IIRC, it was many months before the Allies acknowledged the defeat at Savo. Anyone recall how long that was and the circumstances?
http://www.ussastoria.org/Iron_Bottom_Sound.html
Finally on 13 October 1942, more than two months after the battle, the American public learned of the Savo disaster. By this time there were significant advances in the Guadalcanal campaign to announce that provided an offset for the shocking losses. On this date Joe Custer’s dispatches were finally released.