Featured battle : Coral Sea

Part of Second World War

Date : 07 May 1942 - 08 May 1942

A Japanese assault force under Admiral Inoue including the carrier Shoho, 4 cruisers and a destroyer had landed troops on Tulagi, then joined the larger strike force under Adm. Takagi which included the fleet carriers Shokaku and Zuikaku in the Coral Sea to attack Port Moresby on Papua. Meanwhile, US Admiral Fletcher with a task force lead by the carriers Yorktown and Lexington and including Australian crusiers and destroyers under Adm. Crace RN, attempted to intercept. On the 7th, aircraft from both sides spotted each other and launched the first completely carrier-to-carrier battle (no surface ship-to-ship combat occurred) in history. In air attacks on the first day, the Shoho was lost, and a Japanese night attack was unsuccessful. On the 8th, in air strikes on both sides, the Shokaku was damaged, but the Americans lost the Lexington, a destroyer and an oiler while the Yorktown was damaged. In aircraft, the US lost 33 of 82 aircraft, the Japanese 43 of 69. Thus in tactical terms this was a Japanese victory, however with the loss of so many aircraft and the Shoho, the Port Moresby invasion force was withdrawn. Japan was checked, and was not able to launch air attacks on Australia from a land base so the Coral Sea can be considered an Allied strategic win.

Freeing the Baltic 1918-1920

Bennet, Geoffrey
An interesting and unexpected book about an often overlooked conflict in the Baltic states during the confusion following the 1918 armistice.
It ostensibly follows the Baltic activities of British Navy cruisers and destroyers under the command of Admiral Sir Walter Cowan, but it actually provides a much wider picture of the struggle of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia for independence from Russia. It gives a good overview of the various nationalist forces fighting both the Bolshevik forces and the White Russians under Yudenitch, as well as the ethnic German 'Balts' and the remaining former Imperial German forces under Gen. von der Goltz who himself was attempting to promote German influence in Latvia and it's neighbours. But the main theme of the book is how the Royal Navy, together with some elements of the French attempted to moderate this and stop Bolshevik and German interference.
At times it is quite 'high-level', but this is understandable, given the scope of the subject. It redeems itself with some good first-hand accounts and detailed engagement descriptions, particularly of the 40 foot, shallow draft motorboats C.M.B.'s which could each carry one or two torpedoes. These small, fast boats managed to infiltrate, under cover of night, right into Kronstadt harbour which protected Petrograd (St Petersburg) and sheltered the pride of the Bolshevik navy, and sink much of it!
This is a good update of a work originally published in 1964. It includes well researched appendices and some interesting photos of the people and ships involved but more than that, it highlights that for many people, the fighting definitely did not end on the 11th November 1918.
Pen & Sword Maritime, 2017