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Posted on 12/18/2003 12:00:25 AM PST by SAMWolf
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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The news of the landing on Tulagi and on Guadalcanal threw Rabaul into a frenzy of activity. Japanese 8th Fleet Headquarters, responsible for the defense of the Solomons, the Coral Sea, and the Rabaul area, prepared for operations against the American invaders. Vice-Admiral Mikawa Gunichi, Commander, 8th Fleet, however, had a rather difficult operation before him. When the Admiral ordered his forces to assemble, he had no clear knowledge of his opposition, but a very clear view of his own strength. The main unit, and flagship, of his force was the heavy cruiser Chokai, a 13,000-ton behemoth with ten 203mm guns and 24 torpedo tubes plus reloads. Chokai was the ray of light in a force of old ships, and the only heavy cruiser available to Mikawa at this point, though four more heavy cruisers were under his command.  Vice-Admiral Mikawa Gunichi, Commander Fourth Fleet, one of the ablest commanders in the IJN On the Allied side, numerical strength and the naturally favorable position of forces was impressive enough. Off to the east of Guadalcanal, Vice-Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher commanded the three available U.S. carriers -- Saratoga, which flew his flag; Enterprise, and Wasp, a recent arrival and veteran of the Atlantic Ocean, including a sortie in the Mediterranean Sea. Her captain, Forrest Sherman, was widely regarded as a brilliant officer, and soon he was to be Admiral Nimitz' Chief of Staff. In attendance of these carriers was the battleship North Carolina, with Enterprise's Task Force, six cruisers, and sixteen destroyers. A fueling group of five oilers gave the Task Forces the ability to remain on sea for the duration of the landings. Screening the landing forces, TF 62, under Rear-Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner, was the Australian Rear-Admiral Victor A.C. Crutchley's combined support/escort force, eight cruisers and eight destroyers. Another seven destroyers were attached directly to Turner, but Crutchley's units were further split. Destroyers Ralph Talbot and Blue covered the western approaches to the bay soon to be called Ironbottom Sound. Savo Island split The Slot, the body of water between the eastern and the western Solomons, in two lanes of approach. To cover both, and the eastern approach from Indispensable Strait, Crutchley divided his unit into three parts. To the east, there were the light cruisers San Juan and HMAS Hobart, plus destroyers Monssen and Buchanan, under the command of Rear-Admiral Norman C. Scott, COMTG62.4. Covering the northern approach from the west, between Florida Island and Savo Island, was Captain Frederick L. Riefkohl's Task Group 62.3, with heavy cruisers Vincennes, Astoria, and Quincy, and destroyers Wilson and Helm. To their south, Crutchley commanded his own force, TG 62.2, with the Australian heavy cruisers Australia and Canberra, and U.S. heavy cruiser Chicago. Escort and support was provided by destroyers Patterson and Bagley. Crutchley's command arrangements within his thin-spread escort force was easy, his force dispositions out of necessity and in hindsight good. His own Southern Group was well-trained. Australia and Canberra had formed a team in the Royal Australian Navy, and Chicago had been with them ever since early 1942. The Northern Group was born out of necessity: as it made no sense to split the Southern Group's experienced team up, the three remaining heavy cruisers naturally went together, while the lighter forces of Admiral Scott remained in the east to safeguard the sound from enemy light forces.  From the flagship San Juan (CL-53), Rear Admiral Norman Scott commanded the group of Allied cruisers that included, the Chicago (CA-29), at Savo Island. He was killed later in the year by friendly fire during the night action off Guadalcanal on 13 November. In the light of such opposition, naturally, there had to be at least one advantage playing in the Japanese Navy's favor, and indeed there was more than just one. First, there was the fact that Admiral Mikawa could hope to sortie with a complete division of heavy cruisers which had operated together often enough to be a working, powerful team. Second, his ships carried the 24", oxygen-driven, one-ton-warheaded Type 93 (called "Long Lance" in Morison’s History of United States Naval Operations in World War II) torpedo, the most devastating of all Japanese weapons. This torpedo, designed to give the Japanese ships a long-range punch, reached out to almost 40,000 yards, and could go as fast as 49 knots (though not both at the same time). Third, his units all had received the exceptional night training of all IJN forces (save, obviously, carriers), while US ships owing to the risks of night training and to the Neutrality Patrol's demands had little to no experience in this kind of fighting. These were just the advantages known to Mikawa, and there was a fourth one which he didn't know of. U.S. command arrangements had been put into effect shortly after MacArthur's return from the Philippines. In its pre-Guadalcanal form, Admiral Nimitz commanded North Pacific, Central Pacific and South Pacific forces. The latter's boundary with MacArthur's South-West Pacific Command ran right through the Solomons and placed Guadalcanal barely within Nimitz' command