Guadalcanal 72 Years On

[kham]

est The CLx1, DDx8 from Truk (3 days ago) arrive at Shortlands and link up with Adm. Abe's bombardment force. Abe now has BBx2, CL, DDx11

TRs arrive at Lunga. They carry 2 battalions of the Army's 182nd Regt., a Marine batt, and a Naval base defense force.

est Long Patrol Carlson moves to the village of Asamana on the Metapona river. They kill a J. and capture 2 near Asamana, then assault the village (which is occupied by a few of Shoji's men) There are signs on the village saying it's an assembly point for Shoji's force. "Oh, ok" the raiders say and set up ambushes all around. Over the course of the day they kill 25 J. who approach Asamana.

Pistol Pete starts popping off at TR McCawley. Marine arty responds with counter-battery fire.

US planes (MacArthur's ?) raid J. shipping at Shortlands. No damage.

Annoyed by Pete, CL Helena, DD Monssen and Shaw mosey on over to Kokumbona and shoot the place up.(**Helena, btw has 15 x 6" guns in her Main Battery...those roughly same destructive power as a 155mm but capable of FAR higher rates of fire....) DD Cushing, Buchanon bombard further West. Their fire produces secondary explosions. Moving closer they see J. landing boats! Helena, Shaw, Monssen join the party - all blast away at the landing boats, destroying 30. Pistol Pete should have minded his own business!

[kham]

est Coastwatcher Mason tips H. on an incoming raid. A few hours later, Joe Foss takes F4Fx7 up to 29,000 ft and waits for them.

Recon B-17 shadows Abe's bombardment force. A Zero from Junyo eventually chases it away but the report is sent. There'll be no surprise.
Yamamoto has BBx4, CVx2 at sea. He divided his BBs, 2 for bombardment, 2 stay with the CVs. (all 4 BBs are very similar) BBx2 is plenty for bombardment but the other BBx2 *could* have been set up for surface combat and escorted them.

The convoy off Lunga opens fire on approaching planes! They're a US transport and 5 fighters. Convoy stops shooting before it gets worse. 'canal gets message the incoming IJN BBs are 335 miles away.

Want to see the movie? … Jimmy Cagney as Halsey - can't beat that!
The Gallant Hours A lot of poetic license is taken, dates are changed, but it's an excellent DocuDrama. (ignore the J. submarine business. Did Not Happen) if you're in a hurry, skip to 1h20m45s for what's happening RIGHT NOW.

[kham]

**TCM just had "The Fighting Sullivans" on, prob for Veterans Day. Complete fiction , more so than most since was made while the war still was going on. Of note, since in a couple days, the actual real story of what happens to Juneau will be unfolding....

Chekov's gun has been mentioned a couple times, and it's almost time for it to show up for real...

[kham]

est Abe was reminded by Yamamoto how his friend Goto died at Battle of Cape Esperance - surprised by radar equipped USN ships. Abe sets up to prevent surprise. BBx2, CL in a column - screened by DDx3 The other DDx5 are in a forward semi-circle *5* miles ahead.

Radar at H. picks up the Bettys 109 miles away. Bettys are 30 miles away... and radar loses them. The Bettys went into a shallow dive from 25,000 ft - gaining speed for a 345 mph torpedo run on the transports off Lunga! Foss sees the Bettys way down below when they pass low clouds. They are screaming fast and very low. Foss and F4Fx7 dive. at full power, from 29,000 ft to intercept. The F4F airspeed indicators go past their red line. (345 mph) Bits and pieces of Foss' F4F are flying off! --- The F4Fs intercept *just* as the Bettys start their torpedo run. (**including his canopy I think!) 8 more F4Fs and 8 P-39s also catch up. 27 warships, escorting the TRs, open up with AA. The Betty's attack line abreast just 50 feet above the sea! CA San Francisco fires 8" guns to try and knock down Bettys with splashes. (**this NEVER worked, and only fucked-up their own AA gunners from the blast) The Bettys are under such heavy pressure from fighters that their evasive maneuvers don't let them line up and fire their torps. Most of the Bettys wind up crashing due to these maneuvers. Probably not used to flying that fast, that low. The Bettys have to pass DD Fletcher to get to the TRs. Fletcher has the best AA of any DD in the Pacific. The Betty attack lasts 8 minutes. One Betty, in flames, crashes into CA San Francisco - 50 casualties. DD Buchanan is hit by friendly fire (AA). A 5" round and several 20mms. 5 die, 7 injured. She soon heads S. for repairs. The raid is another disaster for Rabaul. Only 1 Betty and about 4 Zeros made it back. US loses F4Fx3 and 1 P-39. Pilots are saved. Lt. Jefferson de Blanc shoots down 3 Bettys. Foss scores 2 Bettys and a Zero. USN warships try to pick up surviving air crew from the Bettys. J. air crew fires at the warships with pistols. That doesn't end well.

