How long was it and WHY?
The course of the battle was 4 days. It did not take long but took a few days because it was located in big lands it was hard locating the enemy. The forces had to refuel and keep searching for each other. Each force was finding a way to attack the other and with that Japanese tried fooling the U.S when they didn't arrive for the fleet. Once they began to fight it wasn't long till the Japanese forces weakened and made poor choices. In addition, fighting in a vast area provided awhile to locate each other.