authority. Realizing this error, the U.S. high command soon edited the placement of this boundary, and moved it several degrees to the west, thereby cutting the Coral Sea, and putting Guadalcanal under Nimitz' authority. This was still an unsatisfying arrangement, though there would be no more changes. Overall coverage of the Coral Sea, and the approaches to Guadalcanal and Rabaul, was only possible with cooperation between the commands. Or to give a more telling example: if Admiral Turner desired an air search of Rabaul, he would first have to ask Fletcher to forward this request to Admiral McCain, Commander, Aircraft, South Pacific, who in turn would have to ask MacArthur's air commander to conduct the search. Such arrangements could have but did not totally prevent the search of Mikawa's route. But as we shall see, other problems did.  Heavy Cruiser Aoba, flagship of Admiral Goto, and one of the IJN's oldest heavy cruisers. She saw extensive service in the Solomons campaign. For Mikawa, August 7th was busy enough even without him sortieing against the enemy. Submarines were detached to attack the shipping off Lunga Point, Guadalcanal. Two transports were loaded with a few hundred men to conduct a landing to reinforce Guadalcanal, and sent off the same day. At 1430, Mikawa's assembled forces set off with him aboard Chokai. His route would take him out of Rabaul's Simpson Harbor; around Cape St. George, the southern tip of New Ireland; through the Buka Strait, between the islands of Buka and Bougainville, down the eastern coast of Bougainville, and finally through the Bougainville Strait into the New Georgia Sound, aptly named "The Slot" by U.S. naval forces. If nothing unexpected was to happen, Mikawa's units would be off Savo Island by midnight, 8th August. By daybreak on August 8th, Mikawa's forces were in a position off the northeastern tip of Bougainville. Mikawa worried about the presence of the enemy carriers known to be somewhere in the area, but Rabaul could not give him any positive hints of enemy carriers in range of his formation. Mikawa was told that there were no enemy carriers in range - a grave mistake, which now threatened to place Mikawa within range of some 140 attack planes on three US carriers. Here one of the ironies and inconsistencies of history writing reveals itself . No account condemns Mikawa's decision to attack - this one here makes no difference - but it must not be forgotten that the number one factor in Mikawa's success, indeed his mere survival, was extraordinary luck on his part. If truly seen from Mikawa's perspective, indeed one can not help but to question the logic of his decisions and rate them as impulsive more than thoughtful.  USS Vincennes, flagship of the Northern Group But in either way, Mikawa's seven cruisers and the sole destroyer were steaming through The Slot already when night stopped Allied reconnaisance. And as luck would have it, Mikawa remained an unknown factor for the defenders of the U.S. transports. In support of the landings, a complex air search plan had been developed, involving many small elements from various bases in the area. One of the areas spared from air reconnaissance, however, was The Slot. Admiral Turner, noticing this gap in his all-important early warning system, demanded a search to be conducted on 8th August over The Slot and the waters to its immediate north. Additionally, MacArthur's SOWESPACCOM would dutifully conduct the appropriate searches over its own territory. However, despite the urgency of Turner's request, COMAIRSOPAC McCain failed to comply -- no air search would be conducted over The Slot other than some more or less coincidental patrols. Some of these came from carrier Enterprise, having drawn search duty for August 8, and launching several SBD Dauntless dive bombers. They would barely miss Mikawa. Two planes did not miss Mikawa, however. It was a Hudson bomber from the Royal Australian Air Force,that, its patrol originating from Milne Bay, New Guinea, sighted Mikawa at 1025 on August 8th east of Bougainville. Immediately, the pilot reported the enemy ships to his base. However, no radio contact could be made with Milne Bay. The pilot decided not to follow Mikawa, and return to his base to report on the sighting as soon as possible. The Hudson's report, paraphrased, reached the invasion forces, and indicated to the Allied forces that three cruisers, two gunboats, and two seaplane tenders were proceeding south. Turner believed this force would establish a base in one of the islands to the north, from where to employ planes against the Allies. Neither he nor his captains appeared to consider the force a threat. Turner's decision was partially justified. Seeing that the ships reported were as a force too weak to hurt his screen, and that given the large variety of vessels, especially the presence of seaplane carriers, it seemed unlikely that this was a strike force, Turner decided not to go to a higher alert. Nor did he specifically inform his subordinates of the presence of the enemy force, or of what he intended to do about them. Certainly Turner had his hands full with the events ashore and his own problems with unloading. Certainly, Turner could not be asked to see through the haze of the message, that in fact five heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, and a destroyer were part of this force. However, he could well have presumed that the reported cruisers would attack him, and that the gunboats might easily be something different; and alerted his commanders accordingly, while asking Fletcher to intercept the force. He did not do all of that; it would cost the Navy dearly.  