Status - John Skinner - USS O'Brien:
O'Brien, escorting Curtiss, had completed its trip to Midway and returned to Pearl Harbor on April 3rd. O'Brien would remain at Pearl Harbor until April 18th, and would receive an armament upgrade as described in the April 7th entry.
US Navy Intelligence had by this time partially cracked the Imperial Japanese Navy's fleet message encoding. Although most messages could not be read, patterns could be found in the messages, and some things could be inferred, such as tying ships to task forces, etc. From these, a daily estimate of the Japanese Navy plans could be created.
Throughout March and April, these estimates indicated Japanese plans to move ships (including aircraft carriers) to the South Pacific, with the obvious target being the Solomon Islands and New Guinea, specifically Port Moresby. As attempts to reach Port Moresby overland had failed due to the impassibility of the jungle, a sea attack appeared more and more likely. Admiral Nimitz began to consider sending a second carrier task force back to the South Pacific (Coral Sea) area.
U. S. Navy Task Forces:
- Task Force 17 (Yorktown) remained in the South Pacific area to continue raids and offensive operations.
- Task Force 11 (Lexington) arrived at Pearl Harbor on March 26th. Lexington undergoing refit until April 16th.
- Task Force 16 (Enterprise) had sailed from Pearl Harbor, toward the meeting point with the Hornet group.
- USS Hornet was heading for Hawaii, where it would rendezvous with Task Force 16.
More Information:
- Official Navy Chronology, pp. 179-182.
- The First South Pacific Campaign, John B. Lundstrom, pp. 78-79.
NEXT POST: APRIL 15TH
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