Allied Naval Operations in the Solomon Islands 1942 – Naval Battle of Guadalcanal – Preliminaries

Allied Naval Operations in the Solomon Islands 1942 – Naval Battle of Guadalcanal – Preliminaries

Vol. 1 No.10

November 12, 2013

“My pride in you is beyond expression. No honor for you could be too great.” - Admiral William Halsey

To the men who fought and died in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal

During the night of 11 November and past noon on the following day, seven combat loaded freighters disembarked 11,000 troops and much need supplies of food and ammunition on Guadalcanal. The transports arrived in two separate group escorted by Admiral Norman Scott in Atlanta, with four destroyers, and Admiral Daniel J. Callahan, in San Francisco, with three cruisers and five destroyers. Admiral Halsey also sent Admiral Kinkaid’s carrier task force built around Enterprise, with battleships Washington and South Dakota to the Solomons because a particularly noxious “Tokyo Express” had also been spotted. The Japanese force, reported by long-range search planes, was Admiral Hiroaki Abe’s bombardment group of battleships Hiei and Kirishima, cruiser Nagara and six destroyers. The absence of transports led Halsey to believe the Japanese intended to bombard Henderson Field. This is exactly Abe’s plan the hoists of the battleship’s combined 16 14-inch guns and 32 6-inch guns were loaded with thin skinned high-explosive shells to inflict the most damage on the airfield. Abe reasoned that any American surface ships in Iron Bottom Sound after dark could be swept aside by his destroyer’s deadly Long Lance 24-inch torpedoes.

By 1317 on the 12^th Scott’s contingent of transports had unloaded successfully, and Callahan’s charges were about half empty when coastwatchers on Buin warned of a formidable force winging its way down “The Slot” to attack the vulnerable transports. The transports immediately stopped unloading and got underway in order to clear the sound before the twin engine bombers, with fighter escort arrived

The opening salvo of the Naval Battle for Guadalcanal did not go well for the Japanese. Henderson Field Wildcats and steady 5-inch gunfire from the antiaircraft cruisers Atlanta and Juneau’s 12 duel mounts ensured that few of the Betty bombers returned with little damage to the Americans.

By dusk on the 12^th the all the transports had departed the area with their escorts - destroyers lightly damage or low on fuel. This left only Scott, the victor at Cape Esperance and Callahan to face the Japanese onslaught. Enterprise and the two battlewagons, under Admiral Willis Lee, were still too far away to help.