The Battle of the Coral Sea was a battle fought from May 4, 1942 to May 8, 1942. It was a major naval battle in the Pacific Ocean during World War II. The battle was between the Japanese Navy and Allied naval and air forces from the United States and Australia. The battle was the first battle between aircraft carriers. It was also the first naval battle in which the warships of neither side actually saw the warships of the other side. Instead, each side sent planes to attack the ships of the other side.

Japanese forces made a plan to invade and occupy Port Moresby in New Guinea and Tulagi in the Solomon Islands. When the U.S. discovered this plan, it sent two Navy aircraft carrier groups and a combined Australian–American cruiser force.

On 3–4 May, Japanese forces invaded and occupied Tulagi. The Japanese aircraft carriers entered the Coral Sea to try to destroy the Allied naval forces.

On 7 May, the carrier forces from the two sides sent planes to attack the ships of the other side. The first day, the U.S. sank the Japanese light carrier Shōhō, while the Japanese sank a U.S. destroyer. The next day, the Japanese carrier Shōkaku was badly damaged, and the U.S. carriers Lexington and the Yorktown were damaged. Since both sides suffered heavy losses in aircraft and carriers, the two fleets stopped the battle.

The Japanese sank more ships than the U.S. However, the battle was considered a victory for the Allies because the Japanese forces were not able to capture the locations they were hoping to occupy.  As well, the Japanese carriers Shōkaku and Zuikaku were not able to fight in the Battle of Midway, which helped the U.S. to win there.  Japan's losses of carriers meant that they could not invade Port Moresby.  Two months later, the Allies launched the Guadalcanal Campaign.

Background

Japanese expansion
On 7 December 1941, using aircraft carriers, the Japanese attacked the U.S. Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The attack destroyed most of the U.S. Pacific Fleet's battleships. It also started a state of war between the two nations. The Japanese wanted to destroy American navy ships, capture land with natural resources, and obtain military bases to defend their empire.

At the same time that they were attacking Pearl Harbor, the Japanese attacked Malaya. This caused the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand to join the United States as Allies in the war against Japan (Australia had joined World War 2 in 1939 when Germany invaded Poland). The goals of the Japanese battles in the war were to remove British and Americans from the Netherlands Indies and the Philippines.

In the first few months of 1942, Japanese forces attacked and captured the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, the Netherlands East Indies, Wake Island, New Britain, the Gilbert Islands, and Guam. They also destroyed a lot of Allied land, naval, and air forces. Japan planned to use these lands to defend its empire.

Shortly after the war began, Japan's Naval General Staff wanted to invade Northern Australia. The goal was to prevent Australia from being used as a base to threaten Japan's defenses in the South Pacific.

The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) said it did not have the forces or ships to invade Australia. Vice Admiral Shigeyoshi Inoue, commander of the IJN's 4th Fleet (also called the South Seas Force) had the idea of capturing Tulagi in the southeastern Solomon Islands and Port Moresby in New Guinea.

This  would put northern Australia within range of Japanese land-based aircraft. Japan decided to capture New Caledonia, Fiji, and Samoa. This would make it hard for the United States to supply Australia.

In April 1942, the army and navy developed a plan called Operation MO. The plan was to invade Port Moresby by 10 May. The plan also included capturing Tulagi on 2–3 May. This would give the navy a base for attacks against Allied territories and forces in the South Pacific.

When MO was done, the navy planned to do Operation RY. This was a plan to capture Nauru and Ocean Island for their phosphate deposits on 15 May.

Further attacks against Fiji, Samoa and New Caledonia were planned. There was a damaging air attack by Allied aircraft on Japanese naval forces invading the Lae-Salamaua area in New Guinea in March. Inoue requested carriers to provide airplanes. Inoue was worried about Allied bombers at air bases in Townsville and Cooktown, Australia.

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, commander of Japan's Combined Fleet, was planning an attack for June. He wanted to try to destroy the U.S. Navy's carriers. None were damaged in the Pearl Harbor attack.

Allied response
Unknown to the Japanese, the U.S. Navy had decoded Japanese secret codes. By March 1942, the U.S. was able to figure out up to 15% of the IJN's code. By the end of April the Americans were reading up to 85% of the messages in code.

In March 1942, the U.S. first noticed the MO operation in messages. On 13 April, the British decoded an IJN message telling Inoue that the Fifth Carrier Division, consisting of the fleet carriers  and , was being sent. The British sent the message to the Americans. They also said that Port Moresby would probably be attacked in the MO plan.

Admiral Chester Nimitz, the new commander of Allied forces in the Pacific, and his staff thought the Japanese were planning an attack in early May on Port Moresby. The Allies saw Port Moresby as an important base for attacking the Japanese. Nimitz's staff also thought that the Japanese might attack Allied bases in Samoa and at Suva.

Nimitz sent all four of the Pacific fleet's aircraft carriers to the Coral Sea. By 27 April, Japanese messages helped the allies to know most targets of the MO and RY plans.

On 29 April, Nimitz sent his four carriers and their supporting warships towards the Coral Sea. Task Force 17 consisted of the carrier , three cruisers and four destroyers. It was supported by two oilers and two destroyers.

Task Force 11 consisted of the carrier  with two cruisers. TF 16 included the carriers  and the USS Hornet, but they were too far away.

Nimitz put Fletcher in command of Allied naval forces in the South Pacific area until Halsey arrived Halsey was told to command all three task forces once TF 16 arrived in the Coral Sea area (Lundstrom, Pearl Harbor to Midway, p. 167).

The Japanese thought that all but one of the U.S. Navy's carriers were in the central Pacific. The Japanese did not know the location of the other carrier, but they did not expect an American carrier response to MO until the attacks had begun.

Battle

Prelude
During late April, the Japanese submarines  and  searched the area where landings were planned. The submarines explored Rossel Island and the Deboyne Group area and the route to Port Moresby. They did not see any Allied ships and returned to Rabaul on 23 and 24 April.

The Japanese Port Moresby Invasion Force, commanded by Rear Admiral Kōsō Abe, included 11 transport ships carrying about 5,000 soldiers from the IJA's South Seas Detachment plus 500 more troops.

This included one light cruiser and six destroyers under the command of Rear Admiral Sadamichi Kajioka. Abe's ships departed Rabaul for the  trip to Port Moresby on 4 May and were joined by Kajioka's force the next day. The ships, planned to arrive at Port Moresby by 10 May.

The Allied forces at Port Moresby had 5,333 men, but only half of these were infantry and all had poor equipment and little training.

Leading the invasion of Tulagi was the Tulagi Invasion Force. It was commanded by Rear Admiral Kiyohide Shima. It consisted of two minelayers, two destroyers, six minesweepers, two subchasers, and a transport ship carrying about 400 troops. Supporting the Tulagi force was the light carrier , four heavy cruisers, and one destroyer, commanded by Rear Admiral Aritomo Gotō.

There was a separate force commanded by Rear Admiral Kuninori Marumo. It consisted of two light cruisers, the seaplane tender , and three gunboats. Inoue directed MO from the cruiser . He arrived on 4 May.

Gotō's force left Truk on 28 April and stayed near New Georgia Island. Marumo's support group left New Ireland to establish a seaplane base on 2 May to support the Tulagi attack. Shima's invasion force left Rabaul on 30 April.

The Carrier Strike Force with carriers Zuikaku and Shōkaku, two heavy cruisers, and six destroyers left from Truk on 1 May. The strike force was commanded by Vice Admiral Takeo Takagi (flag on cruiser ).  Rear Admiral Chūichi Hara, on Zuikaku, commanded the carrier air forces.

The Carrier Strike Force was to enter the Coral Sea south of Guadalcanal. Once in the Coral Sea, the carriers were to provide airplanes for the invasion forces, destroy Allied airplanes at Port Moresby, and destroy any Allied naval forces in the Coral Sea.

Takagi's carriers were to deliver nine Zero fighter aircraft to Rabaul. Bad weather during two attempts to make the delivery made the aircraft to return to the carriers. One of the Zeros crashed in the ocean.

To find out if any Allied naval forces were coming, the Japanese sent submarines to wait southwest of Guadalcanal. Fletcher's forces got into the Coral Sea area before the submarines arrived and the Japanese did not see them. Another sub was sent to explore around Nouméa. It was attacked by Yorktown aircraft on 2 May.

