Battle of Solomon Eastern

The battles of Solomon Eastern is a naval Bataille of the Guerre in the Pacific during the Second world war, which took place of the 24 to the August 25th 1942 between the Japanese imperial Marine and the American Marine.

After the Bataille of the island of Savo, which had been a cuisante demolished for the Allies, it was about the second naval engagement related to the Bataille of Guadalcanal.

This battle, also known under the names of battles of the islands Stewart or second battles of Solomon , had an undecided result, since the respective losses were more or less equivalent.

However, from the strategic point of view, the battle is regarded as an American victory, since the Japanese withdrew themselves and did not try any more to supply Guadalcanal but at the time of night operations.

Context

The initial invasion of Combined with Guadalcanal the 7 and August 8th 1942 was immediately followed of a Japanese reaction. The Battle of the island of Savo, a heavy defeat for the American Navy, had as a result an equivalence of the forces around the island.

While the marine made safe the small perimeter which they had invaded on the point of Lunga, in the north of the island, and finished the installation of the aerodrome of Henderson Field , they underwent bombardments of days at the time of air raids launched starting from Rabaul, generally around the same hour the afternoon, one moment that the marine were not long in calling the “Tojo time”.

The night, from the cruisers and the Japanese destroyers got out regularly the groove in order to bombard the positions of the marine and the aerodrome and to deposit reinforcements of troops on the island. The “ Tokyo Express train ”, as it was quickly called, left the the Solomon Islands before the paddle, knowing the proximity of the aircraft carriers of Task forces 61, useless of night but frightening of day.

However, the Allies continued to unload forces and the American aircraft carriers remained a threat.

The Japanese were conscious owing to the fact that the establishment of an American base on Guadalcanal endangered their base of Rabaul, and that only the total control of the archipelago of Solomon would enable them to break the American lines of supply towards Australia.

The Japanese gathered in haste with Rabaul 2 500 men coming from Guam, 3 500 coming from Palaos and 1 000 of the “imperial marine ”. The Japanese however underestimated the number of Americans unloaded on the island.

A first battalion, unloaded on August 18th, had been made cut in parts at the time of an attack on the American perimeter, with the battles of Tenaru. This first failure was a hard blow for the Japanese high-command, convinced of the invincibility of its forces.

The only means of taking again the island was thus at the same time to unload marine reinforcements and to cut the American their lines of supply. Those were completely dependant on the presence of the American fleet, and particularly of the aircraft carriers, in the archipelago.

The admiral Yamamoto establishes then a plan, the “ operation KA ”, which aimed at the same time to destroy the American aircraft carriers and to unload an important quota of troops -3 000 men on Guadalcanal.

The battle

The Japanese forces left Truk and Rabaul the August 21st. Following reports/ratios of information relative to a force being able to come from north, the admiral Chester Nimitz ordered with the admiral Robert Ghormley to concentrate his forces close to Solomon. Ghormley in its turn dispatched the admiral Frank Fletcher and its three Task forces : the TF 11 (the aircraft carrier Saratoga , the TF 16 (the '' Enterprise '') and the TF 18 (the aircraft carrier Wasp ), joined together on the occasion to form the TF 61 .
In spite of the fact that Japanese submarines and planes were seen, the military informations made a serious error and affirmed that the Japanese fleet was always with Truk. The August 23rd, Fletcher, which was believed quiet for a few days, sent the TF 18 to the supply. The next morning, the aircraft carrier Ryujo and of the cruisers were located by American planes, and the '' Enterprise '' located hunters and bombers of the Ryujo which moved towards the aerodrome of Henderson. The afternoon, the majority of the Japanese forces had been located, but the reports/ratios seemed confused and Fletcher awaited the developments to react.
Planes of the '' Enterprise '' succeeded in damaging the aircraft carrier Shokaku , and a group of planes bombers and launchers of torpedes of the Saratoga ran the Ryujo . The admiral Chuichi Nagumo then launched an attack starting from the Shokaku and the '' Enterprise '' was severely damaged by several bombs.
At this point of the battle, the commanders of two belligerents decided not to risk more losses and moved away one from the other, putting an end to the principal battle.
Japanese transport during this time carried on their road by the groove (the Détroit of News-Georgia) towards Guadalcanal. They were attacked by planes coming from Henderson which damaged the light cruiser Jintsu , which made half-turn towards Truk, and ran the destroyer Mutsuki . Transport could have continued towards Guadalcanal, but they accepted the order to make half-turn. Ultimately, the Japanese troops were unloaded with Guadalcanal of night three days later.

Continuations of the battle
The battle of Solomon Eastern was not a decisive battle, but while making make half-turn with the Japanese fleet, it made it possible to give time to the marine of Guadalcanal.
The aircraft carrier Wasp was run by a Japanese submarine three weeks later, and next naval confrontation in the sector would take place at the time of the Bataille of the course Espérance in October.

Sources

See too

Battle order

Battles of Salomons

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