Guadalcanal 72 Years On

[kham]

After dropping off supplies, DD Kagero bombards H. - 1 casualty. Just 15 rounds - enough to keep people awake.
The Saratoga pilots wonder what the hell they just got into. 5 "Black Cat" PBYs, working off a spotty contact report, try for a night torpedo attack vs. an IJN TF They find nothing. Black Cats are PBYs, painted black, equipped for night combat missions. Map is from "Guadalcanal: The Carrier Battles" and "Carrier Clash" copyright Eric Hammel. Used with permission. The diversionary TF (CVL Ryujo) breaks away from the other TFs and and dashes S. toward 'canal at 30 mph. I wonder if the crew of Ryujo know they're bait? IJN and USN carriers are 360 miles apart - heading for each other. The IJN are to the North. IJN vs. USN carrier AC comparison IJN: faster, longer range, torpedoes worked. USN: tougher (Armor, self-sealing fuel tanks), more and bigger guns. Enterprise launches 20 search SBDs covering a semicircle to the N. out 200 miles. BTW, the IJN CVs are 300 miles away to the N. (SBDs can't fly a 300 mile search) Recon SBDs usually fly in pairs. Besides the big search, other SBDs are out looking for subs. (Dawn) Saratoga bombers depart H. for Saratoga. They leave 27 1,000 pound bombs behind. Those are the only heavy bombs on 'canal. Since these aren't on Saratoga now, Fletcher has a severe shortage of the planes he'd usually use for searching. The USN and IJN CVs are about 250 miles apart. Rabaul launches Bettys for H. Later than usual, however, this means they'll be there at the same time as the Ryujo strike. Coastwatchers will call it in when it passes over them.

PBY sees Kondo's surface force off the Eastern Solomons. Lookouts with Ryujo's TF spot a PBY. Commander Hara on DD Amatsukaze is worried about Ryujo "The best pilots were never assigned to older ships, and, after losing so many flyers at Midway, I was positive that Ryujo aviators were sadly inexperienced". Ryujo TF continues S. without seeing anything for the next 3h45m There is thick cloud cover with occasional open patches over them. PBY reports on the Ryujo TF 220 miles N. of Malaita. Calls it in as CV, CAx2, DD. Fletcher gets the PBY report of Ryujo Too far to attack plus most of his bombers are still flying back from H. TBF from Ent spots a sub headed SE. It quickly dives. The dawn search from Enterprise found nothing. Enterprise SBD spots *another* sub headed S. - NW of Ent. It dives real fast. The strike from yesterday, returns to Saratoga (via H.) J. flying boat spots the USN CVs. Shot down *after* it reports. PBY shadowing Ryujo repeats its report. USN morning summary. Fletcher orders another search ASAP. Fletcher gets 2nd PBY report on Ryujo. Saratoga radar has a contact. 4 F4Fs investigate. It's J. flying boat. Down In Flames. It didn't get a report off. Ent starts launching the search Fletcher wants 22 SBDs and TBFs will search the N. semicircle. An Ent TBF, heading out on search, encounters *another* J. recon plane. It evades into the clouds. Fletcher is concerned about the armed and fueled bombers on the deck of Saratoga. Does *not* want them there if J. attack. Decides to strike the PBY report of 1 CV (Ryujo) with the intention to radio them a better target if one shows up while they're en route. The crazy complex IJN plan is coming together. Fletcher just took the bait! CVL Ryujo is 200 miles N. of H. She launches her strike. ZeroX15, KateX6. HF radios (such as those on CV AC) are terrible today. lots of static. 9 Zeros left behind on Ryujo. *Not* flying CAP just sitting around. After the last plane departs, Ryujo turns W to join up with another TF (probably Kondo's Advance Force) Saratoga starts to launch her strike at the Ryujo TF She'll be sending SBDx31, TBFx8. Saratoga has another radar contact. It's another J. flying boat! Shot down 7 miles from Saratoga. The plane did not get a report off. Presumably, the Enterprise RIU is the reason they know that.

