Installment 73: The Naval Battle off Guadalcanal: November 12-14, 1942 On August 7, 1942 the Americans with their allies began their push back at the Japanese in the Pacific by invading the Japanese-held island of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, northeast of Australia. Because of its strategic location, the Japanese tried several times to land reinforcements, take the captured airfield back from the Americans, and ultimately drive them from the island. Though they came close to doing so, American warships and a mistake by the Japanese commander prevented it from happening. In early November, the Japanese tried yet again to retake Guadalcanal by sending a large landing force of 7,000 men protected directly by 12 destroyers. However, the battleships Hiei and Kirishima, a cruiser and 11 destroyers, under the command of Vice Admiral Hiroaki Abe, were to first destroy Henderson Field and the aircraft based there to ensure their successful landing. When American intelligence learned of this, Task Force 67 under Rear Admiral Richmond Turner was sent to reinforce and resupply the American force on Guadalcanal, which they were able to do on November 11. The supply ships were protected by two task groups under command of Rear Admiral Daniel Callaghan aboard the cruiser USS San Francisco and Rear Admiral Norman Scott aboard the cruiser USS Atlanta. Abe’s force, which unlike the Americans was trained and skilled in night fighting, arrived in the early morning of November 13. Turner had warned Callaghan, in overall command of the American covering force, that the Japanese were passing through what was called “The Slot” (see map) and heading towards the Guadalcanal coast. Callaghan, who immediately turned his ships to meet them, thought the Japanese ships would pass Savo Island on its east and was hoping to catch them in the classic “crossing the T” maneuver. Abe, however, surprised him by sailing west of Savo. Suddenly, at 1:24 A.M. on an extremely dark night, Abe’s ships began appearing on radar that was carried by several ships in the middle of the American formation. Though the Americans now knew the enemy fleet was near, crucial time was wasted because of communication problems and Callaghan’s lack of radar understanding. Confusion reigned because radar said the ships were there, but they still could not be visually seen from the bridge from where Callaghan was directing operations. Within minutes, however, and despite the darkness, both forces suddenly began visually sighting the other, and near chaos ensued due to the close proximity of the two sides. Abe wasted valuable time in making decisions, and Callaghan gave confusing orders. As the American and Japanese warships began passing by one another, all awaited orders to fire. When two Japanese ships turned on large searchlights, ships from both sides opened fire at as little as 3,000 yards – nearly point-blank range for these big warships. One officer aboard an American destroyer later described it as a “barroom brawl after the lights had been shot out.” Though the Japanese were better equipped and trained in this kind of fighting, the Americans quickly targeted a Japanese destroyer with her searchlight on, hitting it numerous times and causing it to explode and quickly sink. But then American ships began taking a pounding. Scott’s Atlanta was hit by gunfire and torpedoes. With no power, she drifted into San Francisco’s line of fire and was accidentally struck in the bridge, killing Scott and other senior officers. The destroyer Laffey, after passing within feet of the battleship Hiei and raking its bridge with fire that wounded Abe and others, was soon targeted and hit by shells and a torpedo that nearly broke her in half. Soon after she exploded and sank. San Francisco was targeted by four ships, including Hiei, killing Admiral Callaghan and Captain Cassin Young (who grew up in Wisconsin and was awarded a Medal of Honor for actions at Pearl Harbor), but was saved only by the heroic actions of the USS Helena. After only 40 minutes of fighting Abe for some reason chose to break off his attack, though he certainly had the upper hand. The senior surviving American commander, Captain Gilbert Hoover, captain of USS Helena, then broke his battered force away, as well. The Americans had lost two light cruisers, the Atlanta and Juneau, and four destroyers, plus had others badly damaged. The Japanese lost their battleship Hiei, a heavy cruiser, two destroyers and several transports. Though it appeared the Americans had won a great victory, had Abe not broken off when he did, he would have had little trouble completing his mission on Guadalcanal – he had battered the Americans much worse than he understood at the time. Admiral Yamamoto was furious at Abe and relieved him of command. He replaced him with Vice Admiral Nobutake Kondo and