After many weeks seeing the brutal fighting that was unfolding in the Southwest Pacific,
we are finally reaching the apex of the Guadalcanal Campaign.
With three failed attempts to recapture the infamous Island of Death and with their
latest victory on the Santa Cruz Islands giving them the illusion that they had achieved naval
supremacy over their enemies, the Japanese again prepared for a planned last offensive to finally
win what they believed to be the most decisive battle of the Pacific War. Today, however, those
illusions are going to be shattered as we delve into the critical Naval Battle of Guadalcanal.
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Before we sail
into the Solomon Sea, we first have to resume General Rupertus’ attack against the Shoji
Detachment at Koli Point. After assembling his forces west of the Nalimbiu, Rupertus finally
started to push east on November 7, reaching the mouth of the Metapona River by night and digging
in because of a possible Japanese naval landing. This was the second convoy sent by the Japanese,
which would go on to fend off the attacks of the Cactus Air Force to land their reinforcements
at Tassafaronga. At this point, Shoji had also finally reached Koli Point,
where he received orders from General Hyakutake to abandon his current position and rejoin the
other forces at Kokumbona. Thus, by November 8, Shoji had deployed a sizable force at Tetere,
which would be dug in along Gavaga Creek to cover his withdrawal. On this day, Rupertus
would also order the 7th Marines to surround the enemy position , but the advance of the Marines
would be constantly hindered by the Japanese mountain guns. The relentless shelling would
further inflict many casualties on the Americans, with Colonel Puller getting wounded several times
and finally being forced to evacuate. At the same time, dengue fever would also force Rupertus
to relinquish his command to Brigadier-General Edmund Sebree . Additionally, General Vandegrift
ordered the 1st Battalion, 164th Regiment to be redeployed for a renewed western offensive on
November 9, leaving only its 2nd Battalion to complete the encirclement of the enemy.
This wouldn’t be enough though, and a hole would be left on the southern side where a
swampy creek notched the American lines. To remedy this, Sebree decided to place a
company there while the rest of his forces gradually compressed the enemy pocket with
a heavy bombardment. Yet by nightfall, Shoji had discovered this weak spot on the American line,
immediately ordering his forces to escape the pocket. Around 3000 hungry and exhausted men
of the Shoji Detachment managed to escape that night, only leaving behind some 500
soldiers dug in on a clump of woods between the beach and the grassy fields. By November 11,
the Americans had finally brought forward their artillery and Sebree had closed the gap with
another company . He then proceeded to exterminate the remaining opposition at Tetere, reporting
more than 450 enemy casualties by November 12 . Meanwhile, General Vandegrift had brought the
8th Marines and the 1st Battalion, 164th Regiment to reinforce the Marine position on Point Cruz.
On November 10, Colonel John Arthur finally resumed the attack against Kokumbona, yet they
were met by fresh troops from the 228th Regiment who effectively managed to slow down the American
advance . By night, five Japanese destroyers would also land some 600 reinforcements, including
General Sano from the 38th Division, who would immediately take command of the situation. The
following morning, he sent one battalion towards Mount Austen to outflank and destroy the American
forces. Yet Admiral Yamamoto’s large convoy of 7000 reinforcements would appear on this day, and
its sighting by American coastwatchers and aerial reconnaissance would finally force Vandegrift to
suspend the attack and return to the east bank of the Matanikau, as he believed that another major
Japanese offensive was on the horizon. First, however, let us look back a couple of days.
On November 8, Yamamoto had ordered the 11th Air Fleet to launch a full-scale bombardment
of the American positions while Admiral Kondo’s Advanced Force was ordered to take a position
north of Guadalcanal by November 12, planning to use the battleships of Admiral Abe’s Bombardment
Unit for another heavy naval bombardment. Admiral Mikawa’s 8th Fleet would then escort
the large convoy towards Guadalcanal, dispatching Admiral Nishimura’s Support Force to also bombard
Henderson Field while the troops landed on Tassafaronga and Cape Esperance by November 13.
Merely a day after Yamamoto issued his operations order, American cryptanalysts had already informed
Admiral Halsey of the Japanese plan, only missing out on the planned naval bombardment.
Yet the atmosphere was still of tense expectation in the US, as Halsey had only one damaged carrier
available, which was far away conducting repairs. In his characteristic way, however,
he wasn’t seriously considering evading battle. Instead, he instructed Admiral Turner’s Task Force
67 to run two separate, but heavily escorted, American groups of transports, which would bring
some 5500 reinforcements to Guadalcanal. Whereas Admiral Scott’s vessels would escort the 1st
Marine Aviation Engineer Battalion , Rear-Admiral Daniel Callaghan had the task of protecting the
transports of the 182nd Regiment . Meanwhile, Halsey had instructed Admiral Kinkaid’s Task Force
16 and Rear-Admiral Willis Lee’s Task Force 64 to rush to Guadalcanal and destroy the enemy fleet.
Yet as we’ve shown, they were too far away, and in the meantime,
Scott and Callaghan would have the task of interfering with the initial Japanese assault.
