Allied Naval Operations in the Solomon Islands – 1942: Coincidences in History

Allied Naval Operations in the Solomon Islands – 1942: Coincidences in History

Vol. 1 No.1

August 6, 2013 (Reposted)

On 20 November 1942, the Ballard (AVD-10) rescued the last survivor of the torpedoed light cruiser Juneau (CL-52). Of the more than 100 sailors who miraculously survived the detonation on the ship’s port side beneath the bridge, only ten were saved. Three survivors paddled their raft to a nearby island where they were rescued by friendly natives and a European trader and later, a PBY Catalina flying boat recovered six others. The last, the sole survivor of one raft, was plucked from the water by the old three stack destroyer and converted seaplane tender.¹

Almost 700 sailors of the Juneau, including the five Sullivan Brothers, died in the initial explosion or succumbed to the elements while on life rafts awaiting rescue.

The sinking was a national tragedy in era that was steeped in family tragedy and inspired the Oscar nominated film “The Fighting Sullivans” starring Anne Baxter.

^1.        Samuel Eliot Morison, The Struggle for Guadalcanal: August 1942 – February 1943, vol 5 of History of the United States Naval Operations in World War II (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1959), 257.