Coral Sea: After Action Report
Famously, the Battle of the Coral Sea was the first naval action where the opposition ships never saw each other. All of the offensive action was carried out by aircraft, particularly the carrier bombers of […]
Articles by PE Matt
Sikorsky S-42
In 1931 Pan Am president Juan Trippe solicited designs from six different companies for an aircraft to fly long distance, transoceanic passenger and airmail routes. Of the six companies, only Martin with their ambitious M-130 […]
Coral Sea: The Attack on Task Force 17
As Fletcher’s Task Force 17 was launching its strike on the MO Striking Force, RAdm Chuichi Hara was likewise sending his fliers out to hit the American carriers. The Zuikaku and Shokaku launched seven B5Ns […]
Coral Sea: The Shokaku Attack
During the night of the 7th/8th, MO Striking Force was ordered to sail closer to the MO Invasion Force in order to give it additional support following the loss of the Shoho. VAdm Takeo Takagi […]
Coral Sea: Searching for the Enemy
As part of Task Force 17, Admiral Frank J. Fletcher had been provided with a force of cruisers and destroyers from General MacArthur’s Australia-based naval contingent. These ships – the cruisers USS Chicago, HMAS Australia […]
The Sims and the Neosho
Task Force 17 was not the only carrier force to be striking the enemy on the 7th of May. The Japanese MO Striking Force, tasked with supporting the MO Invasion Force as it approached Port […]
The Action off Misima
Having completed his attack on Tulagi, Admiral Fletcher spent most of the 5th of May organising his forces and refuelling his ships, prior to the expected confrontation with the Japanese. His carriers, Yorktown and Lexington, […]
The Tulagi Raid
The Japanese, having completed their conquest of the Netherlands East Indies and Malaya, began to look at activating second-stage operations that would help to secure the perimeter of their new possessions. In April 1942 the […]
CXAM Air Search Radar
During the early 1920s many radio operators had noticed unusual phenomena when large metal objects like ships or aircraft passed between a radio transmitter and receiver. Gradually scientists realised that this was due to radio […]
Curtiss SBC Helldiver
The Curtiss SBC was derived from the prototype XF12C fighter, which was a monoplane with a high mounted parasol wing. This design proved to be extremely flawed when the mission of the XF12C was changed […]