After sustaining some aerial attacks , Task Force 67 would reach Iron Bottom Sound on the
night of November 11. The following morning, Admiral Turner’s transports began unloading at
Lunga Point, successfully repelling one major Japanese air strike during the afternoon .
At this point, however, Turner had been alerted of the sightings of Abe’s Bombardment Unit on
a southerly course towards Lunga Point and of Admiral Tanaka’s convoy departing Shortland.
He knew that the enemy was probably coming to repeat the naval bombardment of Henderson
Field, and so he directed his surface forces to intercept and destroy them.
Yet instead of choosing the experienced Scott, victor of Cape Esperance, he decided to appoint
Gallaghan to command the task force, as he had fifteen days of seniority over Scott.
Nonetheless, the highly-outnumbered American force would deploy in a line-ahead formation
to meet the enemy. Meanwhile, Abe had encountered a heavy weather that left him with no visibility,
resulting in his forces getting dispersed and making them vulnerable to surprise.
Shortly after midnight on November 13, he would come out of the thunderstorms not knowing that
his vessels were dispersed. He would then immediately order the naval bombardment to start,
but unbeknownst to him, Callaghan had already learned his location,
planning to come to starboard to cross the T of the Japanese. Around 01:40, the destroyer Cushing
would spot Abe’s leading destroyers , and this report would reach Callaghan among many other
reports from his SG radars. Yet Callaghan soon found himself hesitating at the face
of the enemy, and this would give Abe a couple of minutes to prepare for the incoming attack.
Upon spotting the American vessels, Abe would order his ships to illuminate the enemy with their
searchlights, thus forcing the cruiser Atlanta to engage the source of the light at 01:50.
Soon, the ships in the van of each formation were immediately caught up in a maelstrom
of gunfire that lasted for ten minutes. Atlanta in particular suffered 32 hits from
the enemy concentrated fire and some 19 hits from cruiser San Francisco’s unfortunate friendly fire.
Admiral Scott was killed in the resulting barrage, and a torpedo hit would finally seal the fate of
the dying cruiser. Yet the Japanese would also suffer from this rain of fire, with the destroyer
Akatsuki sinking after getting shattered by gunfire and with the battleship Hiei suffering
so many hits at short-range that several levels of its superstructure were set aflame and Abe himself
was wounded. Only 2500 yards apart, a surface duel between Hiei and San Francisco then ensued,
but the incendiary shells of the battleship, which had been prepared to bombard the airfield,
often failed to penetrate the cruiser’s armor. Nonetheless, the American cruiser suffered three
critical hits that shattered its superstructure and ended the life of Admiral Callaghan.
At 01:54, however, San Francisco had also scored a devastating hit on Hiei,
creating a large hole in the hull that opened the way for substantial amounts of water,
thus forcing the battleship to limp north away from the battle. And in the center of the action,
the lead American destroyer group would suffer heavily from the fire exchange as well .
As the Cushing received numerous hits from the cruiser Nagara and would later be finished off
by some Japanese destroyers , the Laffey also suffered several gunfire and torpedo hits that
finally left her sinking. Behind them, the cruiser Portland received a torpedo hit that
caused considerable damage and the rear group of destroyers finally suffered an unexpected attack,
as the aggressive destroyer Amatsukaze launched a full salvo of eight torpedoes, successfully
scoring two hits on Barton, which quickly broke in two and sank. At 02:00, however, although the
Japanese had inflicted more casualties than their enemy, the wounded Abe felt that they were forced
to cancel the bombardment mission, and thus he ordered his vessels to withdraw north of
Savo Island. During the Japanese retreat, the Amatsukaze suffered much damage under the fire
of the cruiser Helena and the destroyer Monssen sank after suffering Japanese concentrated fire.
The destroyer Murasame and the cruiser Juneau also caused some heavy damage to each other,
and the destroyer Yudachi would be the last to sink after disabling the destroyer Sterett. Among
other ships damaged are the destroyer Ikazuchi and the Helena, both suffering minor gunfire damage.
By daybreak, however, the two fleets were withdrawing away from the battlefield.
Five destroyers protected the crippled Hiei , but with Henderson Field so close,
the Japanese were not optimistic about its survival. A total of 70 sorties would
be flown against the battleship during the day, yet they would all be ineffective, only
scoring two torpedo hits that were not critical. Nonetheless, Abe ordered to beach Hiei and to
evacuate its crew; an order that was refused by Captain Nishida Masao, who believed in its
survival. In the end, however, the battleship would receive two critical torpedo hits in the
afternoon and the Japanese would be forced to abandon the vessel, which would finally sink
northwest of Savo Island by nightfall. Meanwhile, by midday, the withdrawing Americans also suffered
a deadly surprise attack, as the submarine I-26 managed to strike the Juneau with a
critical torpedo hit that caused a catastrophic explosion, sinking the cruiser in seconds.
