http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Savo_Island

Good thing alot of the naval battles didnt go this well for the IJN.

That's why Fletcher abandoned the Marines on Guadalcanal, and took most of their ammunition and food with him when he left.

santa cruz followed and that wasnt so good for the USN....savo taught the USN that they needed an edge at night or things were going to go bad
radar made the difference

Rice, Rice, and Rice again.  

 

Very tough going for the US in 1942.....

Read, "Neptune's Inferno"- Hornsficher, you will not be sorry.

During the entire Guadlcanal campaign the Marines lost less than 1000 in combat; the Navy lost more than that the second night.

Admiral Scott turned it around at the Battle of Cape Esperance and was subsequently killed during the first Battle of Guadalcanal. His cruiser force took on strike forces including battleships; these battles were epic.

reading bloody friday off guadalcanal...now got three other books on iron bottom sound ill have to post up when i get a chance to find them

My dad was on Guadalcanal during the three battles of Savo Island.   On the second 10,000 sailors died in a 30 minute gunfight that saw cruisers & tin cans shooting it out with battle wagons.  I do firmly believe my dad was picking up remains after that gunfight because he would always go into vapor lock whenever I brought it up.  I tried to sneak up on him with subtle questions to get it out of him just what he was doing there.  i was never able to get him to open up, and he took that knowledge to the grave with him.  I know he was at Henderson Field during those Jap bombardments.  

there is another member here whose dad was driving the higgins boat that took MacArthur ashore while my dad is behind the camera announcing to the world that he had returned.  My dad always said that famous picture is actually his fourth landing since he was not happy with the first three as a conqueor image.

I have pictures of his graduating class with original signatures.  So if you know of a reputable place to scan them in and post them in perpetuity on the internet I would make those four pictures availible.  large size group photos 11x14 I believe.

I have a relic of the third Battle of Savo Island that my father (USN 1941 - 1947) passed down to me.  He was a gun captain in the #3 turret of the USS Washington.  During the battle, concussion from the 16" guns of the #3 turret blew the their two Kingfisher spotter planes to smithereens.  While cleaning up the deck that next morning my father picked up and kept a piece of fabric from the skin of the plane.  On it he wrote:

"Mighty P40
First Battle
Guadalcanal
November 15, 1942"

I have no idea what "Mighty P40" means.

Of all the Naval battles off of Guadalcanal it may be about the only remaining relic that is easily accessible.  For that one night, the USS Washington became the Chuck Norris of fighting ships as the 4 destroyers and one battleship accompanying them were sunk or damaged and withdrew leaving her alone to face the enemy.  The Washington's very accurate radar controlled gun fire and destruction of the Emperors favorite battleship (Kirishima) so intimidated the Japanese Admiral in charge that he abandoned his plans to turn his battleships loose on Henderson Field and land reinforcements that night.  

Until that moment the Japanese were the masters of night fighting at sea.  In his book "Japanese Destroyer Captain" by Capt. Tameichi Hara he describes what today we would call the "shock and awe" of their first encounter with nighttime radar directed gun fire.  Shells started raining down on the Kirishima as if out of nowhere.  Before they could even find the Washington to respond, the Kirishima was wrecked beyond repair.  It was a stunning turn of events for the Japanese.  The Washington also sunk a Japanese destroyer called the Ayanami that same night.

My father served the entire war on the Washington.   He was a plank owner and the only ship he even went to sea on.  The one time the ship sailed without him was when it was transferred to the mothball fleet.  To him the toughest ship out there was the USS Enterprise.

"Neptune's Inferno", describes this fight in detail.

As a kid (and now too) I was fascinated by those old-fashioned naval gun battles around Guadalcanal. Other than Surigao Strait later in the war it was basically the U.S. Navy's last battles fought with cannon as opposed to aircraft. My grandfather was a Marine on the 'Canal and I was attracted to the campaign because of that. I read an old paperback called "Savo!" and it spelled out that fight in detail.

This is from memory, without Googling: we lost the Quincey, Vincennes, and Astoria, all heavy cruisers. The Chicago had her bow blown off but survived. The Aussies lost the cruiser Canberra. The Japs lost nothing.

Naval gunfire is a s-l-o-w way for a ship to die. Bombs and torpedoes *usually* made quicker work of it (unless you were on the Yamato or Musashi).

***From memory I can also name the four Jap carriers lost at Midway: Kaga, Akagi, Hiryu, Soryu. (Told you I was really into this shit at one time!)