[kham]

Coastwatcher on Malaita island reports the incoming strike from Ryujo. message doesn't get to H. in time. Shortly after Ryujo launches, Radar from Saratoga picks up those planes headed to H. picked up at 100 miles. good range! F4Fx14 take off from H. to intercept Bettys. They're late and chase the Bettys after they drop their bombs. Right after the F4Fs mix it up with them, they run into the Kates from Ryujo! The combat is a mess, it's unclear who shot down who and how many. 3 F4Fs shot down*, 3 zeros, 3 kates, 4-5 Bettys *all 3 F4F pilots died. One of Kates shot down carried the strike commander. Who had the only radio in the strike. The surviving Kates bomb H. No appreciable damage. p-400s took off just as H. being bombed by the Bettys. They try to catch them but fly too high (no oxygen), get woozy and descend. Then a confused Zero wanders in front of them. Both P-400s blast away with 20mm cannon and 4 .30 MGs and the Zero disintegrates. J. flying boat spots USN CVs and lives long enough to get a sighting report off. Lookouts on Amatsukaze see a plane to the South. They tell Hara they think it's an enemy. Then they see a 2nd plane. Hara is shocked at the *nothing* going on with Ryujo. Sends message via signal flags. LAUNCH YOUR CAP! Although the planes are out of range, Hara tells his AA gunners to open fire to get Ryujo's attention. Ryujo replies to Hara (paraphrase) Good idea, we'll get right on it. PBY spots Zuikaku or Shokaku! Almost directly north of Fletcher's CVs The report mentions 1 CV. Jett and Bye are about to begin their bomb run on Ryujo. They're surprised to see no fighters. Another TBF searcher, Lt. Myers, might have drifted too far N. in his pattern. But he has just spotted a CA! 2 recon SBDs (Lowe and Gibson) are about 250 miles N. of Enterprise. They see 8 IJN warships - CAs and DDs. Lowe and Gibson send 2 contact reports - get no answers. Myers reports the CA sighting to Ent. (no response) (the CA is Tone, an escort for Ryujo) Fletcher gets the PBY report on location of Zui/Sho. 2 SBDs spot Ryujo. (1 is flown by Lt. Birney Strong) They transmit a sighting report for 6 minutes. They get no response and return to Ent. Flying above AA fire at 12,000 ft. Jett and Bye attack Ryujo All 4 bombs land 150 ft. behind her. Jett and Bye head back to Ent. Lowe & Gibson in their recon SBDs attack a CA. 2 near misses. This ship is in Abe's Vanguard Force. TBF pilots Myers and Corl are maneuvering to attack CA Tone. Then they see 3 zeros overhead AND they see CVL Ryujo. Dodging Zeros, they hide in the clouds and send a new report to Ent. Myers tries to bomb Ryujo, misses. He radios to Corl but gets no reponse. Corl's TBF was shot down by the Zeros The only survivor, Delmer Wiley, is floating on his life raft. Over the last 40 minutes 4 pairs of scouts sent reports in on Ryujo sightings.

[kham]

Saratoga strike commander Felt hears one of the contact reports about Ryujo. He reorients the strike to that location. Fletcher ponders. Recon SBDs (Davis & Shaw) are 250 miles N. of Ent - a little further W. than Lowe & Gibson They see a mess of cruisers and DDs. Shokaku launches a strike with some planes from Zuikaku total is about Val x36, Kate x9, Zero x27. IJN doctrine has most Zeros used as strike escort instead of CAP. With (almost) no radar, IJN couldn't direct their CAP anyway. After sending a contact report, they climb in preparation to attack a CL - then they see Shokaku! And its flight deck is full of planes!! The Saratoga strike doesn't see Ryujo. Felt sends the strike W. Recon SBDs (Davis & Shaw) report CVx2, CAx4, CLx6, DDx8 moving SE at high speed. (towards the USN CVs) Davis & Shaw attack CV Shokaku! Escort ships hear the reports about Shokaku from Davis and Shaw and retransmit them to Fletcher. Remember that tweet 2h55m ago about the horrible HF reception today? Saratoga strike never gets the message from Fletcher about Zui/Sho! Nagumo launches 2nd strike from Zuikaku. Ryujo prepares to launch 7 Zeros. USN strike force visible in the distance. Saratoga strike spots Ryujo! Ryujo orders her strike planes to return to Buka. There's no answer since none of the surviving planes have a radio. While Felt organizes, Ryujo launches a couple of zeros. There are recon SBDs who have returned to Enterprise and have been rearmed and refueled. They're sent after Zui/Sho with almost no preparation. The last 3 SBD pilots are just told to follow the other 8! If this sounds desperate... it is. The sighting report said Zui/Sho decks were full of planes and ready to launch. Use 'em or lose 'em! Also, they're sent on the wrong course. Towards Ryujo