On the morning of 1 May, Fletcher sent TF11 to refuel. TF 17 completed refueling the next day. Fletcher took TF 17 northwest towards the Louisiades and ordered TF 11 to meet TF 44 on 4 May. TF 44 was a joint Australia–U.S. warship force under MacArthur's command. It was led by Australian Rear Admiral John Crace. It was made up of the cruisers , , and .

Tulagi
Early on 3 May, Shima's force arrived off Tulagi and the naval troops began to occupy the island. Tulagi was undefended. The small guard of Australian commandos and a Royal Australian Air Force group left before Shima's arrival. The Japanese forces built a seaplane and communications base.

At 17:00 on 3 May, Fletcher was told that the Japanese Tulagi invasion force had been seen.  TF 17 went towards Guadalcanal to launch air attacks against the Japanese forces at Tulagi.

On 4 May, from a position  south of Guadalcanal (), 60 aircraft from TF 17 launched three attacks against Shima's forces off Tulagi. Yorktowns aircraft sank the destroyer Kikuzuki () and three of the minesweepers, damaged four other ships, and destroyed four seaplanes. The Americans lost one dive bomber and two fighters. Even though the Japanese forces were harmed by the carrier strikes, they kept building the seaplane base. They began flying from Tulagi by 6 May.

Takagi's Carrier Striking Force was north of Tulagi when it learned of Fletcher's strike on 4 May. Takagi sent  planes to search for the American carriers, but the planes found nothing.

Air searches and decisions
At 08:16 on 5 May, TF 17 met up with TF 11 and TF 44 south of Guadalcanal. At the same time, four F4F Wildcat fighter aircraft from Yorktown shot down a Kawanishi Type 97 aircraft from the Yokohama Air Group.

A message from Pearl Harbor told Fletcher that Japanese planned to land their troops at Port Moresby on 10 May and their carriers would be close to the invasion group. Fletcher planned to take his forces north towards the Louisiades.

Takagi's carrier force entered the Coral Sea in the early morning hours of 6 May.

On 6 May, Fletcher joined TF 11 and TF 44 into TF 17. He thought the Japanese carriers were still well to the north. American planes did not find the Japanese naval forces, because they were located beyond the planes' range.

At 10:00, a Kawanishi flying boat from Tulagi saw TF 17 and sent a message to its headquarters. Takagi received the report at 10:50. At that time, Takagi's force was about  north of Fletcher. Takagi's ships were still refueling, so he was not yet ready to battle. Takagi sent his two carriers with two destroyers under Hara's command to head towards TF 17 at  so that they could attack the next day.

American B-17 bombers based in Australia attacked the Port Moresby invasion forces, including Gotō's warships, several times on 6 May without success. MacArthur's headquarters told Fletcher about the locations of the Japanese invasion forces. MacArthur's planes saw a carrier (Shōhō) about  northwest of TF17.

At 18:00, TF 17 completed fueling and Fletcher sent Neosho with a destroyer, , to wait further south. TF 17 then turned to head northwest towards Rossel Island. At 20:00 (), Hara met Takagi who completed refueling.

Late on 6 May or early on 7 May, Kamikawa Maru set up a seaplane base in the Deboyne Islands to help the invasion forces as they approached Port Moresby. The rest of Marumo's Cover Force waited near the D'Entrecasteaux Islands.

Carrier battle, first day

Morning strikes
At 06:25 on 7 May, TF 17 was  south of Rossel Island (). At this time, Fletcher sent Crace's cruiser and destroyer force out. When Crace's warships left, this reduced the anti-aircraft defenses for Fletcher's carriers. Fletcher wanted to make sure the Japanese invasion forces could not sneak through to Port Moresby while he was fighting with the Japanese carriers.

Fletcher thought Takagi's carrier force was north of his location.  Fletcher told  Yorktown to send 10 SBD dive bombers to search that area. Takagi launched 12 Type 97 carrier bombers at 06:00 to search for TF 17. Hara thought that Fletcher's ships were to the south. Gotō's cruisers  and  launched four Kawanishi E7K2 Type 94 floatplanes to search for the Americans. Each side got its carrier attack aircraft ready to launch once the enemy was located.

At 07:22 one of Takagi's carrier planes, from Shōkaku located American ships. At 07:45, the Japanese pilot located "one carrier, one cruiser, and three destroyers". Hara thought that he had found the American carriers. Hara launched all of his available aircraft. A total of 78 aircraft—18 Zero fighters, 36 Type 99 dive bombers, and 24 torpedo aircraft—began flying from Shōkaku and Zuikaku at 08:00.

At 08:20, one aircraft found Fletcher's carriers. Takagi and Hara continued with the attack on the ships to their south. They also turned their carriers towards the northwest to get closer to the Americans. Takagi and Hara thought that the U.S. carrier forces might be operating in two groups.

At 08:15, a Yorktown plane saw Gotō's force. He reported two carriers and four heavy cruisers" at ,  northwest of TF17. Fletcher thought he had found the Japanese main carrier force. He ordered all available carrier aircraft to attack. By 10:13, the American force of 93 aircraft – 18 F4F Wildcats, 53 SBD dive bombers, and 22 TBD Devastator torpedo bombers were flying. At 10:12, however, Fletcher received a report from three United States Army B-17s of an aircraft carrier, ten transports, and 16 warships.

Believing that this was the main Japanese carrier force, Fletcher directed the airplanes towards this target.

At 09:15, Takagi's force sighted Neosho and Sims. Takagi now realized the American carriers were between him and the invasion forces. Takagi ordered his aircraft to attack Neosho and Sims. At 11:15, the 36 dive bombers attacked the two American ships.

Four dive bombers attacked Sims and the rest attacked Neosho. The destroyer was hit by three bombs, broke in half, and sank, killing all but 14 of her 192-man crew. Neosho was hit by seven bombs. Heavily damaged and without power, Neosho was sinking. Neosho told Fletcher by radio that she was under attack.

The American aircraft sighted Shōhō at 10:40 and attacked. The Japanese carrier was protected by six Zeros and two Type 96 'Claude' fighters flying combat air patrol (CAP). Gotō's cruisers surrounded the carrier.

Attacking first, Lexingtons air group hit Shōhō with two  bombs and five torpedoes, causing severe damage. At 11:00, Yorktowns air group attacked the burning carrier with 11 more  bombs and two torpedoes. Torn apart, Shōhō sank at 11:35 (). Gotō sent his warships to the north, but sent the destroyer  to rescue survivors. Only 203 of the carrier's 834-man crew were rescued. Three American aircraft were lost in the attack. All of Shōhōs aircraft were lost. At 12:10, a pilot told TF 17 that the attack was successful.

Afternoon operations
The American aircraft returned and landed on their carriers by 13:38. By 14:20, the aircraft ready to launch against the Port Moresby Invasion Force or Gotō's cruisers. Fletcher was worried that he did not know where the other Japanese fleet carriers were. Allied forces thought that up to four Japanese carriers might be nearby. Fletcher turned TF17 southwest.

When Inoue was told that Shōhō had been sunk, he ordered the invasion convoy to pull back to the north. He ordered Takagi to destroy the American carrier forces. As the invasion convoy pulled back, it was bombed by eight U.S. Army B-17s, but was not damaged. Gotō and Kajioka were told to place their ships south of Rossel Island for a night battle if the American ships got close enough.

At 12:40, a seaplane saw Crace's force. At 13:15, an aircraft from Rabaul saw Crace's force. Takagi turned his carriers west at 13:30 and told Inoue at 15:00 that the US carriers were too far away to attack them that day.

Inoue's men sent attack aircraft from Rabaul towards Crace. The first group included 12 torpedo-armed Type 1 bombers and the second group was 19 Mitsubishi Type 96 aircraft armed with bombs. Both groups found and attacked Crace's ships at 14:30. Crace's ships were undamaged and shot down four Type 1s. A short time later, three U.S. Army B-17s bombed Crace by accident, but caused no damage.

Crace radioed Fletcher that he could not complete his mission without airplanes. Crace moved southward. Crace's ships were low on fuel.

Takagi's staff thought that the Allied ships would be close enough to attack before nightfall. Takagi and Hara decided to attack with aircraft, even though they would have to return after dark.