USS Astoria Whilst Mikawa was moving south, the Allies were compounding the failure of their intelligence by dropping their plans into the dustbin. Admiral Turner, realizing that his transports were not yet unloaded and would require another day, and that his Marines ashore would require the supplies which he could still land. However, there was a problem there: no-one had anticipated that beforehand, expecting only that five cargo ships, and not the entire 19-transport force, would remain off Guadalcanal. However, Admiral Fletcher, owing to poor radio communications, had no idea that Turner would retain his entire force (including himself) off Guadalcanal, and radioed Admiral Ghormley on the evening of the eight about his intention to withdraw. Ghormley, with no knowledge of Turner's intention either, gave his okay. Fletcher thus duly informed Turner and set about to retire, placing his refueling on the ninth within the radius of action of his fighters to Guadalcanal. He intended to cover the expected five cargo ships, and Crutchley's cover force, before withdrawing for good. It was an unfortunate turn of events, and one for which only the Allies' inexperience in loading and unloading combat transports could be called responsible. Turner's miscalculation, and that of his subordinates, in presuming the correctness of the sighting report, and in attempting to analyze what the Japanese force would do, and not what it could do, added to the problem. As eighth turned into ninth August, all that stood between Mikawa and his prey was the thin and inexperienced screen of Task Group 62.6, under Crutchley. Or so it would have been, but for the unfortunate results of the misunderstanding between Turner and Fletcher. It had dawned upon Turner that there were problems with his unloading when Major-General Alexander Vandegrift of the 1st Marine Division acknowledged that he needed additional supplies, and a clear view of the situation on Tulagi. Turner acceeded, gave Vandegrift a destroyer-minesweeper, Southard to head to Tulagi, and summoned him and Crutchley to a conference aboard his flagship for midnight, August 8th. Darkness prevented Crutchley from taking a floatplane, or small boat (which was inadvisable given the 30nm stretch of open water between the Southern Group and the transports), and he took his flagship Australia to the rendezvous, thus depriving the Southern Force of a heavy cruiser.  Upon leaving, Crutchley placed the senior officer, Captain Howard D. Bode of USS Chicago, in charge of the Southern Group. With Crutchley's departure, the entire western line of defenses had no flag officer with it. Furthermore, Crutchley did not inform either Admiral Scott of the Eastern Group nor Captain Riefkohl of the Northern Group of his absence. Bode meanwhile decided against placing Chicago in front of Canberra, unwilling to risk night maneuvering. Bode decided that instead of making the change immediately, he might do so if Crutchley did not return before the next turn in the pattern, when placing Chicago before Canberra would be less risky. Furthermore, Bode believed Australia to be back soon, and the conference to be short. Bode was right in assuming the latter - Crutchley's conference with Turner was short lived, and by midnight, Crutchley was back aboard his flagship. However, he did not regard night-time maneuvers as a good idea, and stayed in with Turner's force, some twenty miles from his group, again without informing the hapless Bode, who went to well-deserved and needed sleep, or Admiral Turner. Two days of continous Condition One - the entire watch on duty - had not improved the combat readiness of the U.S. force either. By the evening, Condition Two had been declared, with only half the watch on duty. Everywhere about the force, tired Captains and men went to their bunks, to gain strength for the next day's hard work. Admiral Mikawa's approach was made even easier when Rabaul signalled him that air strikes had already accounted for a good deal of the enemy forces in the sound, including eight transports (which may have been important in his later decision to leave the transports alone instead of going after them). At midnight on August 8th, Mikawa's forces went to battle stations. One of the most spectacular naval battles ever was commencing. Mikawa's units sighted the island of Savo at 0047, and three minutes later, lookouts spotted the destroyer Blue, on its southerly patrol leg, at a mere 10,000 yards. The destroyer had his radar operating, but failed to sight the Japanese force, coolly steaming at 22 knots, guns trained out on Blue, into the northern passage. Another false destroyer contact was made to the north, however, and Mikawa again eased his forces south, into the southern passage.
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The Japanese didn't press the attack against the sitting duck transport ships. They could have sliced and diced the whole area.
Daylight was rapidly approaching; leaving them exposed to Fletcher's carriers and land air.
The Japanese didn't exploit the U.S. naval defeat in quick succession.
Not much went right, but it could have been worse:
When Japanese planes began bombing Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 another attack was taking place in the Pacific on the island of Guam.
