(VMF-221) to bolster that island's defenses and embarked civilian evacuees. She returned to Pearl Harbor on the last day of 1941. Coral Sea On 11 February 1942, Tangier put to sea again and headed, via Pago Pago and Suva, to New Caledonia. She arrived in Noumea on 3 March and relieved Curtiss as tender for six PBY Catalina flying boats. For the next three and one-half months, she performed routine tender services for PBYs flying long-range searches to the north of New Caledonia, almost as far as the lower Solomons. In late April and early May, her group of seaplanes was increased to 12 in anticipation of a fleet action in the Coral Sea. When the battle came to pass, however, her planes had to content themselves with rescuing survivors of the destroyer and oiler , sunk on 7 May by the Japanese who mistook them for a cruiser and carrier, respectively, and of the torpedoed Greek freighter SS Chloe. The search continued until 13 May, days after the end of the crucial battle. Coral Sea was a tactical victory for the Japanese—the U.S. Navy lost more tonnage—but a strategic victory for the U.S. It stopped the southward advance of Imperial Japanese forces and set the stage for the American victory in the Battle of Midway by temporarily robbing the Japanese of two of their newest fleet carriers: and . Shōkaku was incapacitated by battle damage, and Zuikaku lost a high percentage of her veteran aviators. After their rescue operations for survivors of Allied ships lost in the Coral Sea action, Tangiers planes resumed normal search operations. On 30 May, two of her planes were forced down at sea by fuel shortage, and a third crashed near Maré Island in the Loyalty group. Destroyer went out to aid the two planes. One was refueled and returned safely, but the other could not take off and had to be sunk. The crew of the third plane reached safety at Mare Island. On 20 June, Tangier was relieved by Curtiss and, the following day, got underway for the west coast. She reached Pearl Harbor on Independence Day 1942 and stood out again three days later. On the 15th, she arrived in San Francisco and immediately began overhaul. 1943 Tangier completed overhaul in September and, after loading aviation equipment at the Alameda Naval Air Station, departed San Francisco for Pearl Harbor, Suva, and