To try to confirm the location of the American carriers, at 15:15 Hara eight torpedo bombers to look  westward. The dive bombers returned from their attack on Neosho and landed. At 16:15 Hara launched 12 dive bombers and 15 torpedo planes with orders to try to find the American ships.

At 17:47, TF 17 detected the Japanese forces on radar heading in their direction. The Americans sent 11 CAP Wildcats to attack the Japanese planes. The Wildcats shot down seven torpedo bombers and one dive bomber, and heavily damaged another torpedo bomber. Three Wildcats were lost.

The Japanese leaders canceled the mission and returned to their carriers. The sun set at 18:30. Several of the Japanese dive bombers found the American carriers in the darkness and tried to land on them. Anti-aircraft fire from TF 17's destroyers sent them away. By 20:00, TF 17 and Takagi were about  apart. Takagi turned on his ships' searchlights to help the 18 surviving aircraft get back.

At 15:18 and 17:18 Neosho radioed TF 17 that she was sinking. Fletcher knew his only nearby fuel supply was gone.

As nightfall ended aircraft flights for the day, Fletcher ordered TF 17 to head west. Crace also turned west. Inoue told Takagi to destroy the U.S. carriers the next day. He delayed the Port Moresby landings to 12 May. Takagi took his carriers  north during the night to protect the invasion convoy. Gotō and Kajioka were unable to attack the Allied warships at night.

Both sides spent the night preparing their aircraft for the battle. In 1972, U.S. Vice Admiral H. S. Duckworth said Coral Sea was the most confused battle area in world history." Hara said he was so frustrated with the "poor luck" the Japanese had on 7 May that he felt like quitting the navy.

Carrier battle, second day

Attack on the Japanese carriers
At 06:15 on 8 May, Hara launched seven torpedo bombers to search the area south from the Japanese carriers. Three Kawanishi Type 97s from Tulagi and four Type 1 bombers from Rabaul also helped in the search. At 07:00, the carrier force turned to the southwest and was joined by two of Gotō's cruisers,  and . The invasion convoy, Gotō, and Kajioka moved east of Woodlark Island.

At 06:35, TF 17 launched 18 SBDs to search for Japanese ships. The skies over the American carriers were mostly clear.

At 08:20, a Lexington SBD spotted the Japanese carriers and told TF 17. Two minutes later, a Shōkaku plane saw TF 17 and told Hara. The two forces were about  away from each other. Both sides got ready to launch their aircraft.

At 09:15, the Japanese carriers launched 18 fighters, 33 dive bombers, and 18 torpedo planes. The American carriers each launched a separate attack. Yorktowns group consisted of six fighters, 24 dive bombers, and nine torpedo planes. Lexingtons group was made up of nine fighters, 15 dive bombers, and 12 torpedo planes. Both the American and Japanese carrier forces turned to head directly for each other.

Yorktowns dive bombers reached the Japanese carriers at 10:32. At this time, Shōkaku and Zuikaku were about  apart, with Zuikaku hidden under clouds. The two carriers were protected by 16 CAP Zero fighters. The Yorktown dive bombers attacked at 10:57 on Shōkaku and hit the carrier with two  bombs, causing heavy damage to the carrier's flight and hangar decks. The Yorktown torpedo planes missed with all of their torpedoes. Two U.S. dive bombers and two CAP Zeros were shot down during the attack.

Lexingtons aircraft arrived and attacked at 11:30. Two dive bombers attacked Shōkaku, hitting the carrier with one  bomb, causing further damage. Two other dive bombers attacked Zuikaku, missing with their bombs. The rest of Lexingtons dive bombers were unable to find the Japanese carriers in the heavy clouds. Lexingtons TBDs missed Shōkaku with all 11 of their torpedoes. The 13 CAP Zeros on patrol shot down three Wildcats.

With her flight deck heavily damaged and 223 of her crew killed or wounded, Shōkaku was unable to launch any more planes.  At 12:10, Shōkaku and two destroyers pulled back to the northeast.

Attack on the U.S. carriers
At 10:55, Lexingtons radar detected the Japanese aircraft and sent nine Wildcats to attack the planes. Six of the Wildcats were too low, and they missed the Japanese aircraft as they passed by overhead. Because of the heavy losses in aircraft the night before, the Japanese could not do a full torpedo attack on both carriers. The Japanese sent 14 torpedo planes to attack Lexington and four to attack Yorktown. A Wildcat shot down one and 8 Yorktown SBDs destroyed three. Four SBDs were shot down by Zeros escorting the torpedo planes.

The Japanese attack began at 11:13 as the carriers, stationed  apart, fired with anti-aircraft guns. The four torpedo planes which attacked Yorktown all missed. The remaining torpedo planes hit Lexington with two Type 91 torpedoes. The first torpedo broke the aviation gasoline tanks. The second torpedo caused several of the boilers to stop working. Four of the Japanese torpedo planes were shot down by anti-aircraft fire.

The 33 Japanese dive bombers attacked after the torpedo attacks. The 19 Shōkaku dive bombers attacked Lexington while the remaining 14, attacked Yorktown. Zeros protected the dive bombers from four Lexington CAP Wildcats. Takahashi's bombers damaged Lexington with two bomb hits, causing fires which were put out by 12:33. At 11:27, Yorktown was hit in the center of her flight deck by a single , semi-armor-piercing bomb which penetrated four decks before exploding, causing severe damage and killing or seriously wounding 66 men. Up to 12 near misses damaged Yorktowns hull below the waterline. Two of the dive bombers were shot down by a CAP Wildcat during the attack.

As the Japanese aircraft completed their attacks and began to fly back, they were attacked by US planes.

Recovery, reassessment, and retreat
The planes, with many damaged aircraft, landed on their carriers between 12:50 and 14:30. Yorktown and Lexington were both able to land planes. Forty-six of the original 69 aircraft from the Japanese force returned. Three more Zeros, four dive bombers, and five torpedo planes were damaged beyond repair and were pushed into the ocean.

As TF 17 got its aircraft back, Fletcher thought about the situation. Fletcher knew both his carriers were hurt and that he had lost a lot of fighters. Fuel was also a problem due to the loss of Neosho. At 14:22, Fitch told Fletcher that there were two undamaged Japanese carriers. Fletcher pulled TF17 out from the battle. Fletcher radioed MacArthur the position of the Japanese carriers and suggested that he attack them with bombers.

Around 14:30, Hara informed Takagi that only 24 Zeros, eight dive bombers, and four torpedo planes from the carriers were working. Takagi was worried about his ships' fuel levels; his cruisers were at 50% and some of his destroyers were as low as 20%. At 15:00 Takagi said he had sunk two American carriers – Yorktown and a "-class". Inoue called the invasion convoy to Rabaul, postponed MO to 3 July, and ordered his forces to gather northeast of the Solomons to begin the RY operation.

Zuikaku and her escorts turned towards Rabaul while Shōkaku headed for Japan.

Aboard Lexington, an explosion killed 25 men and started a large fire. Around 14:42, another large explosion occurred, starting a second fire. A third explosion occurred at 15:25. Lexingtons crew began abandoning ship at 17:07. After the carrier's survivors were rescued, including Fitch and the carrier's captain, Frederick C. Sherman, at 19:15 the destroyer  fired five torpedoes into the burning ship, which sank in 2,400 fathoms at 19:52 ().

Two hundred and sixteen of the carrier's 2,951-man crew sunk with the ship, along with 36 aircraft. Phelps and the other warships left to rejoin Yorktown, which departed at 16:01, and TF17 moved to the southwest. Later that evening, MacArthur informed Fletcher that eight of his B-17s had attacked the invasion convoy and that it was moving to the northwest.

That evening, Crace sent Hobart, which was low on fuel, and the destroyer , which was having engine trouble, to Townsville. Crace remained on patrol in the Coral Sea in case the Japanese invasion force tried to go towards Port Moresby.

Significance

A new type of naval war
The battle was the first naval battle  in history in which the ships never saw or fired directly at each other. Instead,  aircraft were used to attack each other.

This was a carrier-versus-carrier battle. Neither commander had experience with this. The commanders had poor communications. This was hard, because the battle took place over a large area. The planes flew so fast that it meant there was not much time to make decisions.

The Japanese had problems because Inoue was too far away at Rabaul to direct his naval forces. Fletcher was on a carrier, so it was easier for him to direct his forces. The Japanese admirals did not share information quickly.

