Naval Battle of Guadalcanal

Naval Battle of Guadalcanal
Part of World War II, Pacific War
Smoke rises from two Japanese planes shot down on 12 November 1942. Photographed from USS President Adams; ship at right is USS Betelgeuse.
Date 13 November 1942 – 15 November 1942 Location Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands Result Allied victory
Belligerents
United States; Australia; New Zealand	Japan
Commanders and leaders
William Halsey, Jr	Isoroku Yamamoto
Strength
2 battleships, 5 cruisers, 12 destroyers	2 battleships, 8 cruisers, 16 destroyers
Casualties and losses
2 cruisers, 7 destroyers, 2,000 men	2 battleships, 1 cruiser, 3 destroyers, 11 transports, 10,000 men

The naval Battle of Guadalcanal took place on 13 - 15 November 1942 and was of one of a series of naval battles that took place between Allied and Japanese forces during the months-long Battle of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. In a series of combined air and sea engagements spread over three days, both sides lost a number of vessels in Ironbottom Sound; although the US lost more ships, the Japanese lost their battleships Hiei and Kirishima and lost loaded transports crucial to the resupply and reinforcement of their troops on Guadalcanal.

Background

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's previous attempt to land troops to capture the American airfield at Henderson Field on Guadalcanal had been turned back at the battle of the Santa Cruz Islands on October 26, though with heavy American losses. Determined to try again, Yamamoto assembled a convoy on November 12, commanded by Rear Admiral Hiroaki Abe. The powerful battleships Hiei and Kirishima were equipped with fragmentation shells for shore bombardment.

First battle

On November 13 1942 at about 01:00 the convoy entered Ironbottom Sound between Savo Island and Guadalcanal. Waiting for them was Rear Admiral Daniel Callaghan's force of cruisers and destroyers. In pitch darkness due to bad weather, the two forces did not engage until 01:48 at the point-blank range of around 2,000 m. The result was a disorganized mélée with severe damage on both sides as the two forces intermingled. Abe gave the order to retreat at about 02:00.

The Americans were in no condition to chase: the cruiser Atlanta was mistaken for Japanese and severely damaged by 8-inch shells from San Francisco and scuttled later. The destroyers Barton, Cushing, Laffey and Monssen were sunk and the cruisers San Francisco, Portland, Helena and Juneau were heavily damaged (Juneau was sunk by a torpedo from a submarine the next day as she struggled south, killing the five Sullivan brothers).

The Japanese had lost only the destroyer Akatsuki in the battle, but disaster followed. Dawn revealed three crippled Japanese ships in the strait. The destroyer Amatsukaze was attacked by dive-bombers but managed to escape. Yudachi was sunk by Portland. Hiei had taken 85 hits, including an 8-inch shell that destroyed her rudder. Her fire control systems for her main and secondary batteries were knocked out, her superstructure set afire and 188 of her crew killed, including Capt. Suzuki Masakane, Admiral Abe's Chief of Staff, shot by 20 mm AA firing from destroyer "Laffey" - a very close range fire fight indeed. In addition, Admiral Abe and Capt. Nishida Masao, the battleship's commander, were wounded. On the morning of 14 November she was attacked repeatedly by Marine Grumman Avenger TBF torpedo planes from Henderson Field, TBFs and Douglas Dauntless SBD dive-bombers from USS Enterprise and B-17 bombers of the United States Army Air Force 11th Heavy Bombardment Group from Espiritu Santo. After 70 sorties, she was scuttled by her crew.

Abe claimed victory, having sunk two American cruisers and four destroyers, but strategically it was a defeat, because the attack on Henderson Field was abandoned. Abe was court-martialled and retired from service.

Second battle

The Japanese made a second attempt two nights later, on November 14, sending in the survivors of the first engagement with the battleship Kirishima and the heavy cruisers Atago and Takao.

Running out of ships, Admiral William Halsey, Jr detached the fast battleships Washington and South Dakota, of Enterprise's support group, together with four destroyers, as Task Force 64 under Admiral Willis A. Lee. That both sides were willing to risk their capital ships in the narrow waters around Guadalcanal shows the importance their commanders placed on the battle. American radar picked up targets at 18,000 m range but the Japanese once again demonstrated phenomenal night vision and high quality optics; shortly after the radar contact, the American destroyer screen suffered torpedo hits.

South Dakota came under heavy fire from the three Japanese ships, taking 42 hits mainly in her superstructures. Her radio communications failed; radar plot was demolished; three fire control radars were damaged; there was a fire in her foremast and energy lacked due to the wrong position of a switch. During this bombardment, Calvin Graham (the youngest person ever to enlist in the US Navy) was injured and for his actions he later received a Bronze Star. However, she was able to avoid another torpedo launch. It seems that she received no fatal damage due to the fact that the Japanese shell fuses were designed to ignite bursting charges only after traveling somewhere underwater, or when they got a very, very strong impact.

The American destroyers Walke and Preston were sunk. Benham had part of her bow blown off by a torpedo and, while en route to Nouméa with the damaged Gwin as her escort, was abandoned and sunk by gunfire.

But by drawing the Japanese fire, South Dakota had allowed Washington to approach undetected. By this time Washington was the only ship left of the fleet. Naval historian David Lippman comments that "at that moment Washington was the entire U. S. Pacific Fleet. She was the only barrier between (Admiral) Kondo's ships and Guadalcanal. If this one ship did not stop 14 Japanese ships right then and there, America might lose the war".

Washington turned hard left to put the burning destroyers Walke and Preston between herself and the Japanese fleet. Lacking radar, the Japanese fleet could not locate Washington and instead Kirishima turned on her search lights to illuminate South Dakota.

Just after midnight on 14 November Washington fired her main batteries at Kirishima at a close range of about 10 km. Kirishima was hit by both the first and second salvoes, receiving around nine 16" hits and 40–75 scores by 5" gun in just seven minutes. Washington's gun director affirmed to have see a dark red lighting inside Kirismima; we suppose she was devastated by inner fires. At 03:25 the Kirishima became the first enemy ship to be sunk by an American battleship. The destroyer Ayanami also scuttled during the morning.

As a result of the battle the Japanese commander Isoroku Yamamoto recommended to the emperor a withdrawal from Guadalcanal.

Aftermath

The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal was the last major attempt by the Japanese to seize control of the seas around Guadalcanal. The Tokyo Express of supply convoys began to run in reverse, evacuating Japanese soldiers to New Guinea. The last resistance in the battle of Guadalcanal ended on February 9 1943.

References

• Samuel Eliot Morison, History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, vol. 5, chap. 12

External links

• USN Combat Narrative: The Battle of Guadalcanal, 11-15 November 1942
• U.S.S. SOUTH DAKOTA (BB-57), GUNFIRE DAMAGE - Battle of Guadalcanal, November 14-15, 1942