Guadalcanal 72 Years On

[kham]

J. historian: We decided to gain control of the air at any cost.

Yamamoto's plans for the next few weeks.

IJA at Rabaul realizes there must be a lot more Marines on 'canal than thought.
The entire Sendai division will go to 'canal *instead* of New Guinea. (triple the size of the Kawaguchi Butai) (heavy arty a separate unit) Sendai is a crack unit - a lot of experience (and atrocities) in China. Gen. Nasu commands. Tokyo sends an -Ace- to Rabaul to help 17th Army. He is Col. Tsuji - *God of Operations*. Tsuji planned the Malaya, Burma, East Indies and the Phillipines campaigns! With Sendai division's beef and Tsuji's brains this is the IJA "A Team"! Tsuji "detested throughout the IJA; but where the business of fighting was concerned, he was invariably right" Book Excerpt Between Sept 15 and 27 bad weather prevents most big air attacks from Rabaul

**If this the best they got, you must reconsider everything you thought you knew about how "good" the IJA actually was....

[kham]

Turner's convoy is ready to make it's dash to Lunga. A J. flying boat spots them. Turner backs off for a day or two. Hornet/Wasp are about 100 miles from Turner - southish. CVs Hornet/Wasp are about 200 miles S. of 'canal. J. flying boat shot down by their F4Fs - it didn't get close enough to spot the CVs.
PBY searches indicate the IJN big ships are far away.

[kham]

Wasp launches 26 planes for search and CAP. SBDs landing on Wasp from earlier searches keep their bombs and are refueled. Capt. Kinashi on submarine I-19 sees the USN TFs and waits for a chance. He sees ships *everywhere*. He wants to get both CVs lined up so that torps that miss one have a shot at hitting the other. There are *13* DDs escorting... looking for subs.

[kham]

Torpedo Troubles

Takaichi Kinashi, commander of sub I-19, fires 6 shots. He has just made the Greatest Torpedo Shot of WW2. Lookouts on Wasp see torp wakes. 300 ft. away Someone on Wasp: "They have got us."
Hornet is 6 miles away. Lookouts see the fire - don't know what happened. The area on Wasp where Damage Control is directed has no electricity and water is pouring into it. Lookouts on DD Mustin (a Hornet escort) see torps - raise Torp warning flag. DD Landsdowne radios a torp warning. Wasp has a 15 degree list (this is soon corrected)
BB N. Carolina, CV Hornet make hard right turns to dodge. BB N. Carolina isn't able to dodge in time. Torp #6 hits 20 ft. below waterline blowing a hole 32' long and 18' high. 5 dead. That's not *serious* damage for a BB! After quick patchwork she can still do 29 mph. She eventually makes Pearl Harbor for repairs. DD O'Brien dodges torp #5 but not #4. Her bow is blown off! (That's the Wasp, on fire, in the background)
A large part of Wasp's right side, below deck, is either on fire or has too much smoke to enter.

[kham]

I-19 gets away clean. 1944 - Kinashi makes a supply run in a sub to France. Hitler personally awards him an Iron Cross for this attack. Massive secondary explosion (AvGas) rocks Wasp!

Turner's convoy, with the 7th Mar Regt., has stopped heading to 'canal. Too much IJN activity - the convoy waits off San Cristobal for chance to dash in.

Another secondary explosion on Wasp blows a flight deck elevator into the air!! Wasp doesn't have a chance. Capt. Sherman surveys the fire fighting efforts on Wasp.
Capt. Sherman (On Wasp): "Abandon Ship" Wasp has 2,250 men. 200 were killed, 375 wounded 27 of her 71 aircraft were saved.

[kham]

DD O'Brien limps off to Espiritu Santo to get patched up before sailing to the US for major repairs.
Wasp is abandoned. 5 DDs pick up surivivors. IJN recon spots the USN TF with Hornet. The huge IJN force 200 miles N. of 'canal is eager to engage...They're too low on fuel to attack! Fletcher: "Told you so." (not really) They spend the next 3 days refueling at sea
A DD drops a depth charge 500 ft. from the swimmers escaping Wasp. Many are injured.

DD Landsdowne will finish off Wasp. Torp #1. Nothing happens. #2. Explodes but Wasp shrugs it off. #3 Nothing happens. #4 Big explosion. Wasp's list increases. People are noticing these torpedo failures but they're not doing anything about it. DD Landsdowne shoots her last Torpedo. A solid hit to Wasp. (**The political corruption and douchebaggery that allowed this is extensive and covered up to this day; even normal google -fu gets more gibbering bullshit than usual) Wasp sinks.

USN's current estimates of capital ships in SoPac. ...
USN CV Hornet BB Washington
IJN *EIGHT* CVs (some small. Not all!) *NINE* BBs including super-battleships Yamato and Musashi
USN estimates IJN leads 8 to 1 in Carriers. 9 to 1 in Battleships. You can see why Ghormley is pessimistic. (**It's not quite that bad; besides, the IJN would NEVER risk their Tiffany-cased Flagship, and at this point, her sister either)

There are about 5,000 J. dug in about 5 miles E. and W. of H.(there's more than that on the island. these are the ones in fortified positions defending their perimeter)

[kham]

Air and Ground crew at H. are contracting serious illness at a rate of 2.5 attacks a year. Fair to assume infantry, spending more time in the jungle have an even higher rate.
A chance to catch your breath...
The Marines are not able to build up enough strength to push the J. off 'canal. Plus, disease makes it hard to go on offense.

Adm. Norman Scott takes command of TF 64, a group of CAs, CLs and DDs ...

(Sept 16-30) Hornet patrols as the only active USN CV. J. subs and flying boats spot her from time to time. During these two weeks Hornet dodges ***SIX*** torpedo attacks from IJN submarines!! "Guadalcanal: The Carrier Battles" Eric Hammel

Correction: Nasu is a commander *in* the division. Maruyama is the overall commander of Sendai division.
Guadalcanal Battles @GuadaBattle
Sendai is a crack unit - a lot of experience (and atrocities) in China. Gen. Nasu commands.

Kawaguchi's defeated force staggers toward Kokumbona. Many wounded are abandoned on the trail and die.. (still...)

[kham]

Marines are still hungry. Frank Chadwick is manning defenses on the beach. An intruder approaches from the sea! The Marines attack with MG fire and hand grenades!! The marlin is slain yielding 500 pounds of delicious MEAT. (Not sporting, the Brits would be appalled )

Marines air raid an IJN CA and DD between Bougainville and Choiseul Might have got a hit.

[kham]

~1200 16 Sept H. is down to 5,000 gallons AvGas - enough for a week. (an F4F uses 55 gallons an hour) Turner doesn't know the location of IJN's fleet but knows H. is critically low on supplies. He's looking for any chance to dash in. Turner, with the convoy carrying 7th Marines, moves closer to 'canal.

[kham]

Father De Klerk arrives at gold ridge! The pantry is well stocked. They'll relax and feast until the way to H. is clear. (Gold Ridge is a big house used by coastwatchers next to a gold mine. It's S. of Koli point, up in the mountains - has a good view of H.)