UNITED KINGDOM: London: The war cabinet orders a new offensive in the Libyan desert.

The British Foreign Office issued a statement announcing that the British commanders of the troops who took Madagascar immediately informed the French authorities that Madagascar would remain French and would be restored to French sovereignty after the war.

ASW trawler HMS Whiting commissioned.

FRANCE: Paris: Capitaine Paul Sézille, head of the Gestapo funded Institut des Questions Juives tasked with propagating anti-Semitism, writes to Dannecker complaining that Jewish children in schools, notably in the Lycée Condorcet, "which had always been a Jewish lycée," and in the lycée Jules Ferry, had not yet been separated out. French porters, furthermore, had been observed carrying luggage for Jews.

GERMANY: U-539 laid down.

U.S.S.R.: The German offensive for 1942, Operation Bustard, opens in Russia in the Crimea led by von Manstein's 22nd Panzer Division. They aim to recapture the Kerch peninsula.

PACIFIC OCEAN: The Battle of the Coral Sea continues with the simultaneous sightings by both sides of each other. Attacks are quickly mounted. The USS Lexington sinks and the USS Yorktown is damaged. The IJN Shokaku is damaged.

At approximately 0830 hours local, a search plane from the aircraft carrier USS Lexington (CV-2) locates the Japanese carrier force consisting of the aircraft carriers HIJMS Shohaku and HIJMS Zuikaku south of San Cristobal Island, Solomon Islands. [San Cristobal Island is 38 miles (61.2 km) southeast of Guadalcanal Island, Solomon Islands.] A carrier strike force is launched by the Americans between 0915 and 0925 hours; the Yorktown Air Group in USS Yorktown (CV-5) launches 30 Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers, nine Douglas TBD Devastator torpedo bombers and 14 Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters while the Lexington Air Group in USS Lexington launches 24 SBDs, 12 TBDs and ten F4Fs. 

At approximately the same time, the two Japanese aircraft carriers launch a strike force against the Americans.

The Yorktown SBDs locate both Japanese carriers at 1032 hours local but orbit the ships awaiting the arrival of the slower TBDs giving the Japanese time to launch Mitsubishi A6M Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighters, Allied Code Name "Zeke." By the time the TBDs arrive, the HIJMS Zuikaku is hidden by a rain squall and the Americans attack HIJMS Shokaku. The TBDs attack with torpedoes but all miss while the SBD dive bombers score two hits with 1,000-pound (453.6 kg) bombs. TBDs of the Lexington Air Group attack with torpedoes but fail to hit the ship while four Lexington SBDs score one hit on the ship; only four of the 24 Lexington SBDs locate the target. HIJMS Shokaku is heavily damaged and retires; it takes two months to repair her. 

The cost to the USN is nine SBDs, two TBDs and three F4Fs. At 1118 hours local, the Japanese attack force consisting of 18 Nakajima B5N Navy Type 97 Carrier Attack Bombers, Allied Code Name "Kate;" 33 Aichi D3A Navy Type 99 Carrier Bombers, Allied Code Name "Val;" and 18 Mitsubishi A6M "Zeke" fighters arrive over the USN's carriers. The "Kates" attack USS Lexington with torpedoes and she is struck by two torpedos on her port side. At the same time, "Vals" put three bombs into her, producing a 7 degree list to port and several raging fires. By 1245 hours damage control parties have brought the fires under control and returned the ship to an even keel; making 25 knots, she begins to recover her air group. Then suddenly at 1247, the ship is shaken by a tremendous explosion, caused by the ignition of gasoline vapors below, and again fire rage out of control.

At 1558 hours, the captain secured salvage operations, and ordered all hands to the flight deck. At 1707 hours, he ordered, "abandon ship!" Lexington blazed on, flames shooting hundreds of feet into the air until a destroyer sinks her with two torpedoes.

The USS Yorktown is also attacked by the Japanese formation and managed to avoid eight torpedoes until a bomb from a "Val" penetrated the flight deck and exploded below decks, killing or seriously injuring 66 men. The fires were brought under control and flight operations continued.

