The Battle of the Coral Sea - Part 1, Where are the Enemy? - Animated

this video is sponsored by call of war a free online player versus player strategy game where you can lead a real nation during world war ii research and make best use of tanks aircraft and other weapons to fight with up to 100 real players at a time in exciting real-time combat declare war on your neighbours or forge alliances as strong as the allies in world war ii fight battles and take over the world in hard-fought campaigns that can last weeks hall of war is cross-platform so you can compete with your friends on both pc and mobile on the same account to find out who is the ultimate general the operations room fans who sign up by clicking the unique link below will receive 13 000 gold and a month of premium subscription completely free don't miss out as the offer is only available for 30 days so click the link in the description below choose your country and start fighting your way to victory it's the first of may 1942 and sailing out of the foreboding japanese naval bastion in the central pacific truck lagoon is a carrier striking force centered on the fleet carriers shikaku and tsuikaku escorted by a force of heavy cruisers and destroyers they are the strike force of task force mo and are sailing in conjunction with four more japanese naval task forces as part of operation ammo the ambitious and complex plan is to result in the seizure of port moresby on the south coast of the territory of papa seizing port moresby will extend japan's defensive perimeter even further into the south pacific provide japanese aircraft an invaluable base from which to attack allied supply lines to australia and to attack australia itself however us navy code breakers at station hypo in pearl harbor warn that the japanese are likely about to launch an operation against port moresby given the supreme strategic importance of port moresby commander in chief of the pacific ocean area admiral chester nimitz knows it has to be defended nimitz orders fleet carriers uss yorktown with task force 17 and uss lexington with task force 11 commanded by rear admiral frank fletcher to steam to the coral sea nimitz's orders are clear check further the advance of the enemy in the new guinea solomon area by destroying enemy ships shipping and aircraft for the japanese overseeing the delicate operation is 4th fleet commander vice admiral inoye the force is under his command task force mo is widely dispersed over the region the tulaki invasion force will sail to the island of tulagi north of the soon-to-be famous island of cuadel guadalcanal and establish a seaplane base there on may the 3rd facilitating long-range reconnaissance of the area the port mosby invasion force is to sail toward the louisiana archipelago through the jomard pass and capture port moresby on may the 10th both invasion forces will be covered by the ammo main force comprised of the light carrier shoho escorted by heavy cruisers and a destroyer a covering force will establish seaplane bases to scout for the japanese task forces as they progress toward port mosby first at de boin island then at cape rodney finally the objective of the ammo carrier striking force is to destroy any american aircraft carriers the japanese increasingly suspect are lurking in the region in order to avoid detection by allied reconnaissance aircraft the carriers will sail north of the solomons and enter the coral sea to the east of san cristobal island but first the carrier striking force begins the straightforward secondary mission of reinforcing the japanese base at rabul with 9-0 fighter aircraft but after takeoff bad weather forces the zeroes back compelling the carrier striking force to remain in the area and try again the next day delaying their progress by one day in the meantime american army air force's reconnaissance aircraft are reporting that japanese warships are sailing down towards the eastern solomons these sightings are verified with new intelligence from station hypo that indicates the japanese intend to seize tulagi on may the 3rd the tulaki invasion force occupies the undefended island and promptly begins work to construct a seaplane ramp meanwhile bad weather intervenes again to stop the carrier striking force successfully delivering the nine zeroes to reball determined to achieve air superiority over the allies at port moresby the delivery of the zeroes to reball is regarded as crucial and the carriers remain in the area further south is admiral fletcher's task force 17 with task force 11 following not far behind as the lexington finishes refuelling at 7 pm fletcher receives the first report of the japanese arrival at tulagi he hopes he can strike the tulage invasion force at the exact point it is most exposed unloading men and material off the coast fletcher moves task 417 north to be in position the following morning to attack the japanese at tulagi believing lexington of task force 11 to still be refueling at dawn on the 4th of may task force 17 arrives 100 miles south of guadalcanal at just after 7 a.m the first of a 40 aircraft strike takes off from the yorktown a force of 28 dauntless sbd dive bombers and 12 devastator tbd torpedo bombers fly toward tulagi flying guadalcanal on route they fly over guadalcanal central heights and over the stretch of sea that will in the coming months see fierce naval fighting earning the nickname iron bottom sound at 8 20 am they launched their attack on the japanese warships off tulagi although japanese flack is very light the attack is