As I said in my earlier post, I'm in San Francisco on business today and through an industry thing this afternoon I got a private screening of an enhanced version of the movie Master and Commander. I got to thinking about the Golden Age of 17th-19th century naval warfare and "ships of the line" and how that all came to an end on May 7-8, 1942.

Ships bristling with cannon would sail in close formation, actually single file bow to stern, and sail alongside the enemy raking them with cannon fire as they went past. It was the military concept of "fire and mass" (the same reason that 18th century infantry fought in standing lines) and such warships became known as "ships of the line."

But the whole idea of ships fighting that way came to an end on May 7-8, 1942. Stick with this until the last paragraph and I'll explain how.

Just five months after Pearl Harbor, the US Navy was trying to adjust its doctrines. Up to this point it relied primarily on battleships, the 20th century equivalent to ships of the line. But most of the US battleships had been destroyed at Pearl Harbor.

The Japanese fleet, including three aircraft carriers, was attempting an invasion of Port Moresby, New Guinea. The US force in the area consisted of the carriers Yorktown and Lexington. On May 6-7 both sides launched air raids on each other, trying to find their capital ships and do damage.

Finally, with dawn searches on May 8, the main carrier forces located one another and launched maximum effort raids, which passed each other in the air. Hidden by rain, Zuikaku escaped detection, but Shōkaku was hit three times by bombs. Her deck damaged Shōkaku was unable to land her aircraft and was thus effectively put out of action. Both American carriers were hit: Yorktown by a bomb; the larger, less maneuverable Lexington, by both bombs and torpedoes. Although the latter survived the immediate damage and was thought to be repairable, leaking aviation fuel exploded a little over an hour later. Lexington had to be abandoned and sunk to prevent her capture.

The sinking of the USS Lexington:

In the end, the battle wasn't the type of decisive outcome that the Battle of Midway, a month later, was. The Japanese were prevented from invading New Guinea and the US lost one of its largest carriers.

But what's significant about the Battle of Coral Sea is what didn't happen: none of the ships ever came within visual range of or fired directly upon each other. It was the first naval battle in history fought entirely "over the horizon" with carrier launched airpower. For thousands of years ships had maneuvered around each other to shoot arrows, ram, throw firebombs or blast cannon (like in the movie Master and Commander I saw today). Naval engagements from this point on would primarily be "over the horizon" affairs, and the "Ships of the Line" were no longer a force on the seas.