Allied Naval Operations in the Solomon Islands – 1942: The Guadalcanal Landings

Allied Naval Operations in the Solomon Islands – 1942: The Guadalcanal Landings

Vol. 1 No.2

August 8, 2013

(Reposted)

Operation Watchtower, the fist amphibious landing undertaken of soldiers and sailors of the United States since 1898, began on 7 August 1942. The assaults on the southernmost islands of the Solomon chain were accomplished in broad daylight and achieved complete surprise.

The island of Guadalcanal had been targeted after reconnaissance by B-17 Flying Fortresses from Nouméa revealed the Japanese were building a landing strip – the future Henderson Field. Completion of the airfield would allow twin engine bombers to reach the headquarters of the Commander of the South Pacific on the island of Espiritu Santo Vice Admiral Ghromly.

Tulagi, on the nearby Florida Island, some fifteen miles distant, was targeted because its protected harbor was ideal for a seaplane anchorage and motor torpedo boat base. The landings were accomplished primarily by the 1100 Marines of the 1^st Division embarked in fifteen transports. The airfield on Guadalcanal was secured by 1600 on the 7^th, as the 2000 Japanese, mostly construction troops, fled into the jungle. The landing at Tulagi was unopposed.

This ended the first day of the campaign for the Solomon Islands. General Douglass MacArthur described this chain of parallel islands running roughly northwest to southeast, separated by a narrow channel nicknamed “The Slot,” as the road to the principal Japanese base at Rabaul on New Britain. If The Slot was the highway, then Guadalcanal was the toll booth and the Allies had caught the watchman napping. While all went well on the first two days, the Japanese, despite their defeat at Coral Sea and Midway, still a formidable fleet and a flotilla of aircraft to contest the landings.