The attack on Pearl Harbour had not been the success the Japanese needed. In the modern war that was shaping up in the Pacific aircraft carriers were the key weapons. For the Japanese mastermind of Pearl Harbour, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, he needed to finish what he‘d started. If he didn’t he knew that the war was lost. So now the stage was set for a number of key players, who very likely would have been visitors to Cairns depending on how things worked out for Yamamoto, to tangle with each other - - in a struggle for life and death. Victory and defeat.

On the American side the important men were Admiral Frank Fletcher and Rear Admiral Aubrey B Fitch.

On the Japanese side it was Admiral Takagi.

In this Danger Zone, I’m going to tell you about this struggle for our freedom that took place in May 1942 in the Coral Sea – not too many kilometres away from Cairns.

Tag words: Pearl Harbour; Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto; Admiral Frank Fletcher;Rear Phelps Admiral Aubrey B Fitch; Admiral Takagi; World War II; Battle of Midway; Battle of the Coral Sea; Port Moresby; Shokaku; Zuikaku; bombing of Darwin; Ceylon; Carrier operations; Shoho; Yorktown; Port Moresby; Admiral Crace; HMAS Hobart; Lexington; Lady Lex; New Guinea; USS Sims; Neosho; Combat Air Patrol; USS Phelps; Admiral Nimitz; Lt. Cmdr. H. J. Pfingstag; Paul Allen; Bill Gates;