Turning the Tide: The Naval Air Battles of the Coral Sea and Midway

America was still reeling from Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor as the Japanese fleet was running amok in and around the Java Sea. Within months, Japan had occupied most of Southeast Asia. Flushed with "victory disease," the Imperial Japanese Army decided to go after Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea, and asked the Japanese Navy for help in occupying the port. The IJA also wanted the IJN to seize control of the nearby Coral sea, and as a follow-up, to clear the waters around Guadalcanal of Allied ships. The consequent Battle of Coral Sea resulted in a strategic victory for the U.S. in that it thwarted the Japanese plan to occupy Port Moresby, and the failure of Japan's massive fleet to occupy Midway a few months later meant Japan would have to shrink her outer defense perimeter. It also meant that Japan's grandiose expansion plans came to a grinding halt, and that prospects for a victorious war were beginning to quickly fade.