Posted on 11/21/2001 11:08:32 AM PST by Britton J Wingfield
The Battle History of the United States Marine Corps
Source: The History Channel
Published: 05-23-01 Author: The History Channel
Posted on 05/23/2001 08:21:44 PDT by COB1
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3b0bd58879d5.htm
as noted in #4:
Autumn, 1942: It came down to one Marine, and one ship
Source: Enter Stage Right - A Journal of Modern Conservatism
Published: October 23, 2000 Author: Vin Suprynowicz
Posted on 10/23/2000 10:11:29 PDT by gordgekko
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a39f47141497d.htm
Really cool thread....thanks for the ping, SunkenCiv.
"Washington was now the only intact ship left in the force," Lippman writes. "In fact, at that moment Washington was the entire U.S. Pacific Fleet. She was the only barrier between (Admiral) Kondo's ships and Guadalcanal. If this one ship did not stop 14 Japanese ships right then and there, America might lose the war. ... 'Come left,' he said, and Washington straightened out on a course parallel to the one on which she (had been) steaming. Washington's rudder change put the burning destroyers between her and the enemy, preventing her from being silhouetted by their fires. The move made the Japanese momentarily cease fire. Lacking radar, they could not spot Washington behind the fires. ... Commander Ayrault, Washington's executive officer, clambered down ladders, ran to Bart Stoodley's damage-control post, and ordered Stoodley to cut loose life rafts. That saved a lot of lives. But the men in the water had some fight left in them. One was heard to scream, 'Get after them, Washington!' ...Blinded by the smoke and flames, the Japanese battleship Kirishima turned on her searchlights, illuminating the helpless South Dakota, and opened fire. Finally, standing out in the darkness, Lee and Davis could positively identify an enemy target. The Washington's main batteries opened fire at 12 midnight precisely. Her new SG radar fire control system worked perfectly. Between midnight and 12:07 a.m., Nov. 14, the "last ship in the U.S. Pacific Fleet" stunned the battleship Kirishima with 75, 16-inch shells. For those aboard the Kirishima, it rained steel. In seven minutes, the Japanese battleship was reduced to a funeral pyre. She went down at 3:25 a.m., the first enemy sunk by an American battleship since the Spanish-American War. Stunned, the remaining Japanese ships withdrew. Within days, Yamamoto and his staff reviewed their mounting losses and recommended the unthinkable to the emperor -- withdrawal from Guadalcanal.
You have got to be joking.
Wishful thinking, eh?
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Thanks..great story....
This should probably be posted at least annually.
Two years ago I studied the Soloman’s campaign in detail. Beside my chair was my laptop with Google Earth with which it is possible to see all these obscure places......they are all still there.
Amazingly, the ridge noted above, the two rivers bitterly and bloodily fought over in what was ancient jungle, are all within the boundaries of a modern city of some 40,000 people.
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