Editing Battle of the Coral Sea (section)

===Tulagi===
{{Further|Invasion of Tulagi (May 1942)}}

Early on 3 May, Shima's force arrived off Tulagi and began disembarking the naval troops to occupy the island. Tulagi was undefended: the small garrison of Australian commandos and a [[Royal Australian Air Force]] reconnaissance unit evacuated just before Shima's arrival. The Japanese forces immediately began construction of a seaplane and communications base. Aircraft from ''Shōhō'' covered the landings until early afternoon, when Gotō's force turned towards Bougainville to refuel in preparation to support the landings at Port Moresby.<ref>{{harvnb|Jersey|2008|p=60}}; {{harvnb|Willmott|2002|p=38}}; {{harvnb|Lundstrom|2006|pp=144–145}}; {{harvnb|D'Albas|1965|pp=95–96}}; {{harvnb|Hata|Izawa|1975|p=58}}.</ref>

At 17:00 on 3 May, Fletcher was notified that the Japanese Tulagi invasion force had been sighted the day before, approaching the southern Solomons. Unknown to Fletcher, TF&nbsp;11 completed refueling that morning ahead of schedule and was only {{convert|60|nmi|mi km|abbr=on}} east of TF&nbsp;17, but was unable to communicate its status because of Fletcher's orders to maintain radio silence. TF&nbsp;17 changed course and proceeded at {{convert|27|kn|mph km/h|abbr=on}} towards [[Guadalcanal]] to launch airstrikes against the Japanese forces at Tulagi the next morning.<ref>{{harvnb|Lundstrom|2005b|p=168}}; {{harvnb|Dull|1978|pp=126–127}}; {{harvnb|Jersey|2008|p=62}}; {{harvnb|Cressman|2000|p=86}}; {{harvnb|Gill|1968|p=43}}; {{harvnb|Hoyt|2003|p=20}}; {{harvnb|Parker|2017|p=24}}; {{harvnb|Millot|1974|pp=43–45}}; {{harvnb|Lundstrom|2006|pp=144–146}}. The order to maintain radio silence was to help conceal the presence of the forces from the enemy. Cressman states that Shima's force was sighted by Australia-based U.S. Army aircraft from [[Darwin, Northern Territory|Darwin]], Glencurry, and Townsville (Cressman, p. 84), but Lundstrom says that the sighting was most likely by a [[coastwatcher]] in the Solomons. {{harvtxt|Morison|1949|p=24}} speculates that Fitch should have tried to inform Fletcher of his status via an aircraft-delivered message.</ref>

On 4 May, from a position {{convert|100|nmi|mi km|abbr=on}} south of Guadalcanal ({{coord|11|10|S|158|49|E}}), a total of 60 aircraft from TF&nbsp;17 launched three consecutive strikes against Shima's forces off Tulagi. ''Yorktown''{{'}}s aircraft surprised Shima's ships and sank the destroyer {{Ship|Japanese destroyer|Kikuzuki|1926|2}} ({{coord|09|07|S|160|12|E}}) and three of the minesweepers, damaged four other ships, and destroyed four seaplanes which were supporting the landings. The U.S. lost one torpedo bomber and two fighters in the strikes, but all of the aircrew were eventually rescued. After recovering its aircraft late in the evening of 4 May, TF&nbsp;17 retired towards the south. In spite of the damage suffered in the carrier strikes, the Japanese continued construction of the seaplane base and began flying reconnaissance missions from Tulagi by 6 May.<ref>{{harvnb|Lundstrom|2006|pp=146–149}}; {{harvnb|Brown|1990|p=62}}; {{harvnb|Hoyt|2003|pp=21–31}}; {{harvnb|Lundstrom|2005b|pp=168–178}}; {{harvnb|Jersey|2008|p=63}}; {{harvnb|Cressman|2000|pp=87–94}}; {{harvnb|Millot|1974|pp=45–51}}; {{harvnb|Dull|1978|pp=127–128}}; {{harvnb|Morison|1949|pp=25–28}}; {{harvnb|Nevitt|1998}}; {{harvnb|Hackett|Kingsepp|Alsleben|Cundall|2007}}. ''Yorktown''{{'}}s operational aircraft for this day's action consisted of 18 F4F-3 Wildcat fighters, 30 SBD-3 dive bombers, and 12 TBD-1 torpedo planes (Lundstrom and Cressman).</ref>

Takagi's Carrier Striking Force was refueling {{convert|350|nmi|mi km|abbr=on}} north of Tulagi when it received word of Fletcher's strike on 4 May. Takagi terminated refueling, headed southeast, and sent scout planes to search east of the Solomons, believing that the U.S. carriers were in that area. Since no Allied ships were in that area, the search planes found nothing.<ref>{{harvnb|Lundstrom|2006|p=147}}; {{harvnb|D'Albas|1965|p=96}}. U.S. Army and RAAF aircraft sighted Gotō's ships several times during 4 May. {{harvtxt|Gillison|1962|p=518}} states that an RAAF PBY, commanded by Flying Officer Nomran, which was shadowing Gotō, reported that it was under attack and disappeared.</ref>