Adm. Turner gets a report that IJN CVx2, DDx2 are 265 miles EAST of 'canal. This is an error. It adds a lot to the tension!

est First P-38s arrive H. (8 of 'em)! Also F4Fx8. H. has 47 fighters, 23 small bombers (SBD/TBFs), 10 medium bombers (B-26s?) Maint. crews tell V. that he can expect to have F4Fx14, P-39x7, SBDx16 and TBFx8 the morning of Nov 13. MacArthur gives another 8 P-38s to Fitch. (for 'canal) Those 16 P-38s are almost all of the top line fighters in the Pacific!

[kham]

est As Abe approaches 'canal his forces runs into a *heavy* rain squall which covers them completely. The squall matches their course and speed (21 mph). They stay in it all the way to 'canal. Perfect Stealth.
est One of Abe's recon planes tells him there are 12 USN warships off Lunga. Adm. Abe (thinking about the lucky squall) If Heaven continues to side with us like this, we may not even have to do business with them.

est Callaghan paces the bridge on San Francisco: "We're going to be in for a rough night." Cargo ships off Lunga withdraw due to incoming IJN BBs. All 6,000 troops unloaded and most of the cargo. With an obvious BB bombardment force inbound, Callaghan assembles a blocking force using the surface battle TF and escorts from the convoy. Callahan has CAx2, CL/CLAAx3, DDx8 to work with. The USN has found there's an upper limit to the number of ships they can control in night combat. Callaghan gets that maximum amount, the rest return to Espiritu Santo with the convoy. Adm. Callaghan is grossly outgunned but his are the only warships close enough.

Adm. Callaghan is in command of the TF tonight because he is senior to Adm. Scott. Problem: Scott is the one who won that Battle of Cape Esperance last month - this will be Callaghan's first surface combat! (**bigger problem: Danny-boy is leftover from Ghormley's staff; Halsey should have sent him to Pearl for re-assignment, but sentimentality, retardation, whatever got the better of him. He is ELEVEN days senior to Scott, thats the only fucking criteria for why this douchenozzle is in command. And no, I am not one of his fans )

USN gets a false report of an IJN CV 150 miles W. of 'canal. 525 miles NW of Enterprise.
With the returning convoy past Lengo channel, most of the escorts peel off to return to Lunga. On CA Portland, Capt. Dubose is briefed by Callaghan and Scott. He's told IJN are sending BBs. Dubose to his exec officer: "This is suicide, you know." The night is pitch black. Lookouts on USN ships can't see the hand in front of their face.
USN battle formation - the column.
Callaghan's TF
Callaghan has one advantage. He *knows* there will be a fight. Abe only thinks there *might* be. Ref radar. Search radar used to find ships, gunnery radar used for exact direction and precise range to a ship.
Let's meet the players. First, on defense, The United States Navy. (**banner runthru optional..)
#1 DD Cushing (1935) 4x5" guns, 8x20mm, 12 torp tubes. Takes 21 men to pass ammo to forward gun. Smallest of the 8 USN DDs.
#2 DD Laffey (1941). 8x5" guns, 1xQuad 1.1" AA, 5x20mm, 5 torps. No search radar, excellent gunnery radar.
#3 DD Sterett (1938) 4x5", 6x20mm, 8 torps.
#4 DD O'Bannon (1942) 5x5", 8x20mm, 10 torps Best fire control system (radar plus other stuff)
#5 CLAA Atlanta (1941) 16x5", 4xQuad 1.1", 8 torps.
#6 CA San Francisco (1934) 9x8", 8x5", 4xQuad 1.1", 19x20mm still damaged from the Betty crash a few hours ago.
#7 CA Portland (1932) 9x8", 8x5", 4xQuad 1.1", 22x20mm *no* search radar, normal gunnery radar.
#8 CL Helena (1938) 15x6", 8x5", 4xQuad 40mm, 7x20mm "Light" Cruiser. (**should be flagship)
Helena also has the excellent SG radar and the best radios. Should have been Callaghan's flagship
#9 CLAA Juneau (1941) 16x5", 4xQuad 1.1", 8 torps. Same as Atlanta except she has the fancy SG search radar.
On her crew are the 5 Sullivan Brothers.
#10 DD Aaron Ward (1941) 4x5", 4x1.1", 4x20mm, 5 torps.
#11 DD Barton (1942) (same as Aaron Ward)
#12 DD Monssen (1940) 4x5", 8x20mm, 10 torps. Has seen a lot of combat. No search radar and her fire control radar burnt out last afternoon. Fighting blind tonight!
#13 DD Fletcher (1942) 5x5", 1x dual 40mm, 6x20mm, 10 torps Excellent SG radar AND officers who know how to use it.

