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The '''Coral Sea''' is the part of the [[Pacific Ocean]] between [[Australia]] in the west, [[New Caledonia]] and [[Vanuatu]] in the east, [[Papua New Guinea]] and [[Solomon Islands]] in the north and the [[Tasman Sea]] in the south.

The '''Coral Sea''' is an area of the [[Pacific Ocean]] bounded in the west by the coast of [[Queensland]], [[Australia]]; in the north by [[Papua New Guinea]] then across to (and include) [[Vanuatu]]; in the east by a line drawn more or less south from there to meet Latitude 30°S  - south of which is the [[Tasman Sea]].

 

The Coral Sea contains the [[Great Barrier Reef]] off the Queensland coast and other outstanding areas of maritime wonder in and around Vanuatu.  While usually of an equable climate, further tempered by the south-east [[Trade winds|Trades]], it is an area where [[hurricane|tropical cyclones]] form, which devastate areas of north Queensland with some frequency. The area was first traversed by [[Luis Vaez de Torres|Torres]] in 1606 and [[James Cook]] explored its western edge in 1770.

 

It gives its name to the [[Battle of the Coral Sea]] (4 May to 8 May, 1942) where United States carriers, assisted by Royal Australian Navy warships, had a number of engagements with a large [[Japan]]ese force en route to [[Port Moresby]]. Each  force was assisted by land based aircraft from Australia or New Guinea.  It gave Japan its first defeat in the [[Second World War]], saved Port Moresby for the Allies and enabled the first step towards reversing the Japanese thrust down through New Guinea.

 

 

''”The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea”'' 1997 p.205

 

[[Category:Seas of the Pacific Ocean]]

[[Category:Seas of the Pacific Ocean]]

[[Category:Oceania]]

[[Category:Oceania]]