The United States Marines were in deep trouble.
October 25, 1942, was a miserable day for them on the island of Guadalcanal, with gunfire
all along their perimeter.
The Marines called it, “Dug Out Sunday.”
Heavy rain on the previous day had halted all air operations; however, the Japanese
were attacking them in full force.
In the morning, Japanese planes bombed Henderson Field, the Marine airstrip, while land and
sea traffic picked up on all sides of the island.
Every American on Guadalcanal knew that this was Japan’s big push to retake the Solomon
Islands.
It was do or die.
Would they make it out alive?
Back in August 1942, the 1st Marine Division had landed on Guadalcanal in the Solomons
as part of Operation Watchtower, the first major US offensive in the Pacific Theater
of World War 2.
But within two days of the landing, disaster struck.
Japanese Naval forces from Rabaul counterattacked, defeating Allied forces at the Battle of Savo
Island.
Having lost four cruisers and over 1,000 men killed, the Allied fleet retreated into open
water, leaving the Marines trapped.
Meanwhile, Japanese reinforcements poured in, hoping to retake Guadalcanal.
A new regiment arrived in August, then a new brigade landed in September, and finally,
a fresh division came ashore in October—and yet the Marines held on.
But as of the third week of October, Major General Alexander Vandegrift believed his
Marines could not last much longer without the Navy’s help.
The fleet needed to return to the Solomon Islands, it needed to secure the area, and
it needed to sink the Japanese carrier fleet.
The success of the American war effort in the South Pacific hinged on the results of
the next battle at sea.
That battle came on October 26, 1942, one day after “Dug Out Sunday.”
It was called the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands.
To the sailors who participated in it, it was simply, “Bloody Santa Cruz.”
Although the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands is largely forgotten today, it was one of
the epic clashes of the Pacific War, involving two aircraft carrier fleets that engaged each
other from afar.
Although it is not as famous as the Battle of Midway or the Battle of the Coral Sea,
the Battle of Santa Cruz was as important to America’s overall success in World War
2.
It determined if the US Navy would reclaim the South Pacific.
Although scholars have sometimes described it as a tactical defeat for the United States
Navy, its long-term consequences produced a strategic victory, as it drove the Japanese
carrier force back into hiding and enabled the Allied conquest of Guadalcanal, the only
major American offensive in the Pacific in the year 1942.
More importantly, 262 American sailors gave their lives during this battle, a testament
to the engagement’s ferocity.
The Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands occurred because of plans made by Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto,
the architect of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
From his base at Truk Atoll, Yamamoto arranged for an all-out offensive to settle the stalemated
Solomon Islands campaign once and for all.
On land, Lieutenant General Harukichi Hyakutake would launch an assault against the US Marines.
At sea, three Japanese fleets under VADM Chuichi Nagumo, VADM Nobutake Kondo, and RADM Hiroaki
Abe would sail from Truk toward the Santa Cruz Islands, a small island cluster south
and east of the Solomons.
This move would threaten America’s South Pacific base at Espiritu Santu and draw out
the US fleet so it could be engaged in a climactic, decisive battle.
Between them, the three Japanese fleets contained three fleet carriers (the Shokaku, Zuikaku,
and Junyo), one light carrier (the Zuiho), five battleships, fourteen cruisers, and forty-four
destroyers.
On October 18th, when news of the Japanese offensive reached his headquarters in Hawaii,
Admiral Chester Nimitz, the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy’s Pacific Forces, replaced his
deputy commander in the South Pacific.
Unable to respond to the Japanese threat, Vice Admiral Robert Ghormley was wasting away
in the tropical climate on Noumea, struggling with health problems and depression.
Nimitz believed the time had come for an aggressive commander to take charge.
Ghormley’s replacement, Vice Admiral William Halsey, acted quickly.
Although it was hardly ideal, he decided to take Yamamoto’s bait by sending his ships
to the Santa Cruz Islands.
He had little choice.
General Hyakutake’s offensive had already begun.
The Solomon Islands needed to be secured and the Marines required the Navy’s assistance
to do it.
As Halsey remembered, “I had to begin throwing punches almost immediately.
Quick decisions had to be made.”
During a brief conference with General Vandegrift, Halsey promised to give him everything he
had available.
Unfortunately, the US Navy’s South Pacific force was in miserable shape.
Over the course of the past five months, the US fleet had lost heavily in aircraft, pilots,
and aircraft carriers.
On May 8, USS Lexington was sunk by Japanese carrier bombers at the Battle of the Coral
Sea.
One month later, a Japanese submarine sank USS Yorktown as it was returning from the
Battle of Midway.
On August 31, another Japanese submarine torpedoed USS Saratoga, sending it to Pearl Harbor for
three months’ worth of repairs.
Finally, on September 15, another Japanese submarine torpedoed USS Wasp, sending it to
the bottom of the Pacific along with 45 planes and 193 men.
Only two aircraft carriers remained, USS Hornet and USS Enterprise.
Together with one battleship, six cruisers, and thirteen destroyers, Hornet and Enterprise
formed Task Force 61, commanded by RADM Thomas Kinkaid.
Halsey’s orders to Kinkaid were to sweep north of the Santa Cruz Islands and search
for enemy ships.
If Kinkaid’s carriers found nothing, they had orders to rendezvous with RADM Willis
Lee’s surface fleet near Rennell Island.
However, Halsey anticipated that Kinkaid’s carriers would make contact.
Like Yamamoto, he predicted that the resulting battle would be decisive.
Each day, one of the two American carriers sent out search planes, looking for traces
of the enemy fleet.
But each day, they found nothing.
For five days, the Japanese admirals kept their ships out of range of the Santa Cruz
Islands, awaiting news of the surrender of the Marines on Guadalcanal.
But then, on the morning of October 25, an American land-based B-17 flying out of Guadalcanal
and two PBY flying boats from Santa Cruz and Espiritu Santu located the three Japanese
fleets.
Once spotted, the Japanese admirals knew they must attack the next day.
Using the nighttime hours to ready their airstrikes, they marked October 26 as the day to commence
the sea battle that Yamamoto had envisioned.
From his base at Noumea, Halsey learned of these sighting reports.
The Japanese were in full force near Santa Cruz and the Americans were badly outnumbered.
Still, Halsey gave Kinkaid an order to engage.
A message came in over the radio: “STRIKE—REPEAT, STRIKE.”
With that, the Battle of Santa Cruz was on.
In the following videos, you will hear the words of participants from that battle.
Many of these veterans who fought there have since passed on, but before they died, they
left behind vivid accounts of their experiences.
Voice actors will read aloud their words to bring their experiences back to life.
And thus, we can take a step forward and put Bloody Santa Cruz back into the pantheon of
famous American naval engagements.