The Army Air Forces in World War II, Vol. 1 (archived PDF)

T H E A R M Y A I R F O R C E S I N W O R L D W A R I 1
received reports that the Japanese were occupying Florida Island
from their transports lying in Tulagi harbor, and he resolved to strike
a t once with his Yorktowm squadrons. At 0845 on the morning of the
4th, the attacks began upon Tulagi, and the enemy was surprised, los-
ing a t least one destroyer, several smaller craft, and suffering damage
on a minelayer, though the carrier’s pilots placed the losses somewhat
higher.57 But this represented only a minor sting, for the ultimate
enemy goal was Moresby, toward which the Japanese Admiral Hinoue
had dispatched an occupation force of approximately five transports
from Rabaul, plus a direct support force of four cruisers and the escort
carrier Shoho from B ~ i n . ~ ~Shoho’s planes were to defend the trans-
ports, but swinging down around the eastern side of the Solomons was
the Japanese navy’s Carrier Division Five, including Z u i k a h and
Shokaku, two of the navy’s newest; it would defend the entire Port
Moresby occupation force, attack the U.S. carriers which the Japanese
expected, and raid the Townsville area in an attempt to destroy Allied
aircraft and shipping there.
Out from Townsville and Moresby the B-25’s and B-I 7’s conducted
their searches, and on 4 May a B-25 of the 90th Bombardment Squad-
ron reported the sighting of a carrier and two heavy cruisers east of
Port Moresby.” The plane, driven off by a swarm of fighters, lost con-
tact. Next day another B-25 contacted a carrier south of Bougainville,
shadowing the vessel for an hour and five minutes while sending out
homing signals, hoping to guide B- I 7’s to the target.59At Townsville
the 435th’~B-17’s were reinforced by four planes from each of the
squadrons of the 19th Group, while a t Port Moresby 19 A-24 dive
bombers were put on stand-by ready to carry their 500-lb. bombs
against the enemy convoy coming down off Misima Island, in the
Louisiade Archipelago.” They were never needed, for on 7-8 May
the two Japanese forces were met by the US.carrier groups in the
first of the fleet air engagements which were to characterize nearly
all the Pacific naval actions. On the morning of the 7th, one of York-
town’s scouts reported the sighting of two heavy and two light
cruisers, but because the message was improperly coded, the combined
air attack force was launched from the two carriers in the belief that
two enemy carriers had been located. Meanwhile, the land-based
* Allied Air Forces daily reconnaissance reports for 4 and 5 May show sightings of
carriers with other heavy vessels on each of these days. The Navy’s lack of knowledge
of these sightings is unexplained.
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