The Admiralty account presents Coral Sea as strategically useful but materially costly, preserving Port Moresby while leaving one American carrier sunk and another damaged. It also notes inferior aircraft performance and too few screening ships to bring available battleships into carrier support. Japanese escort strength and carrier numbers therefore created genuine fear and force imbalance before the American construction program matured. The enormous US Navy of 1945 can obscure the precarious fleet actually available to American commanders in 1941-42.
Chapter · 17:24-21:13
The US Navy's precarious position before Midway
After Coral Sea, the United States faced a two-to-one carrier disadvantage and lacked enough escorts to support its available battleships.