The experienced Japanese carrier aircrews did better than those of the U.S. The Japanese aircrews did more damage with the same number of aircraft. The Japanese attack on the American carriers on 8 May was better organized than the U.S. attack on the Japanese carriers.

The Japanese had much higher losses to their carrier aircrews. They lost ninety aircrew killed in the battle compared with thirty-five for the Americans. Japan's highly skilled carrier aircrews could not be replaced because the training programs could not produce enough new aircrew. There were not training programs to produce skilled pilots. Coral Sea was the start of Japan losing its experienced aircrews.

The Americans did learn from their mistakes in the battle. They made improvements to their carrier fighting approach. The Americans improved their anti-aircraft defences. Radar gave the Americans an advantage in this battle.

Following the loss of Lexington, improved methods for carrying airplane fuel and better ways of dealing with damage were developed by the Americans. Coordination between the Allied land-based air forces and the U.S. Navy was poor during this battle.

Japanese and U.S. carriers would fight again in the battles of Midway, the Eastern Solomons, and the Santa Cruz Islands in 1942, and the Philippine Sea in 1944. Each of these battles had an impact on what would happen in the Pacific War.

Tactical and strategic implications
Both sides claimed victory after the battle. In terms of ships lost, the Japanese won a victory by sinking an American fleet carrier, an oiler, and a destroyer – . The Americans sunk a light carrier, a destroyer, and several smaller warships – . Lexington was one quarter of U.S. carrier strength in the Pacific.  The Japanese public was told it was a victory.

The Allies won because the sea invasion of Port Moresby was stopped. This meant that supply lines between the U.S. and Australia were protected. Although pulling Yorktown away from the Coral Sea was like giving the sea area to the Japanese, the Japanese stopped their invasion plans.

The battle was the first time that a Japanese invasion force was stopped. This improved the morale of the Allies. The Allies had been defeated by the Japanese during the first six months of the Pacific War.

Port Moresby was important to the Allies. The US Navy said that the damage it did to the Japanese was greater than what it really did.

The battle affected the planning of both sides. Without in New Guinea, the Allied advance would have been more difficult. For the Japanese, the battle was seen as a problem. The battle showed the Japanese that American were not that good in battle. The Japanese thought that future carrier attacks against the U.S. would be successful.

Midway
One of the most important effects of the Coral Sea battle was the loss of  and .

Yamamoto wanted to use these carriers to battle American carriers at Midway (Shōhō was supposed to support the Japanese invasion ground forces). The Japanese thought that they sank two carriers in the Coral Sea, but this still left at least two more U.S. Navy carriers, Enterprise and Hornet, which could fight at Midway.

American carriers had more planes than Japanese carriers. The US also had land-based aircraft at Midway. This meant that the Japanese did not have more planes at Midway. The Americans would have three carriers at Midway, because Yorktown could still sail, even with the damage from Coral Sea. The U.S. Navy was able to repair Yorktown at Pearl Harbor between 27 and 30 May so that she could fight in the battle.

At Midway, 's aircraft were important in sinking two Japanese carriers. Yorktown also took a lot of the Japanese air attacks at Midway which would have been directed at the other American carriers.

The Americans worked hard to get the maximum number of forces for Midway. The Japanese did not try to include Zuikaku in the operation. The Japanese did not try to put the  Shōkaku aircrews with Zuikakus air groups or provide Zuikaku with new aircraft. Shōkaku had a damaged flight deck which required three months of repair in Japan.

Historians H. P. Willmott, Jonathan Parshall, and Anthony Tully think Yamamoto made an error in deciding support the MO. Since Yamamoto thought the big battle with the Americans would be at Midway, he should not have sent fleet carriers to less important battle like MO. Japanese naval forces were weakened at both the Coral Sea and Midway battles, which allowed the Allies to defeat them.

Yamamoto did not notice another thing about the Coral Sea battle. The Americans put their carriers the right place and time to fight the Japanese. U.S. Navy carrier aircrews showed skill and tried to do major damage to the Japanese carrier forces. Japan lost four fleet carriers at Midway, which made Japan start to lose the Pacific War.

Situation in the South Pacific
The Australians and U.S. forces in Australia were disappointed with the Battle of the Coral Sea. They thought that the MO operation was going to lead to an invasion of the Australian mainland. In a meeting held in late May, the Australian Advisory War Council said the battle was disappointing since the Allies knew about the Japanese plans.

General MacArthur told Australian Prime Minister John Curtin that Japanese forces could attack anywhere if supported by the IJN.

Because of the losses in carriers at Midway, the Japanese were unable to invade Port Moresby from the sea. Japan tried to capture Port Moresby by land. Japan began its attack towards Port Moresby along the Kokoda Track on 21 July from Buna and Gona.

By then, the Allies sent more troops to New Guinea. The added forces slowed and stopped the Japanese advance towards Port Moresby in September 1942.  They also stopped the Japanese from capturing an Allied base at Milne Bay.

The Allies tried their to use their victories at Coral Sea and Midway to try to win the war against Japan. The Allies chose Tulagi and Guadalcanal as their first attacks.

The failure of the Japanese to take Port Moresby, and their defeat at Midway, meant Tulagi was not protected by other Japanese bases. Tulagi was four hours flying time from Rabaul, the nearest large Japanese base.

On 7 August 1942, 11,000 U.S. Marines landed on Guadalcanal and 3,000 U.S. Marines landed on Tulagi and nearby islands. The Japanese troops on Tulagi and nearby islands killed in the Battle of Tulagi and Gavutu-Tanambogo. The U.S. Marines on Guadalcanal captured an airfield under construction by the Japanese.

This started the Guadalcanal and Solomon Islands Campaigns. These resulted in a number of battles between Allied and Japanese forces over the next year. Along with the New Guinea campaign, this destroyed Japanese defences, caused huge losses for the Japanese military—especially the Navy. This helped the Allies to win the war against Japan.

The delay in the advance of Japanese forces also allowed the United States Marine Corps to land on Funafuti on October 2, 1942.  The US built airfields from which USAAF B-24 Liberator bombers could fly. The atolls of Tuvalu were places the Allies could use to get ready for the Battle of Tarawa and the Battle of Makin that started on 20 November 1943.

References

1942 in Oceania
Battles involving Australia
Battles involving Japan
Battles involving the United States
Coral Sea
History of the Solomon Islands
History of Papua New Guinea
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Battle of the Coral Sea


Demetrios Palaiologos or Demetrius Palaeologus (;  1407–1470) was Despot of the Morea together with his brother Thomas from 1449 until the fall of the despotate in 1460. Demetrios and Thomas were sons of Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos, and brothers of the final two emperors John VIII and Constantine XI. Demetrios had a complicated relationship with his brothers, whom he frequently quarrelled with, usually over the matter of Demetrios's wish to establish himself as the most senior of them and claim the imperial throne for himself.

In 1437, Demetrios accompanied his elder brother John VIII to the Council of Florence, the main objective of which was to unify the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches so that Western Europe might be more inclined to lend military aid to the desperate Byzantine Empire. Even though Demetrios was staunchly against a union of the churches, he was brought along as John did not dare to leave him in the east without he himself being present. Demetrios attempted to claim the throne twice, first attempting to take it with Ottoman support in 1442 and then by hoping to be proclaimed emperor after John VIII's death in 1448. Both attempts failed and in 1449, Demetrios was proclaimed as Despot of the Morea by the new emperor, his brother Constantine XI.

John VIII had already made Thomas, Demetrios's younger brother, Despot of the Morea, and Constantine now desired for them to rule jointly. The two despots found it difficult to cooperate and often quarrelled with each other. In the aftermath of the Fall of Constantinople, the death of Constantine XI and end of the Byzantine Empire on 29 May 1453, Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II allowed Thomas and Demetrios to continue to rule as Ottoman vassals in the Morea. Though he never proclaimed himself emperor, some of the Moreots wished to proclaim Demetrios, the oldest living brother of Constantine XI, as Constantine's successor. Thomas hoped to turn the small despotate into a rallying point of a campaign to restore the empire, hoping to gain support from the Papacy and Western Europe. The constant disagreements between Thomas and Demetrios, who supported the Ottomans instead, eventually led Mehmed to invade and conquer the Morea in 1460.

