The Battle of the Coral Sea

[cmort666]

I think you are correct on the IJA trying again. I seem to remember reading something on it but-many years ago.

I think I read about it many years ago in a book on Mongolia.

 

[Dennis The B]

Back to the Coral Sea battle. Adm. King and his staff in Washington did not believe the intel that was coming out of Nimitz' staff at Pearl Harbor and ordered the fleet moved away from the area. Nimitz basically lied to King about the location of the fleet and so was in position to face the Japanese. They then had to beat feet back to Pearl to get ready for the battle of Midway which was even more important tactically but probably not as important strategically. The Coral Sea kept Australia in the war and the shipping lanes open.

Admiral King was hide-bound to his intelligence section based in D.C. They had short shrifted Admiral Nimitz's intel section since the start of the war. Joseph Rochefort's staff, along with Edwin Layton, were miles ahead in decoding the Japanese Navy's code. Both Rochefort and Layton were experts in the Japanese language and crypt-analysis.

The internecine rivalry was nearly fatal. And Nimitz was correct in misleading Admiral King. Otherwise, Midway may have resulted in a loss.

In the movie "Midway", Admiral Nimitz is characterized as going after the Japanese fleet on a "hunch". Far from it, Nimitz acted on well reasoned intelligence, and LCMDR Rochefort was far from the character portrayed by Hal Holbrook.

Even after the Japanese revised JN25, the intel staffs at Pearl Harbor, were primary in resolving the new changes. FDR also had Nimitz's back; big asset!