[kham]

The Saratoga SBDs, diving from 14,000 ft, start their attack on Ryujo. As the other bombers set up for the attack on CA Tone, Felt notices nobody is hitting Ryujo! As the first wave of SBDs pull out from their dives and leave Ryujo a tailgunner sees a low flying zero blasted by one of the bomb misses. Crow puts his THOUSAND POUND BOMB RIGHT DOWN RYUJO'S FORWARD ELEVATOR! Ryujo is on fire. Strike commander Felt scores a hit on Ryujo Other than Crow, none of the 19 SBDs in the first attack scored a hit on Ryujo. 2 SBDs didn't get the message to divert from Tone 2 misses. 6 TBF pilots on Enterprise are told to board their planes (on the flight deck) and taxi them out of the way. Diverted from Tone, 7 more SBDs attack Ryujo. Now the 7 TBFs come after Ryujo. Visibility around USN CVs excellent. You can see them from 80 miles away. The Saratoga bombers come under heavy fire as they escape.

[kham]

Japanese strike picked up on radar 88 miles out. Altitude unknown. On Enterprise. Man runs out on flight deck holding up a chalkboard to those 6 TBFs mentioned 8 minutes ago. The tricky method estimates the J. strike is at 12,000 ft. Returning US recon planes warned to stay away. Not only will the CVs be too busy to land planes, AA gunners are notoriously trigger happy and will shoot first and not even worry about it later. Enterprise/Saratoga start launching F4Fs one every 10 seconds. Ryujo: "show offs." (after the smoke clears) Hara: Ryujo, no longer resembling a ship, was a huge stove, full of holes which belched eerie red flames. CVL Ryujo has taken fatal damage. On Enterprise: Max Leslie, Midway hero, launches in a special extended range TBF. Fires on Ryujo subside - probably due to the massive amounts of water flowing in. Escorts start organizing a rescue for Ryujo's crew.

[kham]

Saratoga launches an improvised, emergency strike. TBFx5, SBDx2. USN planes gone, Ryujo zeros ditch near escort DDs. All 3 pilots rescued. Radar has the J. strike at 44 miles. Fighter director has 5 F4Fs investigate another incoming blip. There are 53 F4Fs airborne. Vals exploit clouds to dodge most of the CAP before diving. 2 B-17s attack Ryujo. They miss but disrupt the rescue. Lt. Harner commmands a small group of F4Fs. Enterprise's first evasive maneuver is so violent the ship takes a 28 degree list! many crew inside think Ent is sinking. A 20mm AA gun crew spots the first Val diving at 12,000 ft. opens fire - mainly to alert the bigger guns that can hit it that high. Harner catches up with 9 Vals over Enterprise just as they start to dive! 5 F4Fs investigating the stray blip fly out 60 miles and see Val x9, Kate x2 trying to sneak in at a low altitude. The F4Fs hammer them. They shoot down 8 and the last 3 Vals flee. Don Runyon exploits the sun and shoots down 3 diving Vals, a zero and damages another zero in less than a minute! 8 kills this month!
Adm. Kincaid on Ent. is shocked to see BB. N. Carolina explode in a ball of fire! That's what she looks like when all her AA fires. 9 more Vals attack Enterprise.