[kham]

Receiving the kickoff, the Imperial Japanese Navy Not in column formation - look at map (up later) for position

BB Hiei (1912)/Kirishima (1913) 8x14", 14(!)x6", 8x5", 20x25mm. Old but not *that* old. Heavily upgraded in the 1930s
Either one of these weighs more than San Francisco, Portland and Helena... combined.
CL Nagara (1921) 7x5.5", 2x3", 8 Mighty Long Lance Torpedo Tubes Also heavily upgraded in the 1930s (an IJN CL is bigger than a DD and smaller than a CA)
DD Akatsuki, Ikazuki, Inazuma (1931-32) 4x5", 14x25mm, 4x13mm, 9 torps (all the IJN surface torps are long lance)
DD Amatsukaze, Yukikaze (1939) 6x5", 4x25mm, 3x13mm, 8 Torps Amatsukaze is commanded by Tameichi Hara... God Of Torpedoes. (**yeah...he really was; literally wrote the book on IJN torpedo attack manuevers)
DD Teruzuki (1941) 8x3.9", 2xdual 25mm, 4 torps. A specialized AA destroyer.Like the USN CLAAs, not intended to do surface combat but IJN is desperate.
DD Asagumo (1937) 6x5", 4x25mm, 8 torps
DDs Harusame, Murasame, Samidare, Yudachi (1935-36) 5x5", 4x25mm, 2x13mm, 8 torps
None of these IJN ships have gunnery radars.
Night Combat.

est As Abe approaches 'canal IJA radio tells him H. is smothered by intense rain.
Abe wants to bombard in clear weather so he stalls for time, not by slowing down but by reversing course.
Some of the DDx5 in the forward screen don't get the message and Abe's formation is scrambled.

**If you can get it, Hara's "Japanese Destroyer Captain" is an unvarnished look at his life, and the IJN, warts and all. He wrote it in the 50s, when being a veteran of the Imperial Navy wasn't exactly career-enhancing. More emotional than most bios, and having the normal objective errors, it remains one of the better looks into the mindset and operations of their light forces. Hara was at Midway, here, through the Phillipines, and commanded the light cruiser Yahagi as part of the final sortie with Yamato. Read This Book

[kham]

Now that they're out of the squall, Adm. Abe orders another reverse course - they're headed for 'canal again.
Hara assumes USN knows they're nearby because of all the radio messages. (none of my books mention the USN intercepting these tonight) A little later, even though it is very dark, Hara can see the outlines of Savo Island and 'canal as they pass.
A note on times.

Callaghan has not set up any special battle plan ahead of time.

Gird Your Loins. (map positions are as of 20 minutes from now) (**and James Horner/Reliant score would be appropriate....)