Though Thomas escaped into exile, Demetrios was captured at the despotate's capital, Mystras, and surrendered to the Ottomans on 29 May 1460, exactly seven years after Constantinople's fall. As compensation for the loss of the Morea, Mehmed granted Demetrios lands in Thrace and some islands, which allowed Demetrios to live in relative comfort until he was stripped of his lands and income in 1467 following accusations against his brother-in-law. Shortly after, the sultan granted him an estate in Adrianople, where he lived with his wife, Theodora Asanina. After the death of his daughter and only child, Helena (who was taken as a consort by Sultan Mehmed II in 1460), in 1469 at Edirne, Demetrios retired and became a monk, dying a year later in 1470.

Biography

Early life

As the Byzantine Empire fell apart and fragmented over the course of the 14th century, the emperors of the Palaiologan dynasty came to feel that the only sure way to keep their remaining holdings intact was to grant them to their sons, receiving the title of despot, as appanages to defend and govern. Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos (1391–1425) had a total of six sons who survived infancy. Manuel's eldest surviving son, John, was raised to co-emperor and designated to succeed Manuel as sole emperor upon his death. The second son, Theodore was designated as Despot of the Morea and the third, Andronikos, was made Despot of Thessaloniki in 1408 at just eight years old. Manuel's younger sons, Constantine, Demetrios (born in 1407), and Thomas, were kept in Constantinople as there was insufficient land left to grant them. The younger children; Theodore, Andronikos, Constantine, Demetrios and Thomas were frequently described as having the distinction of Porphyrogennetos ("born in the purple"; born in the imperial palace during the reign of their father), a distinction that does not appear to have been shared by the emperor-to-be John.

Relations between the Palaiologos brothers were not always good. Though the young John and Constantine appear to have got on well with each other, relations between Constantine and the younger Demetrios and Thomas were not as friendly. Demetrios was made the despot of the island of Lemnos in 1422 by Manuel; however, he was not satisfied and refused to live on the island, instead fleeing to the court of King Sigismund of Hungary in 1423 under the pretext of needing protection against his brothers. Demetrios did not return to Constantinople until 1427.

In 1437, John, now Emperor John VIII, left Constantinople to attend the Council of Florence in an effort to unite the Orthodox and Catholic churches and thus inspire Western Europe to act in the defense of his collapsing empire, threatened by the rapidly expanding Ottoman Empire. John left Constantine, his most trusted brother, and favored heir, as regent in Constantinople. Demetrios, alongside many distinguished Byzantine nobles and church officials (including the Patriarch of Constantinople, Joseph II) accompanied John on his journey to Italy. Although Demetrios was known to be firmly against any plans of reuniting the Orthodox and Catholic churches, he had already shown rebellious tendencies, hoping to become emperor himself with Ottoman support, and could not be trusted to remain in Constantinople or Lemnos when the emperor was away.

While the Council of Florence did achieve a union of the churches, it lasted for several years, concluding in June 1439. John did not return to Constantinople until 1 February 1440 and though he was received with a grand and  ceremony, organized by Constantine and Demetrios (who had returned sometime earlier), the news that the churches had been unified stirred a wave of resentment and bitterness among the general populace, who felt that John had betrayed their faith.

Attempts to become emperor

With his tenure as regent finished, Constantine had observed that the other Despots of the Morea (Constantine's former appanage), his brothers Theodore and Thomas, had ruled well without him and he considered that he could serve the empire's interest better if he were closer to the capital. Demetrios now governed a stretch of land around the city of Mesembria in Thrace and Constantine considered the idea that he and Demetrios could switch places, Constantine becoming the new governor in Mesembria and Demetrios being granted the Morea. Constantine thus sent his close adviser George Sphrantzes to propose the idea to both Demetrios and Ottoman Sultan Murad II, who by this point had to be consulted about any appointments.

By 1442, Demetrios had no desire for new appointments, instead eyeing the imperial throne. He had just made a deal with Murad himself and had raised an army, portraying himself as the champion of the anti-unionist cause, which opposed the union of the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, a cause supported by the Turks, declaring war on his brother John VIII. When Sphrantzes reached Demetrios to deliver Constantine's offer, Demetrios was already preparing to march on Constantinople. The danger he posed to the city was so great that Constantine was summoned from the Morea by John VIII to oversee the city's defenses. In April 1442, Demetrios and the Ottomans began their attack, but they were repulsed and Demetrios was briefly imprisoned. In March 1443, Sphrantzes was made governor of Selymbria in Constantine's name. From Selymbria, Sphrantzes and Constantine would be able to keep a watchful eye on the activities of Demetrios. In November, Constantine gave over control of Selymbria to Theodore, who in turn abandoned his position as Despot of the Morea, making Constantine and Thomas the sole Despots of the Morea.

Theodore died in June 1448 and on 31 October of the same year, Emperor John VIII also passed away. The potential successors to the throne were Constantine, Demetrios and Thomas. John had not formally designated an heir, though everyone knew he favored Constantine and ultimately, the will of their mother, Helena Dragaš (who also preferred Constantine), prevailed. Both Thomas, who had no intention of claiming the throne, and Demetrios, who most certainly did, hurried to Constantinople and reached the capital before Constantine. Though Demetrios was favored by many due to his anti-unionist sentiment, Helena reserved her right to act as regent until her eldest son, Constantine arrived, stalling Demetrios's attempt at seizing the throne. Thomas accepted Constantine's appointment and Demetrios, who soon thereafter joined in proclaiming Constantine as his new emperor, was overruled. Soon thereafter, Sphrantzes informed Sultan Murad II, who also accepted the appointment.

Despot of the Morea

The Fall of Constantinople and early rule
In order to remove Demetrios from the capital and its vicinity, Constantine made Demetrios Despot of the Morea, to rule the despotate together with Thomas. Demetrios was granted the despotate's nominal capital, Mystras, and primarily ruled the southern and eastern parts of the despotate, with Thomas ruling Corinthia and the north-west, variously using Patras or Leontari as his capital. During his tenure as despot, Demetrios made some efforts to expand the despotate, seizing the Venetian-held castle of Kastri. With him to the Morea, Demetrios brought a part of the ancient Asen family, which had once ruled the Second Bulgarian Empire. Demetrios married Theodora Asanina, daughter of Paul Asan. Theodora's brother Matthew Palaiologos Asen was appointed as governor of Corinth by Demetrios.

Before his marriage to Theodora, Demetrios had been married either once or twice. His previous marriage(s) had not produced any children. His "first" wife was the daughter of Kantakouzenos Strabomytes, between 1430 and 1435. His "second" wife, possibly the same person as the daughter of Kantakouzenos Strabomytes, was Zoe Paraspondyle and died in March/April 1436.

In 1452, during the preparation stages of the final Ottoman siege of Constantinople, Constantine XI sent an urgent message to the Morea, requesting that one of his brothers bring their forces to help him defend the city. To prevent aid coming from the Morea, Mehmed II sent one of his generals, Turahan Bey (who had raided the Morea twice before) to devastate the peninsula. The Turkish attack was repelled by an army commanded by Matthew Palaiologos Asen, but this victory came too late to offer any aid to Constantinople, which fell on 29 May 1453.

In the aftermath of Constantinople's fall, and Constantine XI's death in its defense, one of the most pressing threats to the new Ottoman regime was the possibility that one of Constantine XI's surviving relatives would find a following and return to reclaim the empire. Luckily for Mehmed II, the two despots in the Morea represented scarcely more than a nuisance and were allowed to keep their titles and lands. When emissaries of Thomas and Demetrios visited the Sultan at Adrianople some months after Constantinople's fall, the Sultan demanded no surrender of territory, only that the despots were to pay an annual tribute of 10,000 ducats. Because the Morea was allowed to continue to exist, many Byzantine refugees fled to the despotate, which made it somewhat of a Byzantine government-in-exile. Some of these influential refugees and courtiers even raised the idea of proclaiming Demetrios, the elder brother, as the Emperor of the Romans and the legitimate successor of Constantine XI. Both Thomas and Demetrios might have considered making their small despotate the rallying point of a campaign to restore the empire, with considerable fertile and wealthy territory under the despotate's control, there did seem for a moment to be a possibility that the empire could live on in the Morea. However, Thomas and Demetrios were never able to cooperate and spent most of their resources fighting each other rather than preparing for a struggle against the Turks. Since Thomas had spent most of his life in the Morea, and Demetrios most of his life elsewhere, the two brothers hardly knew each other.