Despite the loss of their first battleship in the war, the Japanese still had a sizable naval force,
so Yamamoto decided to postpone the arrival of the large convoy for one day while his forces
launched a second attempt at a naval bombardment. Thus, Admiral Nishimura led his forces into Iron
Bottom Sound to shell the airfield during the early hours of November 14, although he would
only hit Fighter One and three aircraft. Then, at the same time that Nishimura and Mikawa retreated
to Savo Island, Tanaka began to move forward with the large convoy. Unbeknownst to them, the
carrier Enterprise was now entering the area, and joined by aircraft coming from Espiritu Santo and
Guadalcanal, the Americans would launch a series of devastating air attacks that sank the cruiser
Kinugasa, heavily damaged the cruiser Maya and successfully disabled seven Japanese transports .
Although the convoy had already been largely destroyed, Kondo was reassembling his forces
by nightfall to prepare for a second assault. Still, he would not commit his carrier unit
with two battleships, as the Japanese failed to grasp the decisiveness of the moment.
In contrast, Halsey decided to throw all his remaining surface assets in the form
of Admiral Lee’s Task Force 64, formed around the two fast battleships Washington and South Dakota.
On the afternoon of November 14, Lee would move west of Savo Island to intercept the enemy.
In an improvised battleplan, he arranged his vessels in a column with the destroyers close to
the battleships. At the same time, Kondo received numerous reports of the incoming enemy force,
but these had misidentified the battleships as heavy cruisers. Thus, he planned to send the
two destroyer squadrons of Rear-Admiral Kimura Susumu to neutralize the American force before
using his main vessels for the naval bombardment. Admiral Hashimoto and his Sweeping Unit would also
have the task of scouting the channels around Savo, successfully spotting Lee’s forces as they
entered Iron Bottom Sound at 23:13 . In response to these reports, Kondo immediately sent Kimura
to enter the channel south of Savo and engage the enemy. Around midnight, however, Lee at last
detected the Sweeping Unit with his radars, successfully finding them ten minutes later.
At 00:17 on November 15, the battle started as Lee’s battleships began to fire on Hashimoto.
Yet the firing would be very inaccurate, giving the Japanese the chance to escape to the east.
Five minutes later, the aggressive destroyer Ayanami would also be detected; and it would
go on to launch a full salvo of torpedoes as enemy gunfire fell on her. Although her torpedoes
would miss the enemy, the damage inflicted on the destroyer would be enough for it to
sink some time later. Soon, however, Kimura and the Nagara would appear behind Ayanami,
rapidly shelling the destroyer Preston and forcing the vessel to be abandoned . The Screening Unit
then started to fire their torpedoes against the American destroyers, successfully hitting
Benham and Walke and blowing off their bows. The last remaining destroyer, Gwin,
had also been hit by at least two shells that left her out of action. The annihilation of Lee’s
destroyers tricked Kondo into thinking that he had already destroyed the enemy, so he immediately
ordered his forces to approach Guadalcanal for the bombardment. At the same time, South Dakota began
to experience a series of electrical failures that left her helpless for three key minutes,
thus making her lose contact with Washington as the battleship continued to hunt for Hashimoto.
Washington, meanwhile, had turned to the northwest, where it was tracking the battleship
Kirishima; and although the Americans were ready to engage the enemy by 00:40,
Lee instead ordered them to halt and search for South Dakota, which by 00:54 had gotten herself in
the path of Kondo’s Bombardment Unit. Upon gaining contact with the battleship, Kondo’s vessels
immediately engaged South Dakota, scoring a total of 26 hits that caused extensive topside damage .
Unfortunately, none of their torpedoes hit their target to finish the battleship off.
At this point, while the Japanese were focused on South Dakota, the undetected Washington reentered
the fight, firing a total of 75 shells on the unsuspecting Kirishima in a matter of minutes.
Almost 50 devastating hits were scored on the Japanese battleship, successfully creating a
starboard list and starting a large flooding. This action gave South Dakota enough time to escape,
yet Lee was not aware that Washington had been left alone to deal with Kondo’s forces.
With Kirishima crippled, Kondo decided to send his two heavy cruisers to engage Lee’s flagship,
thus unleashing their full salvo of torpedoes at 01:13, although they would fail to score any hits.
By 01:25, however, Kondo’s destroyers and two of Tanaka’s destroyers joined in the attack;
but again, none of their torpedoes found their target.
Thus, Lee would luckily exit to the west of Guadalcanal and the battle would be over, leaving
another major loss for the Japanese as Kirishima would finally roll over and sink at 04:25.
Around this time, Tanaka would also beach his last four transports and begin unloading as fast as
possible before American aircraft could take them down. Only 2000 to 3000 troops would successfully
land before the transports’ destruction , with most of their equipment and supplies lost. Yet
this defeat would ultimately be Yamamoto’s last attempt to gain victory at Guadalcanal,
and from now on, the Japanese are going to be almost exclusively on the defensive. Next week,
we’ll return to New Guinea as one of the most bloody engagements of the war is about to start:
the Battle of Buna-Gona. To see that and more, make sure you are subscribed and have pressed the
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