uncoordinated the sbd dive bomber pilots find their bomb sites fogging up as they dive on their targets whilst the tbd torpedo bomber pilots equally struggle to strike accurately throughout may the 4th three more strikes are launched against tulagi and york's town's flyers report that they have sunk or heavily damaged over 10 japanese warships including a number of cruisers however the truth is much less spectacular and having expended a vast amount of munitions only the destroyer kikuzaki and a few small auxiliary warships have actually been sunk seeking to avoid a potential japanese counter-strike fletcher moves task 417 south at speed as soon as admiral takagi commanding the carrier strike force is informed of the attack he suspends his own refuelling and moves his task force south east with hopes of finding an american carrier but by daybreak on may the 5th task 417 has regrouped with task force 11 and together they move southeast as the yorktown is refueled at 1100 hours a type 97 flying boat is shot down by a wildcat from yorktown although it does not report back to headquarters the failure of the aircraft to return gives the japanese an inclination as to where an american carrier could be by evening of may the 5th the japanese carrier striking force enters the coral sea by may the 6th fletcher decides to merge his two task forces into task 417 bringing the now single task force to 2 fleet carriers 8 cruisers and eleven destroyers in strength at 10 30 a.m with task force 17 following a course towards the luziad archipelago another japanese type 97 flying boat which is picked up by american radar cites and reports back the location of task force 17. however the location report is off by 50 miles and is received by the carrier striking force as it is refueling it is midday by the time it is able to head south in pursuit even so the japanese officer in tactical command of the carriers rear admiral hara decides against mounting a long-range air search or strike fearing that doing so will expose that japanese carriers are now operating in the coral sea thus as the carrier striking force moves south on the evening of may the 6th hara is completely blind to the fact that tarswell 17 is just 70 miles away and at 7 30 pm the carrier striking force turns back to the north over on taskful 17 after a day of fruitless reconnaissance suites for the japanese forces and carriers that they believe are heading down the solomon sea towards the luziard archipelago fletcher is just as blind to the fact that the enemy's carriers are so close but knowing the japanese aircraft picked up on radar earlier in the day has likely exposed his position and according to the allied intelligence the japanese will likely be transiting the dromad passage the next day fletcher increases the speed of task force 17 hoping to be in position on may 7th to attack the japanese task forces believed to be passing through the luziad archipelago at sunrise on may the 7th task force 17 is 150 miles south of rossell island allied reconnaissance aircraft and sbds continue to search for the japanese carriers meant to be operating south of bougainville island moreover fletcher chooses to dispatch three cruisers and three destroyers commanded by british rear admiral grace to stop the ammo invasion force getting through the luziard archipelago if the american carriers are neutralized in turn the japanese dispatched seaplanes from reball shortland and tulagi and from the recently secured des boin island in an effort to locate any american carriers the situation is becoming so pressing that hara breaks with doctrine and orders 12 kate carrier attack aircraft to search out 250 miles in front of the japanese carriers it seems likely that the first side to accurately locate and strike the enemy will ultimately prevail between 7 22 am and 7 45 two japanese kates finally report citing an american carrier escorted by a cruiser and three destroyers hara orders a strike and just 30 minutes later a full strike package of 18 zeroes 24 k torpedo bombers and 26 val dive bombers are on route to attack the american carrier at this exact moment fletcher receives news and sbd has just reported citing two japanese carriers and four cruisers cited out of range of most of his aircraft fletcher pushes taskful 17 forward with the intention of launching a full strike at the first opportunity as the japanese aircraft arrive at the location of the reported american carrier all they find is the lonely fleet oiler neosho escorted by the destroyer uss sims who had been ordered to relocate away from the danger the day before consequently the japanese aircraft spread out hoping to locate more american warships even worse for the japanese a float plane reports back to hara that it has cited an american carrier that is at this very moment launching a full strike it has just caught sight of the 93 aircraft strong strike task 417 has just launched comprising 18 wildcats 53 sbds and 22 tbd's the americans soon receive their own dose of confusion as upon returning to yorktown the pilot who supposedly sighted the two japanese carriers and four cruisers earlier denies that this was the report he transmitted and that he actually only saw two cruisers and two destroyers only now does he realize his transmission was incorrectly coded it dawns upon fletcher that he has just sent his aircraft to attack a few unimportant japanese warships fletcher berates the pilot telling him you have just cost the united states to carry it despite this fletcher decides against recalling the strike