Shortly after Constantinople fell, a revolt broke out against the despots in the Morea, prompted by the many Albanian immigrants to the region being unhappy with the actions of the local Greek landowners. The Albanians had respected earlier despots, such as Constantine and Theodore, but despised the two current despots and without central authority from Constantinople, they saw their opportunity to gain control of the despotate for themselves. In Thomas's part of the despotate, the rebels chose to proclaim John Asen Zaccaria, bastard son of the last Prince of Achaea, as their leader and in Demetrios's part of the despotate, the leader of the revolt was Manuel Kantakouzenos, grandson of Demetrios I Kantakouzenos (who had served as despot until 1384) and great-great-grandson of Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos (1347–1354). With no hope of defeating the Albanians on their own, the despots appealed to the only power near enough and strong enough to aid them; the Ottomans. Mehmed II did not wish to see the despotate pass into the hands of Albanians, and out of his control, and sent an army to quell the rebellion in December 1453. The rebellion was not fully crushed until October 1454, when Turahan Bey arrived to aid the despots in firmly establishing their authority in the region. In return for the aid, Mehmed demanded a heavier tribute from Thomas and Demetrios, amounting to 12,000 ducats annually rather than the previous 10,000.

The possibility of Western aid

Neither brother could raise the sum demanded by the Sultan and they were divided in their policies. While Demetrios, probably the more realistic of the two, had more or less given up hope of Christian aid from the west and thought it might be best to placate the Turks, Thomas retained hope that the Papacy might yet call for a crusade to restore the Byzantine Empire. Thomas's hopes were not ridiculous; the Fall of Constantinople had been received with as much horror in Western Europe as it had been in the few remaining Byzantine territories in the East. In September 1453, Pope Nicholas V issued the crusading bull Etsi ecclesia Christi, which called on Christians throughout the west to take the cross and embark on a crusade to recover Constantinople. The response was enthusiastic; some of Europe's most powerful and influential rulers came forward to take the cross, including Philip the Good of Burgundy in February 1454 and Alfonso the Magnanimous of Aragon and Naples in November 1455. Alfonso promised to personally lead a host of 50,000 men and 400 ships against the Ottomans. At Frankfurt, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III assembled a council of German princes and proposed that 40,000 men be sent to Hungary, where the Ottomans had suffered a crushing defeat at Belgrade in 1456. If the combined forces of Hungary, Aragon, Burgundy and the Holy Roman Empire had been unleashed to exploit the victory at Belgrade, Ottoman control of the Balkans would have been seriously threatened.

Despite the Ottomans having secured the position of the two despots in the recent Albanian uprising, the possibility of Western aid to restore Byzantine territory proved too enticing to resist. Thomas sent John Argyropoulos and other envoys to the West in 1456 and even Demetrios, decidedly anti-Latin, softened his attitude towards the West. Demetrios raised the possibility of a marriage alliance with Alfonso of Aragon and Naples, suggesting that his daughter Helena marry Alfonso's grandson. Despite his own views on the Council of Florence, Demetrios even sent his own envoy to Pope Nicholas V's successor, Pope Callixtus III, in 1455; Frankoulios Servopoulos, a known supporter of the Council of Florence. Servopoulos probably arrived in Rome at around the same time as Thomas's envoy, Argyropoulos, and the two envoys travelled through Europe, visiting the same courts, independently of each other. Thomas and Demetrios proved to be incapable of working together even with foreign diplomacy.

Moreot civil war and the fall of the Morea

In the end, no crusade ever set out to combat the Ottomans. Due to their conviction that help would arrive, and being unable to pay, the two despots had not paid their annual tribute to the Ottomans for three years. With no money coming from the Morea, and the looming threat of Western aid, Mehmed eventually lost his patience with the Palaiologoi. The Ottoman army marched from Adrianople in May 1458 and entered the Morea, where the only real resistance was faced at Corinth, within the domain governed by Demetrios. Leaving his artillery to bombard and besiege that city, Mehmed left with most of his army to devastate and conquer the northern parts of the despotate, under Thomas's jurisdiction. Corinth at last gave up in August, after several cities in the north had already surrendered, and Mehmed imposed a heavy retribution on the Morea. The territory under the two brothers was drastically reduced, Corinth, Patras and much of the north-west of the peninsula were annexed into the Ottoman Empire and provided with Turkish governors, with the Palaiologoi only being allowed to keep the south, including the despotate's nominal capital, Mystras, on the condition that they paid their annual tribute to the sultan.

Almost as soon as Mehmed had left the Morea, the two brothers began quarreling with each other again. Mehmed's victory had only increased the antagonism between Thomas and Demetrios. Demetrios had shifted to becoming even more pro-Ottoman after Mehmed had promised the despot that he would marry his daughter Helena, whereas Thomas increasingly hoped for western aid as the regions of the Morea annexed by Mehmed had been almost the entire area ruled by Thomas, including his capital of Patras. In January 1459, Thomas rebelled against Demetrios and the Ottomans, joining with a number of Albanian lords. They seized the fortress of Kalavryta and much of the land in the central Morea and besieged Kalamata and Mantineia, fortresses held by Demetrios. Demetrios responded by seizing Leontari and called for aid from the Turkish governors in the northern Morea. There were many attempts made to broker peace between the two brothers, such as Mehmed ordering the Bishop of Lacedaemon to make the two swear to keep the peace, but any truce lasted only briefly. Many of the Byzantine nobles in the Morea could only look on in horror as the civil war raged on. Byzantine historian George Sphrantzes summed up the conflict with the following words:Although Demetrios had more soldiers and resources, Thomas and the Albanians were able to appeal to the West for aid. After a successful skirmish against the Ottomans, Thomas sent 16 captured Turkish soldiers, alongside some of his armed guards, to Rome to convince the Pope that he was engaging in a holy war against the Muslims. The scheme worked and the Pope sent 300 Italian soldiers under the Milanese condottieri Gianone da Cremona to aid Thomas. With these reinforcements, Thomas gained the upper hand and it looked as if Demetrios was about to be defeated, having retreated to the town of Monemvasia and having sent Matthew Palaiologos Asen to Adrianople to beg Mehmed for aid. Thomas's pleas to the west represented a real threat to the Ottomans, a threat made even greater through the support of the plan by the vocal Cardinal Bessarion, a Byzantine refugee who had escaped the empire years earlier. Pope Pius II convened a council in 1459 in Mantua and sent Bessarion and some others to preach for a crusade against the Ottomans throughout Europe.

Determined to bring order to Greece, Mehmed decided that the destruction of the despotate and its full annexation directly into his empire was the only possible solution. The sultan assembled his army once more in April 1460 and led it in person first to Corinth and then on to Mystras. Although Demetrios had ostensibly been on the sultan's side, Mehmed invaded Demetrios's territory first. Demetrios surrendered to the Ottomans without a fight, fearing retribution and already having sent his family to safety in Monemvasia. Mystras thus fell into Ottoman hands on 29 May 1460, exactly seven years after Constantinople's fall. The few places in the Morea that dared resist the sultan's army were devastated as per Islamic law, the men being massacred and the women and children being taken away. As large numbers of Greek refugees escaped to Venetian-held territories such as Methoni and Koroni, the Morea was slowly subdued, the last resistance being led by Constantine Graitzas Palaiologos, a relative of Thomas and Demetrios, at Salmenikon in July 1461.

Life in the Ottoman Empire

On 31 May 1460, Mehmed II arrived outside Mystras in person, inviting the recently deposed despot to his tent. Demetrios was terrified of the sultan, but Mehmed received him kindly, offering him a chair and speaking gently to him. Mehmed demanded that Demetrios recall his wife Theodora and his only child, Helena, from their refuge in Monemvasia and yield them to the sultan so that they could accompany him to Adrianople, but also showered Demetrios with gifts and promised to grant him an appanage in Thrace as compensation for the loss of the Morea. Theodora and Helena were put in the care of some of the eunuchs in Mehmed's entourage and Demetrios was obliged to accompany Mehmed as he went on to subdue the rest of the Morea after spending four days at Mystras.

