Description
ISBN: 9781682479964
Format: Cloth over boards
Year: 2026
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
Description:
Driven by extensive Japanese primary sources, Gamble in the Coral Seaoffers an operational analysis of thefirst clash of aircraft carriers at the pivotal Battle of the Coral Sea from the Japanese perspective, including leadership, tactics, and errors that brought a numeric victory but a strategic loss for Japan that halted their bold advance into the South Pacific and ultimately set the stage for Midway.
The opening salvos of the Battle of the Coral Sea, the first large-scale carrier clash in history, were fired one month before Midway. Gamble in the Coral Sea recounts, for the first time in English, the story of this battle from the Japanese point of view. Based on extensive Japanese-language sources, author Micha A. Piegzik forcefully challenges established Western narratives surrounding this critical engagement in the Pacific War.
Operation MO, the Japanese plan to seize Port Moresby, kicked off in early May 1942. By committing three carriers, including the famous Shkaku and Zuikaku, the Nippon Kaigun's command risked a critical part of their fleet just before the envisaged decisive battle at Midway in the Central Pacific, scheduled for early July. The operation was considered a vital part of Japanese strategy. Victory would isolate Australia and New Zealand and extend access to vital resources crucial to Japan's war effort. Victory, however, would prove elusive after American codebreakers deciphered Japanese radio traffic that revealed their plans in the weeks leading up to the launch of Operation MO.
Using this intelligence to their advantage, U.S forces located