hoping his aircraft can attack the ammo invasion force that he believes to be somewhere nearby at 10 22 am a land-based b-17 on a reconnaissance mission locates a carrier and two escorting warships just 35 miles southeast of the original sighting and task force 17 aircraft are redirected at almost the exact same time the american fleet oiler nyo show reports being attacked by japanese aircraft adding even more confusion to the already confused situation fletcher shocked realizes the japanese carriers must be behind task 417 albeit with their intention firmly in the wrong direction with so many american aircraft patrolling the region and now knowing that an american carrier force is nearby vice admiral inoye decides to turn the ammo invasion force north of course it will ultimately never return from adding to the potential danger rear admiral grace's task group 2 has been sighted south of the jomant passage it must be eliminated before the japanese can continue south near the nyosho and sims unable to find any more american warships the zeroes and capes depart the area but the vowels remain to sink the oiler and her escort sims becomes the target of the first four vowels they strike her with three 550 pound bombs cutting the destroyer in two and killing 178 of her 192 crew neosho then becomes the focus of the remaining vowels who smother her with seven 550-pound bombs leaving only a third of her crew alive and the ship a flaming wreck even so neosho will somehow remain afloat for four more days when on may the 11th an american destroyer finally rescues the remaining crew and scuttles the ship as the sims sinks and the neosho burns the american carrier aircraft get their first glimpse of a japanese carrier in the distance they have found the ammo main force including light carrier shoho the small carrier only has three fighters flying combat air patrol a solitary zero and two older type 96 fighters spotting the approaching aircraft shoho's captain orders a sharp turn to port as sbds from lexington prepare their attack three dive on the show ho but with the carrier turning sharply they all miss a further 10 sbds dive on the show ho but again all miss whilst japanese anti-aircraft fire is proving ineffective the lone zero is able to shoot down an sbd pulling up from a dive but shoho's luck runs out and the second group of lexington's sbds hit shoho with two one thousand pound bombs the explosions caused huge fires throughout her hangar deck now lexington's tbd's begin their attack powering through a gap in the escorting cruisers they press home with an anvil attack striking the shoho with five torpedoes the impacts cause massive flooding and ensure that shoho will sink after the devastating attack by lexington's aircraft yorktown's aircraft now arrive although shoho is ablaze flooding and clearly neutralized nearly all of yorktown's 25 sbds attack the stricken carrier scoring another 11 confirmed 1000 pound bomb hits choppo comes to an abrupt halt unable to move she is then attacked by yorktown's tbd's who hit her with up to 10 more torpedoes under such an overwhelming attack shoko is simply blown to pieces and disappears beneath the waves taking 631 of her 834 crew with her although yorktown's flyers should have attacked shoho's escorting cruisers fletcher's flyers have done well with the shoho being the first japanese carrier sunk in the war as the americans return to their carriers bad weather sets in and fletcher decides against launching another strike as the day draws in south east of the joman passage rear admiral grace's detached task group is attacked from land-based japanese aircraft based at rabul first by 12 torpedo-armed g3m bombers who launched their torpedoes too early with 5 being shot down then 19 more attack from high altitude with bombs and again all miss later they are even attacked by three us army b-26 bombers who again miss leading grace to comment fortunately their bombing like that of the japanese a few minutes earlier was disgraceful with the destruction of shoho admiral inouye halts the advance of the mo invasion force for two days judging the situation too risky to continue for the japanese it is obvious from the number of aircraft used to sink the shoho that two american carriers are active in the region it is imperative that they are quickly eliminated if operation mo is to succeed the days leading up to this moment have been a classic example of the difficulties brought upon by the fog of war human error and blind luck with both sides desperately trying to seek out and destroy the other whilst remaining hidden themselves thus far the japanese have lost a light carrier destroyer and a few smaller warships whilst the americans have lost a fleet oiler and a destroyer yet both carrier forces are still as determined as ever to seek out and destroy one another and a great clash is inevitable tomorrow the 8th of may 1942 a brutal carrier battle will rage in the coral sea call of war is a free online player vs player strategy game that takes place in world war ii click the link in the description below for 13 000 gold and 1 month of premium for free choose your country and fight your way to victory today [Music] you

Channel: The Operations Room

Views: 203,867

Rating: 4.9756837 out of 5

Keywords: Time-Lapse, History, Second World War, ww2, Documentary, Aircraft Carrier, aircraft, time lapse, animated, war, the pacific, uss yorktown, uss enterprise, coral sea

Id: U0K0Sqsg4cU

Length: 17min 52sec (1072 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 18 2021