[kham]

Near hit at rear of Enterprise - bends up the flight deck! Vals that aren't shot down by AA have to recover between DD Grayson and BB N. Carolina. 3rd bomb HIT on Ent! Blows up on the flight deck. The bomb is defective! 3 hits on Ent, 3 hits on BB N. Carolina N. Carolina takes no serious damage from the hits. Saratoga was 10,000 yards behind Ent but the planes concentrated on Ent. Attack Video! (start at 1m45s)
Dive bomber attack
Lots of smoke pouring out of Ent. J. pilots looking back think she's done for. On Ryujo "Abandon Ship"
SBDs returning from the Ryujo strike see Valx18, Katex9, Zerox3 flying over their head. It's the second strike!The SBDs break radio silence to warn their CVs. The emergency strike from Saratoga (TBFx5) find their 2 SBDs. They keep flying into darkness. (it's about an hour until Sunset) Rescue for Ryujo crew starts.

[kham]

The 6 TBFs from Enterprise (Lt. Konig's strike) are still gaining altitude ...
The SBDs returning from the Ryujo strike see more planes fly over their head. 4 B-17s out looking for CVs. The B-17s start shooting at the SBDs! The SBDs evade and fly on. The SBDs returning from the Ryujo strike see 4 Vals above them flying in the opposite direction. Ryujo's strike planes return. 14 make it back. They all ditch near escorts and all air crew are rescued. The emergency Saratoga strike finds the Vanguard and Advance Force [Kondo] The SBDs returning from the Ryujo strike see 3 more Vals orbiting 5 miles off. Crow has bombed Ryujo, dodged AA, shot down 3 Vals and not a single bullet or piece of shrapnel hit his plane.
The emergency TBFs and SBDs became separated. Enterprise is making 28 MPH and landing planes.
Screw the CA, the 2 SBDs have found a Battleship! They attack. The emergency TBFs launch their torps at the CA. Both SBDs think they've scored direct hits on a BB! 250 miles from Enterprise, Konig sees the wake of a warship in the moonlight! They prepare to attack, split into 2 groups. They follow the ship wakes... It's Roncador reef! The 2 SBDs meet up with the emergency TBFs. There are now only 3 TBFs. Other 2 are lost and trying to make H. They saw a big explosion next to the CA they attacked. The CA wasn't damaged - must have been a bad torp going off. The 3 Ryujo escorts head W. to link up with Nagumo's CVs.
Enterprise loses her steering! (aftermath of that big armor piercing bomb) She turns full left, then full right. almost rams DD Balch. missed by 50 yards.

[kham]

