Eleven Japanese transports...

history · 01 May 1942 · 82 years ago

Eleven Japanese transports departed Rabaul, New Britain for the invasion of Port Moresby, Australian Papua; they were escorted by seven cruisers and one light carrier; on the same day, Type 1 and Type 6 land attack aircraft of Genzan Air Group arrived at Rabaul for future use with the Port Moresby invasion. On the same day, three B-26 Marauder bombers of US 22nd Bomb Group struck Rabaul, causing minor damage to an airfield. Tulagi in the Solomon Islands, another target of the Japanese offensive operation, was bombed by Japanese aircraft, destroying one Australian PBY Catalina aircraft. Near the New Hebrides islands, US Navy Task Force 11 (containing carrier Lexington) and Task Force 17 (containing carrier Yorktown) made rendezvous. At Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, Joseph Rochefort furnished a report for Chester Nimitz and Ernest King that noted Port Moresby as the likely Japanese target, northern Australia was not being targeted for now, and Japanese reconnaissance operations seemed to be targeting Hawaiian Islands and Aleutian Islands. 

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