But unlike Hawaii a Japanese invasion force of 5,000 hit beaches three days later. In the capital city of Agana, eight Marines prepared for the invaders.
“I told my men it wasn’t fair. There was only 5,000 of them, we figured they didn’t stand a chance,” said Ray Church, who fought on Guam as a Marine sergeant. “The night before the invasion these four sailors were heading down to the beach. They had about three rifles, 12 rounds of ammunition and a case of beer. They told me they were going to meet the Japanese navy on the beach. None of us knew what war was then, we weren’t afraid of anything.”
Church, who lives in Ogden, and friend and neighbor, James Thurell, a retired Loadmaster for the Air Force, went to Guam in January, so Church could honor his fallen comrades and lay a wreath at the 3rd Marine Division World War II monument in their honor.
When the two men arrived at Guam they were greeted by the island’s protocol officer, Frank J. Salas, who took them on a limousine tour of the island Church had defended 60 years before.
“We met Governor Carl T.C. Gutierrez and he knew how important the visit was to me. He told our driver to take us any place we wanted to go to let us see anything we wanted to see,” Church said. “I met the governor’s wife whose mother was on the island when the Japanese invaded. She was beaten to death a week before the Americans liberated Guam.”
Church and Thurell visited cemeteries and monuments in remembrance of those fateful days. The two went to the Plaza de Espana where Church and his comrades had made their last stand against the Japanese. For Church it was a trip necessary to close a chapter of his life and to remember the friends who were killed.
“I lost some good friends there. They were outstanding fellows who were poorly armed,” Church said. “We didn’t have any anti-aircraft guns so the Japanese would strafe the city at will. A couple of us climbed to the top of a hill before the Japanese would start their attack from and set up a little surprise for them. They would come so close to the top you could hit the plane with a rock. We shot one plane down and let the others know we were there. Finally we were ordered to come down, we were pretty mad about that because we felt we were doing something. Before any of us could complain, after we came down, the Japanese bombed the top of that hill flat.”
Among some of the first Americans captured during the war, Church was forced to surrender to the Japanese on Dec.10, 1941 and would spend the rest of the war forced into slave labor. But first he and 120 Navy and 130 Marine personnel would have to get to the camp.
“They put us on cargo boats, by then our Navy had submarines in the area and they were sinking cargo boats going to and from Japan. Only one of the three boats they loaded us on to made it through,” Church said.
The Americans quickly learned their captors had little respect for their prisoners’ fate.
“I was 180 pounds when I was caught and I weighed 112 when I was liberated. We had a fellow who had been an all-American football player. He started out at well over 200 pounds, then after a while he was just skin and bones. He would walk around and say ‘130 pounds of spit and polish ready to go!’ He had a sense of humor about it,” Church said. “One guy snuck a little American flag into the camp. When spirits were at their lowest and some of the guys were just not going to make it he would pull it out and say ‘God bless America.’ That little flag saved a lot of guys and kept us going.”
Church was made to unload heavy cargo from Japanese ships, but would find ways of sneaking out bits of food to give to fellow soldiers who were being starved to death. When the chaplain at the camp died, the commandant asked Church to lead the camp in a daily recital of the Lord’s Prayer.
As the war progressed their Japanese captors told the American prisoners they would be shot if the allies ever invaded Japan. Church and his comrades decided the only way to save themselves would be to capture a boat and head for the open seas because there would be no place to escape in Japan when the invasion came. Little did any of them know the end was near, the camp was near the city of Hiroshima, separated by a series of rolling hills.
“We saw the mushroom cloud and didn’t know what it was. We figured the invasion was coming. The Japanese were very excited, the villagers started putting their things in carts and heading for the hills. We got tense because we thought the guards would start executing us. One guard told me the Americans had a bomb that exploded 100 meters above the ground and could wipe out an entire city. None of us had any idea what he was talking about,” Church said. “After we were freed, they took us by train through Hiroshima. There was nothing left, total devastation. I had seen bombed cities, but there wasn’t a building standing, it was just flattened.”
The camp was discovered by a B-29, which dropped food for the men. Many had reached a point of malnutrition so that eating a whole egg could kill them. The planes came every few hours delivering food and clothing, according to Church.
On Oct. 12, 1945 from the deck of a ship Church saw Point Loma off the coast of California. After five years of interment he was finally home. For his bravery while under extreme circumstances he received a personal letter from President Harry S Truman and a special citation from the Marine Corps for service above and beyond duty.
You're right about that, had the Mikawa been a little smarter it could have even worse.
Thanks for "falling in" to the Foxhole today.
had the Mikawa
That fits in nicely with mine. :)
I fall in reading regularly; I love the military history I get here. :-)
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