1. A Japanese defeat in World War II (May 1942); the first naval battle fought entirely by planes based on aircraft carriers; Also called: battle of the Coral Sea.
2. An arm of the South Pacific northeast of Australia.
(or Solomon Sea) Part of the Pacific Ocean bounded by NE Australia, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia. It contains numerous coral islands and reefs. The Coral Sea Islands are a territory of Australia; they comprise scattered reefs and islands over an area of about 1,000,000 sq km/386,000 sq mi. They are uninhabited except for a meteorological station on Willis Island. The Great Barrier Reef lies along its western edge, just off the east coast of Australia.
In the World War II Battle of the Coral Sea, May 7–8, 1942, the US fleet prevented the Japanese from landing in SE New Guinea and thus threatening Australia. This was the first sea battle to be fought entirely by aircraft, launched from carriers, without any engagement between the actual warships themselves.