromo Maru Minesweeper
Noshiro Maru #2 Minesweeper
Fumi Maru #2 Minesweeper
11–12 transports Troopship
Total casualties:
Support Group/Close Cover Force - Rear Admiral Kuninori Marumo, commander

Tenryū
Light cruiser Marumo's flagship

Tatsuta
Light cruiser ? ? ? ?
Kamikawa Maru Seaplane tender
Keijo Maru Gunboat
Seikai Maru Gunboat
Nikkai Maru Gunboat
Hagoromo Maru Minesweeper
Noshiro Maru #2 Minesweeper
Fumi Maru #2 Minesweeper
11–12 transports Troopship
Total casualties:

other units

[edit]
  • Support Group/Close Cover Force - Rear Admiral Kuninori Marumo
    • cruiser Tenryū, Tatsuta
    • seaplane tender Kamikawa Maru (18th Cruiser Division)
    • gunboats Keijo Maru, Seikai Maru, Nikkai Maru
  • Covering Group - Rear Admiral Aritomo Gotō
  • Submarine Force - Captain Noburu Ishizaki
    • submarines I-21, I-22, I-24, I-28, and I-29 (I-28 sunk by the US submarine Tautog on May 17 as I-28 returns to base at Truk) (Cressman, p. 84, says I-21 was involved) check TROMs. I-21 and I-27 scout Noumea.

Air units:

  • 25th Air Flotilla- Sadayoshi Yamada
    • Rabaul- 44 Zero, 41 G3M, 13 H6K. (Yokohama Air Group)
    • Lae- 16 Zero
    • Buna- 7 G3M
    • Shortland- 3 H6K, 4 light seplanes
    • Tulagi- 6 A6M.2N Zero (float Zeros?)
    • Deboyne- 12 seaplanes (Millot, 152-153 for this info)

Lundstrom (2006), p. 547 (footnote #14 from p. 137) states that the Base Air Force on 1 May had 23 Zeros, 42 bombers, and 13 Kawanishi flying boats.

Allied Forces

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Task Force 17 - Vice Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher

  • Lexington's 2nd Air Group was commanded by Commander W. B. Ault; VF2 by LTCr Ramsey, VB2 by LTCr W.L. Hamilton, VS2 by LTCr R. E. Dixon, and VT2 by LTCr Brett (Millot, p. 158)
  • Yorktown's 5th Air Group was commanded by LTCr Pederson, VF42 by LTCr Fenton, VB5 by Lt Short, VS5 by LTCr Burch, VT5 by LTCr J. Taylor (Millot, pp. 158-159)
  • Four US submarines from Task Force 42, based in Australia under Rear Admiral Francis W. Rockwell, deployed around the Rabaul area. Lundstrom (2006), p. 133.
  • MacArthur's land based air forces, under Lieutenant General George Brett. Eighteen B-17, 16 B-26, 14 B-25, 10 RAAF Hudsons, 3 RAAF PBY. Lundstrom (2006), p. 133–134, 160.
[edit]

Coral Sea

Sources:

  • Millot, pp. 150–154 (Japanese), pp. 155–159 (Allied)
  • Dull, pp. 135-137
  • Lundstrom (2006), pp. 138-140 (Japanese)
  • Bullard, pp. 47–48, 53–54, 61 (Japanese land-based air forces, 25th Air Flotilla), 51–52, 56-57, 59 (ships assigned), apparently the IJA commander of the South Seas force was on Matsue Maru (64)
  • D'Albas, pp. 109–110 (both)- not really useful
  • Hata, pp. 42-44, Shokaku air group org info.
  • Henry, pp. 22-24.
  • Morison, pp. 17-20.
  • Crave, pp. 411-414, 424–425 (US Army AF and RAAF in Australia and New Guinea) 447–448 (Genzan Air Group and Allied land-based squadrons involved)
  • Gill, p. 40 (Japanese), 42 (Allied submarines)
  • Gillison, p. 519 (RAAF and US land-based aircraft), p. 520 for total number of sorties by MacArthur's aircraft, 525-526 for Japanese order of battle.
  • ONI, pp. 10-11 (US/Aus and cc), pp. 30-40 for notes on casualties of US escort ships and claims.
  • USACMH, Vol II Japanese OOB, including number of planes with Kamikawa Maru at Deboyne.
  • USSBS, p. 54.
  • Furutaka TROM
  • Yubari TROM
  • Tenryu TROM
  • Goyo Maru TROM
  • Okinoshima TROM
  • Uzuki TROM
  • Ojima TROM
  • Willmott, Barrier and Javelin, pp. 84-87. Includes Japanese transport ship names.
  • Willmott, Barrier, pp. 190-192, 195-197. US OOB including land-based bomber numbers.
  1. ^ The two oilers carried a total of 153,000 barrels. TF11 and TF17 together burned about 11,400 barrels a day at normal cruising speed. (Lundstrom (2006), p. 135).
  2. ^ Cressman, p. 84; Millot, p. 53, 157. Millot states that Tangier was forced to remain at Noumea because, since it was a naval asset under Nimitz and Fletcher, it was not allowed to operate in MacArthur's area. Thus, the ship's catalinas were too far away to patrol the area of the Coral Sea where the battle took place. The two PBY squadrons on Tangier were VP71 and VP73. One squadron of six arrived on 3 May. The planes had a 700 mile search radius, allowing them to reach just short of San Cristobal and Rennell Island (Lundstrom (2006), p. 134).