A MUSICAL VOYAGE - Royal Australian Navy

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SPEECH BY THE DIRECTOR OF MUSIC
ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATTLE OF THE CORAL SEA
GIVEN AT KINGSGROVE RSL (2010 AND 2011)
Thank you for the invitation to present an address at this ceremony marking this
Anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea. I would like to acknowledge the staff and cadets
from Training Ship SIRIUS for their fine turn out today and the men and women of the
Sydney detachment of the Royal Australian Navy Band for their musical support. In
particular, I acknowledge the veterans gathered here today for their contribution to the
nation during times of conflict; but also for their ongoing contribution to the fabric of
Australian society. So we have present here today past, current and, hopefully, future
generations of Australian seafarers in the company of veterans of the Australian Defence
Force.
As the Director of Music for the Royal Australian Navy I am mindful that musicians
embarked in HMAS AUSTRALIA during the Battle of the Coral Sea would have been at action
stations as members of gun crews, as shell bearers in magazines, in transmitting stations, as
first aid parties and as lookouts. So I am pleased to also pay respectful gratitude to those
former members of the Royal Australian Navy Band.
In early 1942 as the list of military defeats for the Australian, British, American and Dutch
military and naval forces began to mount, the feeling in the general populace of Australia
must have been one of depression and a general expectation that the Japanese would
invade at any moment. It is a fact that the Japanese forces were conducting preparations
for the capture of Port Moresby, the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Fiji and Samoa. The
object of their plan was to extend and strengthen the Japanese defensive perimeter as well
as cutting the lines of communication between Australia and the United States.
It is important to note that the occupation of Port Moresby would have cut off the eastern
sea approaches to Darwin and provided the Japanese Navy with a secure operating base on
Australia's northern doorstep. The Battle of the Coral Sea prevented the direct assault of
Port Moresby by sea, buying time and keeping open the northern sea lanes, and it made
possible the successful defence of the Kokoda Track and the eventual recapture of New
Guinea.
The Battle of the Coral Sea was one of the major air and naval engagement of World War II.
It was also the first naval engagement in history in which two fleets clashed, but neither
fleet saw each other—it was fought entirely with aircraft. Australia’s part in the battle
consisted of the heavy cruiser, HMAS AUSTRALIA, the light cruiser HMAS HOBART, and
aircraft flown from bases in Queensland by both Australian and American crews.
In late April 1942, US Intelligence detected a major Japanese flotilla heading toward the
Coral Sea. The Japanese codename for the flotilla was Operation MO. Its objective was the
invasion of the small but strategically important, Papuan town of Port Moresby. Admiral
Nimitz, Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Fleet, responded by deploying his two available
carrier groups. Rear Admiral Fitch, commander of Task Force (TF) 11 embarked in USS
LEXINGTON, was ordered to sail and join Rear Admiral Fletcher's TF17, which was centred
on the USS YORKTOWN in the Coral Sea. TF44 was deployed from the south under the
command of Rear Admiral John Crace RN. This combined force, under the command of Rear
Admiral Fletcher, was designated TF17.
For the purpose of my short address I will focus TF44 which comprised HMAS AUSTRALIA
(flagship), HMAS HOBART and USS CHICAGO supported by the destroyers USS PERKINS and
WALKE.
Early on the morning of 7 May, Admiral Fletcher split his force by detaching TF44 to cover
the Jomard Passage and intercept the Japanese invasion force: this was an extremely risky
decision and perhaps the most important in the entire battle. For not only did Admiral
Fletcher weaken his own air defences; but he also exposed Admiral Crace’s ships to the
possibility of air attack without hope of fighter protection, as had occurred five months
earlier with disastrous consequences when Her Majesty’s Ships PRINCE OF WALES and
REPULSE were sunk by 86 Japanese aircraft.
Royal Australian Navy Band: A Musical Voyage