For the rest of his life, Demetrios, though favored, would in effect remain a prisoner of the Ottomans. Demetrios's appanage consisted of the islands Lemnos and Imbros, as well as parts of the islands Thassos and Samothrace as well as the town Enos in Thrace. Ownership of these lands brought Demetrios enough revenue to support himself and he lived in relative comfort, donating much of his income to the church. He lived at Enos for seven years, together with his wife Theodora and her brother, Matthew Palaiologos Asen. In 1467, George Sphrantzes, former companion to Constantine XI, who had little regard for either Matthew or Demetrios, wrote that Matthew, who controlled a local salt monopoly, had allowed his underlings to cheat the government on some revenue. Outraged by this, Mehmed II stripped Demetrios of his territories and income.

Demetrios, Theodora and Matthew were sent in disgrace to Didymoteicho, where Matthew died shortly thereafter. Mehmed appears to have taken pity on the former despot and then provided him and his wife with a small estate in Adrianople, where their daughter Helena was living at the time. Since the sultan feared that Helena, described as high-spirited, might attempt to poison him, he had never taken her into his harem. Helena had her own large estate and pension provided by Mehmed, but was forbidden to marry. After Helena died of unknown causes  1469, Demetrios and Theodora were so struck by grief that they retired to monastic life, Demetrios becoming a monk. The former despot died in 1470 and, due to Helena's death, left no descendants. Theodora also died in 1470, only outliving her husband by a few weeks.

References

Cited bibliography

1407 births
1470 deaths
15th-century Byzantine people
15th-century Despots of the Morea
Demetrios
Demetrios 2
Porphyrogennetoi
Byzantine governors
Medieval Lemnos
Nesebar
Byzantine people of the Byzantine–Ottoman wars
Byzantine pretenders
Byzantine pretenders after 1453
Sons of Byzantine emperors

Demetrios Palaiologos


was a  of the Northern Court during the Nanboku-chō period after Shōkyō and before Ryakuō. This period started in January 1334 and ended in August 1338 in the Northern Court, but it lasted until only February 1336 in the Southern Court.  The pretender in Kyoto was .  Kōmyō's Southern Court rival in Yoshino during this time was .

Events of the Kemmu era
In 1333-1336, the Kemmu Restoration was an attempt by Emperor Go-Daigo to restore Imperial authority after the fall of the Kamakura shogunate. The failure of this effort led to the creation of two rival Imperial courts.
 1334 (Kemmu 1): Emperor Go-Daigo caused Kemmu nenchū gyōji to be written. This was a book which described the ceremonies of the court; and its purpose was to aid the process of reviving ancient court etiquette.
 25 October 1334 (Kemmu 1, 27th day of the 9th month): Emperor Go-Daigo made an Imperial progress to Kamo-jinja. No other emperor would visit Kamo's shrines until April 29, 1863 (Bunkyu 3, 11th day of the 3rd month), when Emperor Komei made an Imperial progress to Kamo.
 1336 (Kemmu 3): An anonymous author published Kemmu nenkan ki, which was a chronicle of the Kemmu era. The text is a source of information about laws, government, bureaucrats, and arable lands and estates given by the emperor to the nobility or to religious institutions (shōen).
 1336 (Kemmu 3): Ashikaga Takauji issued a new legal code with 17 articles (Kemmu-shikimoku).
 17 May 1336 (Kemmu 3, 6th day of the 4th month): Former-Emperor Go-Fushimi died.

Southern Court nengō
The previous era ended and the new one commenced in Shōkei 1 as time was reckoned in the Northern Court in Kyoto; and the era began in Genkō 4, as time was ordered in the Southern Court in Yoshino.

Related pages
 Muromachi period

References

Other websites
 National Diet Library, "The Japanese Calendar" -- historical overview plus illustrative images from library's collection

Japanese eras
1330s establishments in Japan
1330s disestablishments in Japan
1334 establishments
1338 disestablishments

Kemmu


Captain John Harold Leims (June 8, 1921 – June 28, 1985) was a Marine who was awarded the Medal of Honor as a second lieutenant on Iwo Jima for his heroic actions on March 7, 1945.

Early years
John Harold Leims was born in Chicago, Illinois, on June 8, 1921. He attended St. Hilary Parochial School, Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary, and graduated from Saint George High School in Evanston, Illinois, in 1939. At Saint George's, he played varsity football and track, was sports editor of the school paper, and was an Assistant Scoutmaster in the Boy Scouts of America.

After high school, he attended Northwestern University for two and a half years, and worked part-time at the Commonwealth Edison Company. He left college in 1941 following his marriage, and worked subsequently for the Standard Oil Company; the Paschen Construction Company; the Naval Station at Great Lakes, Illinois, and the Austin Construction Company.

Marine Corps service
Enlisting in the Marine Corps Reserve on November 27, 1942, he completed recruit training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego and was assigned to the 3rd Service Battalion, 3rd Marine Division. He left for overseas duty with that unit, on February 23, 1943. After four months in New Zealand and two months at Guadalcanal, he was selected for officer training and returned to the United States in September 1943. He was commissioned a Marine second lieutenant on March 1, 1944, at Quantico, Virginia.

On June 29, 1944, 2nd Lt Leims went overseas again and rejoined the 3rd Marine Division. This time, he was a company officer in a rifle company of the 1st Battalion, 9th Marines. In October and November, he was actively engaged in patrolling against Japanese holdouts on Guam.

Landing on Iwo Jima on February 24, 1945, he was slightly wounded by a shell fragment on February 27, but returned to duty on the same day. On March 3, due to heavy casualties, he became company commander (B-1-9), a position usually filled by a captain. On March 7, he led his company in a surprise attack against a strongly fortified enemy hill position, succeeded in capturing the objective, and in spite of withering fire returned forward to rescue two of his wounded men.

Promoted to first lieutenant on June 1, 1945, he returned to the United States that November and was detached from active duty on January 25, 1946. On June 14 of that year, he was temporarily recalled to active duty to receive the Medal of Honor, presented to him by President Harry S. Truman in a White House ceremony.

A member of the 9th Reserve District, Leims was subsequently promoted to captain in the Marine Corps Reserve in 1956, and retired on July 1, 1962. He died on June 28, 1985, at the age of 64.

He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia.

Medal of Honor citation
The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the MEDAL OF HONOR to

for service as set forth in the following CITATION:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as Commanding Officer of Company B, First Battalion, Ninth Marines, Third Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima in the Volcano Islands, on 7 March 1945. Launching a surprise attack against the rock-embedded fortifications of a dominating Japanese hill position, Second Lieutenant Leims spurred his company forward with indomitable determination and, skillfully directing his assault platoons against the cave-emplaced enemy troops and heavily fortified pillboxes, succeeded in capturing the objective in the late afternoon. When it became apparent that his assault platoons were cut off in this newly won position, approximately four hundred yards forward of adjacent units and lacked all communication with the command post, he personally advanced and laid telephone lines across the isolating expanse of open, fire-swept terrain. Ordered to withdraw his command after he had joined his forward platoons, he immediately complied, adroitly effecting the withdrawal of his troops without incident. Upon arriving at the rear, he was informed that several casualties had been left at the abandoned ridge position beyond the front lines. Although suffering acutely from strain and exhaustion of battle, he instantly went forward despite darkness and the slashing fury of hostile machine-gun fire, located and carried to safety one seriously wounded Marine and then, running the gauntlet of enemy fire for the third time that night, again made his tortuous way into the bullet-riddled deathtrap and rescued another of his wounded men. A dauntless leader, concerned at all times for the welfare of his men, Second Lieutenant Leims soundly maintained the coordinated strength of his battle-wearied company under extremely difficult conditions and, by his bold tactics, sustained aggressiveness and heroic disregard of all personal danger, contributed essentially to the success of his division's operations against this vital Japanese base. His valiant conduct in the face of fanatic opposition sustained and enhanced the highest traditions of the United States Marine Corps.

See also

 List of Medal of Honor recipients
 List of Medal of Honor recipients for World War II
 List of Medal of Honor recipients for the Battle of Iwo Jima

Notes

References

External links

1921 births
1985 deaths
United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II
Burials at Arlington National Cemetery
United States Marine Corps Medal of Honor recipients
Military personnel from Evanston, Illinois
United States Marine Corps officers
Battle of Iwo Jima
World War II recipients of the Medal of Honor

John H. Leims


Lost lands are islands or continents believed by some to have existed during pre-history, but to have since disappeared as a result of catastrophic geological phenomena.