In addition to the damage to HIJMS Shokaku, HIJMS Zuikaku's air group suffers heavy losses estimated at eight "Kates," 15 "Vals," and six "Zekes," preventing the Japanese from using these ships for several months.

The Japanese have won a tactical victory sinking three USN ships (Lexington, the destroyer USS Sims and the oiler USS Neosho) but the Allies have won a strategic victory by forcing the Japanese to abandon the invasion of Port Moresby, New Guinea thereby keeping the sea lanes between the U.S. and Australia open. The USN also realizes that the number of fighter aircraft on the carriers must be increased to provide adequate protection.

Three U.S. sailors are awarded the Medal of Honor for actions during the Battle of the Coral Sea. Lieutenant John J. Powers, USN, of Bombing Squadron Five (VB-5) in USS Yorktown is awarded the medal posthumously for his attack on HIJMS Shokaku; Lieutenant (jg) William E. Hall, USNR, of Scouting Squadron Two (VS-2) in USS Lexington is awarded his medal for shooting down three Japanese aircraft while flying an SBD; and Lieutenant Milton  E. Ricketts, USN, a damage control officer in USS Yorktown, is awarded the medal posthumously for fighting the fires aboard the ship. The citations for their awards may be viewed.

Japanese plans for an attack on Port Moresby, New Guinea. This is the first setback for the Japanese offensive. It is also the first carrier vs. carrier battle in history. Neither of the opposing naval forces will see the other side.

With the sinking of USS Lexington her carrier air group is disbanded.

A stochastic analysis of the battle is here.

COCOS (KEELING) ISLANDS: A mutiny among Commonwealth troops stationed here, results in a Field General Court Martial at which three servicemen are sentenced to death. This mutiny causes the disbandment of the Coastal Battery RGA and is the subject of a book, The Cocos Islands Mutiny by Noel Crusz. (Daniel Ross)

CANADA: Corvette HMCS Matapedia arrived Pictou , Nova Scotia for refit.

U.S.A.: Alvin York is commissioned as Major, USA. York, as Sgt York in WWI received the MOH.

78th Pursuit Group (Interceptor) and its three subordinate units, the 82d, 83d and 84th Pursuit Squadrons (Interceptor) (USAAF), moves to San Diego Municipal Airport, California and continues to train for combat with P-38's and also provide air defence for the west coast.

The motion picture "In This Our Life" is released in the U.S. Directed by John Huston, this drama stars Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, George Brent, Dennis Morgan, Billie Burke and Hattie McDaniel with a bit part by Walter Huston. Based on the Ellen Glasgow novel, this film about a dysfunctional family has Davis stealing her sister's (de Havilland) husband and then drives him to drink. She returns home and continues to disrupt her sister's life.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: SS Mont Louis (1,905 GRT), Canadian freighter Capt Walter Bowen, Master, torpedoed and sunk off British Guyana in position 08.23N, 058.44W, by U-162, FKpt Jürgen Wattenberg, CO of her crew of 21, 13 were lost. Mont Louis was proceeding independently carrying a load of bauxite ore from Dutch Guyana for transhipment at Port-of-Spain, Trinidad. The ship was struck by a single torpedo late in the evening and sank in less than two minutes. The survivors, including the master, were rescued by a small Nova Scotian schooner and taken to Georgetown, British Guyana.

At 1812, the unescorted and unarmed Ohioan was torpedoed by U-564 about 10 miles off Boynton Beach, Florida, while steaming on a nonevasive course at 14.5 knots. One torpedo struck on the starboard side at the #4 hold and caused the ship to sink by the stern within three minutes, rolling over from starboard to port. The eight officers and 29 crewmen tried to launch two lifeboats, but the first swamped when it touched the water while the second was cut from its falls but did not float. The suction of the sinking ship caused the majority of the casualties of one officer and 14 crewmen. The survivors rescued themselves on six rafts that had floated free and were rescued by the USCG. They were brought to West Palm Beach, where four had to be hospitalized.

SS Torny sunk by U-507 at 26.40N, 86.40W.