Radar picks up 2nd strike! This is bad - Enterprise can't evade! Saratoga fighters scramble but, since it looks like the strike is going to pass by, don't intercept. The 2nd strike had a bad position report and never found the USN CVs. They even lose 6 Kates who ran out of fuel. After searching for a half hour, the Konig strike head back to Ent. They soon dump torps to save weight. The 11 SBDs from Enterprise travel 300 miles and find nothing. They dump bombs to save weight and head for H. They have no maps. They fly until they find the island then they work from the memory of the missions they flew on Aug 7-8! After an exciting landing (nobody knew they were coming) they join the Marines for the night. Tanaka keeps coming. Konig wonders if he should head to H. But they don't have the maps so they press on for Enterprise. Max Leslie was unable to catch up with the Enterprise TBFs He keeps going and also winds up at Roncador reef. Homing beacons All USN CV AC have special radios that would pick up a homing beacon if they were within 15 miles of the CV. Enterprise is steerable again and Fletcher retreats her to the South. The 3 emergency TBFs and the 2 SBDs make it back to Saratoga. DD Amatsukaze sent to rescue downed J. pilots. She is told to go 98 miles south and search. It'll be around midnight by the time Amatsukaze gets to the search area. The other 2 emergency TBFs didn't have enough gas to make H. The other TBF, with Lt. Foyle, ditches near a tiny island. All 3 crew eventually raft to the island. One TBF, with Lt. Taurman, ditches near San Cristobal and all 3 crew easily get ashore. Konig's strike is in a precarious state - very low on gas. Then *one* radioman hears the homing beacon. Konig's strike sees Enterprise! They come in for a landing the 2nd TBF crashes (crew is ok). Flight deck is shut down. Last 4 TBFs, running on fumes, try for Saratoga All Four Make It! 2 on empty tanks!!
Leslie flies back to where the USN CVs should be. They're not there. He hears nothing on his radios. He calls out for help. No answer. He keeps flying South. Leslie hears something on the radio! "Max this is Ham Dow. Keep coming, get some altitude." Leslie climbs to allow radar to spot him. When the radar spots him, Ham keeps talking him in. Adm. Kondo gives up looking, retires with rest of IJN forces.
Saratoga turns on her deck lights! Leslie lands.
IJN Strike survivors 1st strike 10 Zeros, 27 bombers - 4 Zeros, 9 bombers survive. Exact losses unclear as IJN records are a mess. 2nd strike 4 bombers shot down by wide ranging F4Fs. 6 Kates ran out of fuel. US loses 20 planes. The crew of 7 of those planes rescued 5 F4Fs shot down by zeros, 1-4 by friendly AA. Japanese estimate they sank or heavily damaged CVx3 (including Hornet), BB, CAx5, DDx4. They're not happy they couldn't force Tanaka's convoy through but they can't complain about the spanking they thought they gave the USN. Ryujo sunk, Chitose damaged. Enterprise damaged. The battle works out to a draw but the IJN air crew losses will be hard to make up.
Tanaka is still coming

[kham]

IJN DDx5 bombard from 06:10-08:00. Before bombarding the DDs unloaded troops to the W. 2 killed, 2 seriously wounded. 5 DD is grossly inadequate to suppress an airfield. I don't think Tanaka realizes that. He'll learn. The planners higher up won't. One of the bombarding DDs is Mutsuki
DD Amatsukaze, after searching in pitch black night, *without searchlights*, finds the pilots. Yes, those IJN lookouts are Just That Good. After the bombarding DDs retire, 3 SBDs go after them. All miss. Dive bombing at 2:30 am has to be exciting. 3 Enterprise SBDs try their luck at hitting fast moving targets in darkness. All miss. Ensign Brown gets lost - ditches SBD near Malaita. 10:00 PBY finds Tanaka's convoy. SBDx7 (or 8), F4Fx4 depart H. for a trip to Tanaka's convoy. 3 of the SBDs are from Enterprise and haven't been refueled yet. The DDs bombarding 5 hours ago have joined up with the convoy. Because of the Saratoga strike's visit 2 days ago, H. was able to put 1,000 pound bombs on these SBDs.
SBDs attack Tanaka's convoy. 4 Marine SBDs attack CL Jintsu, 3 USN SBDs choose Kinryu Maru. Jintsu: 1st SBD - bomb stuck on rack. Near miss Near miss HIT! a 500 pounder between the 2 forward gun mounts! Adm. Tanaka knocked out. When he regains he senses he moves to a DD Eventually, Jintsu retires to Truk. Kinryu Maru: 500 pound miss... 500 pound miss... HIT! A THOUSAND POUND HIT RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE! Armed Transport Kinryu Maru is engulfed in flames, ammo detonating. (picture before all the guns were added) The SBD with the stuck bomb goes after a patrol boat and near misses it. Tregaskis: Rumours of a carrier battle are all over 'canal. Tanaka: On to 'canal! Kinryu is toast but he still plans to deliver the survivors rescued from her. DD Mutsuki pulls alongside Kinryu Maru to try and rescue crew and infantry. 8 B-17s approach. Mutsuki's captain knows that it's almost impossible for high level bombers to hit ships at sea and continues his rescue efforts. Almost impossible to hit *moving* ships at sea. Mutsuki is stationary. Mutsuki takes 5 bombs from the B-17s! 41 killed, 11 injured. Commander Kiyono Hatano: "Even the B-17s can make a hit once in a while." as he swam away. That's enough! Ships with ground troops will retire to Shortlands and wait. Another DD picks up survivors from Mutsuki and Kinryu Maru. The First Major Effort to Land Japanese Troops on Guadalcanal is Stopped by Seven Dive Bombers.

