My late father had a friend who fought with the Marines on Guadalcanal. My father received a simple note from his friend Ed. The sentence that my Father never forgot was short. About a place no one had heard of up to then. “We fought on a small Island called Guadalcanal. It was an awful Hell.”
Waters around Savo island are referred to as iron bottom sound and not for nothing. The USN parked serveral heavy fighting ships on the bottom in the area. Early in the battle for Guadalcanal, peace time Captains didn’t trust radar and older ships didn’t have it. It was a steep learning curve and the Navy paid a hell of a price for the education. On Guadalcanal our marines were in a steep learning curve too. There are a lot of good books on both sides of the battle.