Adams: It seemed to me that the admirals were assessing the damage and gathering ships for both defensive and offensive actions as the new year approached. It was very fortunate that our three Pacific Fleet aircraft carriers–Enterprise, Saratoga and Lexington–missed the Pearl Harbor attack. The carriers were all we had to hit back with and were now the most important ships in the fleet. Our task force put to sea in early January 1942, to attack the Japanese in the Marshall and Gilbert islands, but the mission was called off on the eve of the attack. There was both good and bad news at that time. The bad news was that a Jap submarine had torpedoed Saratoga on January 11 and temporarily put her out of action. The good news was that Enterprise and the newly arrived Yorktown had attacked the Marshall and Gilbert islands. Those attacks had a great effect on morale. Then on February 7, 1942, the staff went over to Yorktown. Our new commander was Rear Adm. Frank Jack Fletcher.

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MH: It must have been quite a change to go from a cruiser to an aircraft carrier.

Adams: The size of the ship was unbelievable. Three football fields would fit end to end on her flight deck. She had a complement of more than 2,000 men, operated 100 planes and had three elevators to take planes from the flight deck to the hangar deck–one fore, one aft and one amidships. My quarters were two decks below the hangar on the port side amidships, and I wasn't particularly thrilled about the location. I think we were one deck below the armor belt and about even with the waterline. I wondered if I would wake up some night with a Japanese torpedo in my bunk.

MH: When did Yorktown put to sea?

Adams: We steamed for the South Pacific in mid-February. Scout planes and anti-submarine patrols were always in the air. We drilled on simulated air attacks. In the first week of March, Lexington's task force joined us, and we began operating in the Coral Sea between New Guinea and the northeast coast of Australia. The Japanese had landed troops at Salamaua and Lae in New Guinea. Planes from both carriers bombed the Japanese on March 10, and claimed several ships sunk. For a few weeks the task force roamed the Coral Sea, seeking out the enemy and running short of supplies. I think I ate only spaghetti and canned tomatoes for two weeks. In mid-April, we went to Tongatabu, in the Tonga Islands, for provisions.

[Note: By early May 1942, only the southeastern portion of Australian New Guinea remained in Allied hands, but the Japanese army was stalled in the rugged Owen Stanley Mountains. To break the deadlock, the Japanese decided on an amphibious invasion against Port Moresby, the main Allied supply base on New Guinea's southeastern coast.]

MH: Tell us about the Coral Sea battle.

Adams: The Japanese invaded Tulagi, in the Solomon Islands, on May 4. We made air attacks on the Japanese anchorage, sinking and damaging several vessels. However, the Japanese were alerted to the fact that American carriers were nearby. On May 7, we fueled from the fleet oiler Neosho. I had a friend from Seguin, Texas, on Neosho, and one of our yeomen had a brother aboard her. We got to talk to them using semaphore. Neosho headed out to Australia about 10 a.m., with the destroyer Sims escorting her. That afternoon, Japanese planes found and sank them both. Meanwhile, our search planes had sighted a group of enemy ships about 175 miles northwest of the task force. The air group launched a perfectly coordinated attack on the light carrier Shoho. Our planes reported that Shoho sank so quickly that many of her crew didn't have a chance to abandon ship. We received the famous radio report, 'Scratch one flattop.' I found out this was sent by Lt. Cmdr. Robert Dixon of Lexington's dive bomber group. I became well acquainted with him later, when we served on the staff of Rear Adm. Frederick Sherman.

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