Coastwatchers in New Georgia call in 21 Bettys heading to 'canal. (30-60 minutes warning.) Bougainville coastwatchers, miss this raid. H. ground crew H. are overworked. Servicing SBDs, they aren't able to get the F4Fs ready in time. (those manual fuel pumps again) The Navy pilots are pumping the AvGas for their own SBDs. DD Mutsuki sinks (torped by a IJN sub to make sure US didn't snag her) Mutsuki is the only war ship at sea sunk by B-17s in WW2. Kinryu Maru probably sank a little before this.
22 Betty, 13 Zero raid H. from 27,000 ft. No intercept. F4Fs couldn't be refueled fast enough after the morning's action. Little damage since most of the planes were able to fly away first. (takes a long time to climb high, not a long time to leave) Enterprise, with 5 escorts, returns to Pearl Harbor for repairs Will be out for about 2 months. Fletcher reforms his TF with Saratoga and Wasp and the rest of the ships.
Marines install their 5" shore defense guns (only had 3" guns earlier) DDs escorting CV Saratoga (back on patrol SE of 'canal) have just spent 5 hours prosecuting a submarine contact. After hours of depth charging they're convinced they sank the sub. I-9 is damaged but limps away. Before Enterprise leaves the area for repairs, TBFs heavily loaded with spare parts, supplies and 4 500 pound bombs each fly off to H. *Too* heavily loaded. They all *fail* to gain altitude after takeoff and have to ditch!
On some TBFs, the bombs explode - killing or wounding aircrew. SBDx6 from H. attack a lone DD 150 miles N of H. Near misses appear to damage it. SBD (from Saratoga, probably) bombs sub I-17. It's a kill! Well, almost. I-17 is damaged but gets away. Vandegrift is concerned about the attrition rate at H. 5 days ago he had F4Fx19, SBDx12. Now he has F4Fx11 flyable (3 more that needs parts) SBDx9 (2 need parts) down 35% in 5 days! Sends a message to Ghormley - says he needs more planes and oxygen. BTW, from now on, notice how each time a USN CV is knocked out, H. winds up stronger because it accumulates that CVs aircraft. Attrition is tearing up Rabaul's air fleet. Now has Betty x 29, Zero x 19. Replacement planes are not showing up as often as promised. Don't forget that Rabaul's air power has commitments over New Guinea vs. MacArthur's air force. And Mac's airfields are fully supplied! Yamamoto is waiting for reinforcements. Will keep pressure on H. with air raids until they arrive. 2 batteries of 90mm AA Guns set up by Marines at H. These can (barely) reach up to 25,000 ft. If the Bettys stay above that, they're immune but their accuracy suffers a lot. Coastwatcher Kennedy in New Georgia reports 16 Bettys heading to 'canal. Every flyable F4F is airborne, climbing to meet the Bettys. Since it takes about 45* minutes for F4Fs to climb to an effective altitude they have *just* enough time. *It can take longer depending on the condition of the F4F's engine. The pilots prefer 90-120 minutes to reach high altitude. 3 Bettys shot down, 11 damaged. 1 F4F down. Marines claim 5 Zeros down... (sounds a bit high) Marine pilot Marion Carl notes a drop in J. pilot quality compared to what he saw at Midway. He shoots down 2 Zeros to make his point. Bombing somewhat effective. 2,000 gallons AvGas burnt, some planes damaged. 2 1,000 pound bombs blown up. Intercepting Bettys is a little bit tricky. Bettys are fast, the F4Fs aren't very much faster. Not much margin for error if they want to prevent H. from being bombed. The more advance warning, the better.