ordered Kondo to make another attempt at destroying Henderson Field and landing the troops at Guadalcanal. The afternoon of the 13th, the Japanese began approaching once again, this time with little opposition because the badly damaged American fleet had withdrawn. At about 2:30 AM on the 14th, the Japanese began bombarding Henderson but did little damage and did not put it out of action. After daybreak, American planes began attacking the Japanese warships and transports. With the Japanese quickly making another attempt at Guadalcanal, Admiral William Halsey quickly sent two new battleships, South Dakota and Washington, and four destroyers to face Kondo. These six ships had been thrown together and had not trained as a unit. At about 11:00 PM on the 14th, radar on the two battleships detected Kondo’s force approaching, and a half-hour later two American destroyers were sinking, a third had had her bow blown off and would sink the next day, and the fourth was out of action with a hit to her engine room. Kondo then aimed his force towards Guadalcanal, thinking he had brushed the Americans aside. But as would happen at Leyte two years later, the “small boys” had done their job – albeit at a tremendous cost – because suddenly South Dakota appeared. Incredibly, however, just then she suffered a major electrical failure and was now a sitting duck unable to defend herself. As the Japanese concentrated on South Dakota, Washington approached to about five miles and, once she had identified her sister ship, opened fire on the unsuspecting Japanese. At least nine big 16” and 40 five-inch shells found their mark on the battleship Kirishima. Washington then drew the remaining Japanese ships out of the area, protecting Guadalcanal and the badly damaged South Dakota. Kirishima, along with a destroyer, was scuttled and sunk about 3:00 AM on the 15th. Four surviving Japanese troop transports did make it to Guadalcanal where between 2,000-3,000 of the original 7,000 men were disembarked. However, nearly all of their ammunition, medical supplies and food had been lost, and following this action, no further major attempts were made to reinforce or resupply the Japanese garrison on Guadalcanal, resulting in major losses due to starvation and disease. During this horrific series of naval actions off Guadalcanal, the Japanese lost two battleships, a heavy cruiser, three destroyers, 11 transports (though four did land their troops), over 60 aircraft, and 1,900 men. American losses amounted to two light cruisers, seven destroyers and 36 aircraft. The area where this and other major naval battles took place during World War II became known to American seamen as “Iron Bottom Sound” because of the number of ships sunk there (see map). Still today, when a naval ship passes through, strict silence is observed in honor of those killed there. Besides Callaghan, three other men aboard her were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions off Guadalcanal that night – Lt. Cdm. Herbert Schonland, Lt. Cdm. Bruce McCandless, and Boatswain’s Mate 1st Class Reinhardt Keppler (posthumously). Admiral Scott was also awarded the Medal of Honor. The USS San Francisco was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation, was repaired and survived the war, earning 17 battle stars, the third most among all US warships in World War II. Serving aboard her from before Pearl Harbor until August 1944 was Petty Officer and Chief Watertender Clarence Sura of my hometown of Independence, Wisconsin. Besides Callaghan, Scott Young, 1,729 other men were killed during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. Among these were hundreds of men of the light cruiser USS Juneau. On Saturday I will relate, as Paul Harvey used to say, the rest of the story. Images: 1) Map of Solomon Islands. Guadalcanal is in lower right (red circle indicates Henderson Field). “The Slot” is identified; Savo Island is immediately north of Guadalcanal; 2) “Iron Bottom Sound” with locations of various sunken warships of World War II. Note in upper right, LST-342. That is the location today of a portion of the Landing Ship Tank which was struck by a Japanese torpedo on July 18, 1943. Executive Officer aboard LST-342 was Ensign Jerome Sobota, one of my dad’s two best childhood friends. He was never found; 3) USS San Francisco, photographed at Pearl Harbor just three days before the Japanese attack. Independence, WI, native Clarence Sura was aboard at that time, as well as during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal; 4) Petty Officer and Chief Watertender Clarence Sura; 5) IJN battleship Kirishima; 5) American battleship USS Washington; 6) Rear Admiral Daniel Callaghan, KIA, MOH, PH, DSC; 7) Vice Admiral Hiroaki Abe
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 23:11:33 +0000
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