The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal ... 75th year

[Pat Carry]

Outstanding Mark!

[Tom Moungovan]

All fine points and fantastic photos, thanks.

When I was there in '07, the bare steel remains of the Henderson Tower were still extant.
For some reason, even though I was with a local guide, the airport authorities were reluctant
the allow me to get close and photograph it. I should have pressed the issue.

Savo Island is an unusual place. It is considered to be uninhabitable account a lot of sulpher
and the fishing nearby is poor, I was told. Savo sticks up out of the ocean like a huge fist and is
easily seen from Honiara, the main city on the Island.

Regarding the Washington, IIRC, her skipper was Adm. Willis Lee, a former Olympian, who
broke with the old school thinking and quickly learned the new SG radar and used it to his advantage
when he engaged and beat up the Kirishima.

Last edited by Tom Moungovan on Sun Nov 26, 2017 4:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[BigGrey]

While in high school I worked for a good friend of the family at his gas station. He told me how the destroyer he was on was sunk off Guadalcanal and he made it shore. He thought he and his shipmates would be on the island until the Navy picked them up and would get assigned to a new ship. They were surprised when they were given rifles and gear and sent into the jungle to fight the Japanese. He told me that he had never been so miserable and hungry in his life and fought the Japanese very hard because they hoped to grab whatever meager food the Japanese possessed.

[Invader26]

Great stuff. It's a pity however that the Royal Australian Navy contribution to the battle os completely ignored. It was Australian Coastwatchers that gave the initial reports of the impending Japanese attack and the Australian heavy cruiser HMAS Canberra [sunk after suffering severe damage in the first encounter - hit 24 times in less than two minutes with 193 casualties. Captain Getting was severely wounded but remained at his post and died of wounds.] President Roosevelt ordered that a new build USN cruiser be named USS Canberra in honour of this ship. It was the first time a US ship had been named after a non-US city as Canberra is the capital of Australia. Heavy cruiser HMAS Australia also fought in this battle as well as cruiser HMAS Hobart. Also Australian Navy provided pilotage for USN units in the area as well as beach landing guides for the first USMC assault..

[Mark Allen M]

Great stuff. It's a pity however that the Royal Australian Navy contribution to the battle os completely ignored. It was Australian Coastwatchers that gave the initial reports of the impending Japanese attack and the Australian heavy cruiser HMAS Canberra [sunk after suffering severe damage in the first encounter - hit 24 times in less than two minutes with 193 casualties. Captain Getting was severely wounded but remained at his post and died of wounds.] President Roosevelt ordered that a new build USN cruiser be named USS Canberra in honour of this ship. It was the first time a US ship had been named after a non-US city as Canberra is the capital of Australia. Heavy cruiser HMAS Australia also fought in this battle as well as cruiser HMAS Hobart. Also Australian Navy provided pilotage for USN units in the area as well as beach landing guides for the first USMC assault..

All correct if this thread were discussing the August battles, but this thread specifically covers the November battles of which no Australian Navy ships participated. Therefore there's nothing to ignore.

[Invader26]

Apologies...

RAAF Hudson aircraft did do surveillance in that area during the time and Australian Coastwatchers were involved..