Guadalcanal Campaign - The Battle of Tassafaronga: (IJN 4(?) : 3 USN)

Today we look at the penultimate major engagement of the Guadalcanal Campaign, the Battle of Tassafaronga, where some ships experience the front falling off, which is not supposed to happen.

Sources:

[wolftamer]

Pick your poison:
USN: doesn’t reprimand Admirals for incompetence
IJN: demotes Admirals for not winning hard enough

[kiafnnng]

My great grandfather was on the New Orleans when she took the torpedo in the bow that detonated the forward magazines. He was a loader on the port side 1.1in gun, above the bridge, and had thrown out his back earlier because of it. He was down in sickbay, which was in the bow, for a couple of days recuperating. As the battle started, the doctor in charge had ordered all the people who could move out. He was on his way out (he thought somewhere around or behind the barbette of turret #2) when the magazines went up. He said the blast threw him probably 20ft down the corridor, and knocked him out. What I’ll always remember from the story is he said the blast blew the shoes off his feet. He came too from one of his shipmates waking him up and carrying him further aft. He was ordered up on deck to help lighten the ship. When he got up on deck the entire forward part of the ship was a massive fireball and it was absolutely pandemonium all around. He said he distinctly remembered there being body parts all over the place. The rest of the night he helped throw anything that could go over the side. Apparently the adrenaline of the situation allowed him to go on like that for some time. He was medically discharged from the service in early 1943 when he got back stateside for treatment. He passed in 2013 at 92. But I’ve always though had that doctor not ordered those men out of sick bay when he did, that is it very likely I would not be writing this today.

[Volnas]

I was thinking at the beginning, that this won't be equal fight, but American leadership quickly made the battle more equal.

[randomguy-tgok]

"Some ships experience the front falling off, which is not supposed to happen."
That's... a bit of an understatement?

[richardw]

As a retired Marine Officer perhaps I can shed some light on the Admiral Wright's of the world. As a peace time officer you get promoted by making your Boss look good no matter how incompetent, or how big an ass, he may be. Being a stellar administrator, bureaucrat and politically aware of who's butt to kiss, are the traits that get officers promoted to flag rank. Nowhere on that list is "war fighter." This was true pre-WW2 and it's certainly true today. With the outbreak of hostilities, the bureaucrat offices have to get a bunch of soldier, sailors or themselves killed, before those pesky "war fighters" can move into positions to start kicking butt and taking names.

[Aotearas]

"Make a sharp turn, because the destroyer is not supposed to be on land" ... me just having watched the Honda Point shipwreck video like two days ago: **giggles**

[IMarcaI]

USN: Ok... we have been scrounging everywhere but now we finally got a cruiser force ready.
Admiral Tanaka: Hey, wanna see a magic trick?

[rossmcgregor]

I love stories where there are a couple of competent vessels surrounded by a fleet of idiocy. I can imagine Fletcher and Honolulu thinking 'I told you so' after the engagement.

[TheOperationsRoom]

I heard @Drachinifel is the chairman of the Admiral Wright fan club 😂

[fabianzimmermann]

US navy, slaps roof of Guadalcanal
"This bad boy can fit so many incompetent admirals in it."

[anumeon]

"The japanese army may have disagreed with these priorities"
Well, in most Japanese naval officers books that was a pure bonus.. :D

[Raptor]

It's funny, really: in Guadalcanal, the US Navy consistently (but not always) takes heavy losses to inflict only limited losses on the IJN--but the USN also consistently achieves its most important strategic goal in the greater battle--capturing, holding, and protecting Hendersen Field. In contrast to the IJN/Japanese High Command, the USN recognized that the battle for Guadalcanal was critical and that sacrificing a lot of ships for this battle was worth it if it won them the important strategic objective of winning the fulcrum of this island chain (which itself held dominion over the US-Australia line of By continually trying to retake Guadalcanal but with half-assed commitments, the IJN and IJA were bleeding themselves heavily without taking the strategic objective in exchange.

For Japan, oil was a precious resource that they were nowhere near the point of self-sufficiency for. Every sortie used more of it that they couldn't really replace for years. A one or two sorties of overwhelming force with the powerful surface fleet that they had (and their excellence in night battle) would have achieved their strategic goal (or at least made it easy to achieve shortly thereafter) while ultimately conserving oil.

For all that the USN was repeatedly losing ships (or having them suffer massive damage)--including lots of cruisers--the USN was slowly weeding out its bad admirals and learning more about its own shortcomings and the strengths of the IJN. In contrast, the IJN was slowly weeding out its GOOD admirals and failing to recognize its own shortcomings and comprehend its own strategic reality.

It's just plain baffling to me that Tanaka was reassigned; the guy did a great job, with his only failing being that he did not then complete his supply delivery after delivering the USN an ass-kicking. Hell, even if doing that wasn't safe/practical, the fact that he'd either sunk or crippled four USN cruisers as the cost of only one destroyer (and not even its crew; he managed to save them as well) meant that he was now in a position to perform such supply runs the next day and thereafter much more safely.

[Alobo]

"Make a sharp turn, because the destroyer is not supposed to be on land."
That brings back a memory of playing Harpoon on the PC. For some reason, I had turned off "Ships running aground" in the options menu, so my friend who was playing at the time watched the Russian battle group escape by driving over Iceland. To say he was upset is an understatement.

[Big_E_Soul_Fragment]

US Navy: They're just Destroyers, what are they gonna do?
IJN Destroyers: *[Laughs in Type 93]*

[crazyguy]

"If the enemy is in range then so are you" - Not Rear Admiral Wright

[arb]

I gotta say, I really like these battle animations. Really helps people put together what actually happened in the battle. Can't wait to see them on something like the Battle of Trafalgar. They can only get better. Keep up the excellent work sir.

[kennethrussell]

My uncle was on the New Orleans and lost-at-sea during this battle, so I found this video to be very interesting and informative. He was my father’s big brother. My aunt, now 95, still talks about him from time-to-time.

[richardlogan]

My uncle fought on Guadanal, he was a 19-year-old private in a unit that was lost in the jungle for a week or more. Over time all the officers down to corporals were dead. So my uncle stepped up and led the unit as it trekked and fought. He received both a commendation and a field promotion to sergeant at the age of nineteen. I would love to find more footage of the jungle fighting on Guadalcanal, or shots of soldiers in rear areas on the island, and maybe catch footage that might show this exceptional teenage American kid. His name was Harold Simmons. (I have found film that shows another soldier by the same name.)

[bificommander]

While some of the previous officers were too timid, it seems weird to accuse Tanaka here. His underarmed destroyer force took out 4 cruisers. Should he have sailed in and captured Los Angeles or what?

[MPPelli]

"The front is not supposed to fall off." Nice Clarke & Dawe reference.