Wasn't there one nighttime surface engagement where the Japanese fleet was actually able to drive off the American fleet? Seems I recall reading an account where the Marines could see the flash of naval gunfire going off out at sea one night, yet the next day as the sun rose, the American fleet, which had been offshore protecting their beach head, was gone.
Please stand by for continuing reports from our agents embedded with USMC and USN forces
And yeah, its a BFD as they say, both in Corps History, and for the USN
The Campaign did, and you will see, had it's share of brilliant commanders, and utter boneheaded retards. Leaders who achieved glory and those who merited utter disgrace
It probably was one of the few times that Chester Nimitz made a bad mistake; the initial commander of SW Pacific Area was a man named Ghormley, who happened to be a friend of Nimitz's. He later said his biggest mistake was not being harsh enough, and letting things transpire badly without intervening sooner. But at least he DID, and did not wait for utter disaster. The man he chose as a replacement was William Halsey. If ever there was a point in time and space that sort of commander was needed, this was it.
Now, lets talk Yamato a wee bit
She basically did nothing in the war, sat out Guadalcanal at Truk, or in home waters. She only fired at Taffy 3 briefly in 1944, and THEY forced her to turn away from torpedo attack.
Now, when you build the largest, most powerful battleship in the world - secretly no less - you might want to take advantage of that, particularly since your high command has a suicidal hard-on for the "decisive fleet engagement" which somehow ends a war in one stroke. Instead, you name her 'Yamato' after the ancient semi-divine founders of Japan, immediately granting it holy status. Heaven forbid now, that this tiffany case jewel, the flagship ever get a scuff on her. Musashi, for some reason never got that status, and besides, a couple days before Taffy 3, she's three thousand fathoms down, torpedoed and blasted, rocketed to pieces. If ever a class of warship was such a colossal waste of money, and steel, then this was it. One of the further ironies of her, was the ONE TIME, Yamamoto had the balls to consider committing her to action in the Slot, her lack of a couple knots speed precluded it. The IJN had always sacrificed everything for speed. Except for the Yamato class....
Update: Marines cross the Ilu River and move on the airfield.
Also, Adm Turner has been advised that the entire Solomons Area will be subject to sea and air search today; except for the area known as "The Slot", the narrow waterway between Rabaul and Guadalcanal.
Surely no activity will be in that area.....
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