Service of Commemoration of the Battle of the Coral Sea (a very good read)

www.gg.gov.au ^ | 8th May 2008 | His Excellency Major General Michael Jeffery AC CVO MC, Governor-General of Australia

[carton253]

Herman Wouk in War and Remembrance does an outstanding job with World War II, especially the war in the Pacific.

[JDoutrider]

I'm the proud son of a Man who first escaped Davy Jones locker when the USS Lexington was sunk at the Battle of Coral Sea, only to be again be serving on USS Yorktown when she went down!

[msnpatriot]

Yes, and I started reading a novel series called ‘A Novel Of The Corps’ by W.E.B. Griffin. I just finished books 3 & 4 out of ten which focus on Australia, Coral Sea, Midway, Coastwatchers, and Australians.

Goes into detail what was going on high in the command structure from the president down, and also on the ground, sea, and in the air.

The Guadalcanal operations, and interaction between McArthur and the naval command are interesting.

***Herman Wouk in War and Remembrance does an outstanding job with World War II, especially the war in the Pacific.***

[colorado tanker]

The Yorktown was not sunk, but damaged. However, its 2-month repair job was accomplished by 1800 technicians (some flown out to the ship en route back to Pearl) in an astounding 48 hours in dock, and it was largely the Yorktown's planes that won the subsequent battle of Midway.

One of the great stories from a battle full of great stories.

[Vinnie]

I had a cousin, Navy pilot, that went down in a torpedo bomber there.

[LS]

Here’s another. After Coral Sea, one of the junior officers saw the weaknesses in the fire-fighting procedures, and devised an ingenious fire-suppressant system that he took to his superiors, and it was put in place by the time of the battle of Midway.

[colorado tanker]

Thanks, that’s very interesting - and a new one to me.

[LS]

Here it is. I found it in “America’s Victories,” p. 119: after the Lexington sank, Machinist Oscar W. Myers, the fuel officer for the Yorktown, concluded that the problem on the Lex was a gas fire on deck. He conceived of draining the fuel system after use and filling the pipes with inert CO2, and the installation of this system on the Yorktown likely prevented a calmitous fire on June 4 at Midway following a direct bomb hit.

[colorado tanker]

Thanks. Oscar was a smart guy! That must have saved a lot of lives, even if it couldn’t save the ship.