Legends of lost lands often originated as scholarly or scientific theories, only to be picked up by writers and individuals outside the academy. Occult and New Age writers have made use of Lost Lands, as have subaltern peoples such as the Tamils in India. Phantom islands, as opposed to lost lands, are land masses formerly believed by cartographers to exist in the current historical age, but to have been discredited as a result of expanding geographic knowledge. The classification of lost lands as continents, islands, or other regions is in some cases subjective; for example, Atlantis is variously described as either a "lost island" or a "lost continent". Lost land theories may originate in mythology or philosophy, or in scholarly or scientific theories, such as catastrophic theories of geology.

With the development of plate tectonic simulation software, new lost land has been discovered and confirmed by the scientific community (like Greater Adria in 2019).

Submerged lands

Although the existence of lost continents in the above sense is mythical (aside from Zealandia and Greater Adria), there were many places on Earth that were once dry land, but submerged after the ice age around 10,000 BCE due to rising sea levels, and possibly were the basis for Neolithic and Bronze Age flood myths. Some were lost due to coastal erosion or volcanic eruptions. An (incomplete) list follows:
 A large island in the Mediterranean Sea, of which Malta is the only part not now submerged.
 Balkanatolia, a sunken land in the Mediterranean Sea.
 Beringia, connecting Asia and North America.
 Doggerland, the bed of the North Sea, which once connected Great Britain to Continental Europe before being inundated by rising sea levels during the Holocene.
 Ferdinandea, submerged volcanic island which has appeared at least four times in the past.
 Kerguelen Plateau, a submerged micro-continent which is now  below sea level.
 Maui Nui, once a large island of the Hawaii archipelago; several major islands represent residual high ground of Maui Nui.
 Sundaland, the now submerged Sunda Shelf.
 Viking-Bergen Banks are submerged hills in the North Sea which formed Viking-Bergen Island during the Last Glacial Period and possibly the northernmost point of Doggerland.

Lost continents

 Greater Adria, a continent connecting between Italy and North Africa.
 Zealandia, a scientifically accepted continent that is now 94% submerged under the Pacific Ocean, surrounding the areas of New Zealand and New Caledonia.

Mythological lands

Agartha, in the Hollow Earth.
Atlantis, Plato's utopian paradise.
Avalon, the mythical lost land or island in Arthurian, Cornish and Welsh legend.
Buyan, an island with the ability to appear and disappear in Slavic mythology.
Cantre'r Gwaelod, in Welsh legend, the ancient sunken realm said to have occupied a tract of fertile land lying between Ramsey Island and Bardsey Island in what is now Cardigan Bay to the west of Wales.
Iram of the Pillars, a reference to a lost city, country or area mentioned in the Qur'an.
 Jomsborg and Vineta, legendary cities on the south coast of the Baltic Sea supposed to have been submerged in the Middle Ages.
Kitezh, a legendary underwater city located in Russia, populated by spiritual people.
Kumari Kandam, a mythical lost continent with an ancient Tamil civilization in the Indian Ocean
Lemuria, a mythical lost continent in the Indian or the Pacific Ocean.
Llys Helig Welsh legends regarding the local rock formations conceal the palace of Prince Helig ap Glanawg, said to be part of a larger drowned kingdom near Penmaenmawr, Wales.
Lyonesse in Arthurian literature: it was the home of Tristan and is usually associated with the Isles of Scilly, Cornwall (an area inundated by the sea c.2500BC). The tale parallels the Welsh and particularly Breton legendary lost lands.
Mu, a mythical lost continent in the Pacific Ocean
Shangri-La, a fictitious valley in Tibet the idea of which may have been inspired by the myth of Shambhala
Quivira and Cibola, also known as the Seven Cities of Gold. These were suspected somewhere in America by the Conquistadors.
El Dorado, mythic city of gold.
Ys, a mythical drowned city in Brittany, similar to other Celtic lost lands in Welsh and Cornish tradition. Most versions of the legend place the city in the Baie de Douarnenez.

In literature and philosophy
The following individuals are known for having written on the subject of lost lands (either as fiction, hypothesis, or supposed fact):
H.P. Blavatsky
Edgar Rice Burroughs (The Land That Time Forgot, Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar, At the Earth's Core)
James Churchward
Henry Corbin (Malakut or Hurqalya)
Ignatius L. Donnelly
Burak Eldem
Warren Ellis
Philip José Farmer
H. Rider Haggard
Robert E. Howard (Hyborian Age)
Édouard Lalo (Le roi d'Ys)
H. P. Lovecraft often invoked the names of lost lands of his own invention, a practice that subsequently gave birth to the Cthulhu mythos.
Geoffrey of Monmouth first mention of Avalon in his Historia Regum Britanniae
Plato
Augustus Le Plongeon
Zecharia Sitchin
J. R. R. Tolkien partially based the story of Númenor, referenced in The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, on Atlantis.
Jack Vance (Lyonesse Trilogy)
Samael Aun Weor
Umberto Eco (Island of the Day Before)
Jules Verne (The Mysterious Island)

See also
Flood myth
Lost city
Lost world
Past sea level
Phantom island
Vanishing island
Terra Australis
Tidal island

References

Further reading
L. Sprague de Camp and Willy Ley, Lands Beyond, Rinehart & Co., New York, 1952.
L. Sprague de Camp, Lost Continents: The Atlantis Theme in History, Science, and Literature, Dover Publications, 1970.

Geography-related lists
Lost ancient cities and towns
Ancient astronomy
Historical geology
Plate tectonics

List of lost lands


Vanessa Isabelle Vandy (born 14 May 1989) is a New Zealand-born Finnish film director, cinematographer and former pole vaulter. She is a national outdoor and indoor champion for the pole vault, and also, a bronze medalist at the 2009 European Athletics Under-23 Championships in Kaunas, Lithuania.

Film career
Vandy is currently working as a film director and cinematographer. Her style lies in her ability to move people, to capture their attention and to evoke an emotion. Her first short film, Farewell, was selected as a finalist in One Screen 2017 Film Festival's Free The Bid - new female director category.

Athletic career
Born in Auckland to a New Zealand father and Finnish mother, Vandy holds a dual citizenship, and chose to represent her mother's birthplace Finland at numerous sporting events, including the Olympic games. At age ten, Vandy moved with her family to Vaasa, Finland, where she began pole vaulting at age 13. She eventually became a member of, and trained full-time at Vasa Idrottssällskap, under her personal and head coach Johan Westö.

In 2007, Vandy made her international debut at the European Junior Championships, where she achieved a seventh-place finish in the women's pole vault. She also set her personal best of 4.15 metres by winning the bronze medal at the Finnish Elite Series in Lahti, ahead of her teammate Minna Nikkanen, who flew over 4.05 metres. Shortly after the series, she continued to beat Nikkanen at the Sweden-match in Gothenburg, and most importantly, at the Finnish Indoor Championships in Joensuu, where she claimed her first ever career title in the pole vault.

The following year, Vandy reached her breakthrough season by vaulting her personal best of 4.31 metres at an athletics meet in Sopot, Poland. She also finished sixth at the 2008 IAAF World Junior Championships in Bydgoszcz, and won her second career title at the national outdoor championships in Tampere, which gave her a qualifying berth for the Olympics.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Vandy successfully cleared a height of 4.00 metres in the women's pole vault, an event which was later dominated by world-record holder Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia. Vandy, however, failed to advance into the final, as she placed thirty-second overall in the qualifying rounds, tying her position with Tunisia's Leila Ben Youssef.

In 2009, Vandy extended her personal best of 4.36 metres by finishing second at the Elite World Championships in Lapua, behind her teammate Minna Nikkanen. She also won the bronze medal at the European Athletics Under-23 Championships in Kaunas, Lithuania, with a satisfying height of 4.35 metres.

In early 2011, Vandy announced her retirement from pole vault to focus on and pursue her career in filmmaking, having suffered knee problems for the past few years.

References

External links

Music Website
Profile – Suomen Olympiakomitea
NBC 2008 Olympics profile

Finnish women musicians
Finnish female pole vaulters
Finnish people of New Zealand descent
Living people
Olympic athletes for Finland
Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics
New Zealand people of Finnish descent
Athletes from Auckland
Sportspeople from Vaasa
1989 births
Finnish film directors
Finnish cinematographers
Finnish women film directors

Vanessa Vandy