Don't worry about the position of each ship. they're all running around in the dark - nobody knows where they are (except DD Fletcher)
CL Helena has radar contacts at 27,000 and 32,000 yards! The IJN are 18 miles NW of Savo Island.
IJN and USN approach each other at 30 yards a second
Adm. Callaghan steers his column directly towards the J.
There are 500 yards between each USN ship in column.
The moon is out. --- DD O'Bannon's radar starts picking up targets
IJA radio tells Abe the rain has passed and they see no USN ships off Lunga.
A J. float plane is over H. It starts to drops flares. Everybody at H. knows that means a BB bombardment is only minutes away!

[kham]

Helena reports a 3rd target at 26,000 yards travelling at 26 mph (I'm way behind on scheduled tweets. I may have to skip a lot oft them We'll see)
Helena reports 4 targets straight ahead. Callaghan asks for Bearing and range.
100s of HE incendiary shells are stacked around the turrets for the IJN BBs main guns. 12 miles offshore - almost ready to bombard
DD Yudachi and Harusame, on the side, zoom ahead and move in front of the main body.
The single TBS radio channel for the USN ships is overwhelmed.
DD Cushing can reports they *see* 2 IJN DDs 3,000 yards away!
DD Laffey can *see* 2 IJN DDs go *past* Cushing. TBS is swamped. Both Laffey and Cushing are asking permission to open fire. (**shoot, you silly fuckers, SHOOT!!)
Yudachi reports an enemy ship 3,000 yards away but Abe doesn't know where Yudachi is.
CA Portland fire control radar picks up 3 targets 11,000-14,000 yards Her main guns cover them as she waits for the order to open fire
Fire Control radar op on Cushing thinks his radar is broken.
Cushing gets permission to open fire! Too late, the IJN DDs are out of position for a torp shot.

[kham]

Lookouts on Hiei see ships 8,000 meters away. (**note: 1 nautical mile is 2,000 yards, 6,076 feet)
IJN hasn't opened fire because they want to clear the mess off their BBs
Despite knowing about the IJN ships for 19 minutes, Callaghan hasn't given the order to open fire. (**lack emoticons for this blithering fucking moron....)

DD O'Bannon aims guns at radar target to the right (Nagara)
Laffey's torpedo officer sees a good target. (Nagara?). asks permission to shoot. Nope.
O'Bannon lookouts see 5 ships to the left approaching at 4,000 yards. Then they have to dodge Sterett
Callaghan: Stand by to open fire. (** ...KMN....)
DD Aaron ward has a *big* target on her gunnery radar. She keeps her guns locked on it.
Sailors on Cushing are alarmed - they see a giant ship about to ram them! (Hiei) They manage to evade her.
Atlanta sees Hiei 3,000 yards off to the left. (**jesus christ...)
USN waits permission to open fire.............
Each of the first 5 USN ships in column is surrounded by IJN ships
Capt. Hoover on CL Helena is aggressive. A shoot first, ask questions later guy.
Go Time. The "Night of the Honey Badgers" Begins (**the battle, is still taught, and known as, "The Barroom Brawl" -- with the lights shot out...)
The Sweet - The Ballroom Blitz 1973
Atlanta turns to avoid the 4 DDs in front of her who turned.

[kham]

(I'll have to pick up with the post battle summary. Sorry, I fell too far behind.) **knew this would happen, even trying to read it piece by piece in some of the books, it's just a holocaust....

At H.: A lot of naval gunfire is heard from Iron Bottom Sound but no shells land on H.
Atlanta hit by a long lance!
Callaghan: Odd numbered ships fire to starboard; even numbered ships fire to port (**VERY LIKELY, THE STUPIDEST ORDER EVER UTTERED IN NAVAL HISTORY )
San Francisco pumping shot after shot into Akatsuki. then she shoots Atlanta by accident. (**KILLING Admiral Scott, btw, thanks so fucking much....)

Atlanta drifts into San Francisco's line of fire with Hiei.
The lead USN DDs are well lit by IJN starshells.
San Francisco can now see Hiei. She fires from 2,200 yards. 8 of 9 shells miss! (**HOW??)
Atlanta is a burning wreck. The battle has moved past her.
San Francisco corrects her aim and starts rapid fire on Hiei.
Callaghan realizes San Francisco shot Atlanta recently. (**try to keep up, Nelson....)
*this* is going on now.