The Battle of Tassafaronga

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At the same time, Wright ordered his force to open fire. Cole's four destroyers fired star shells to illuminate the targets as previously directed then increased speed to clear the area for the cruisers to operate. Because of her closer proximity to Wright's column, Takanami was the target of most of the Americans' initial gunfire. Takanami returned fire and launched her full load of eight torpedoes, but was quickly hit by American gunfire and, within four minutes, was set afire and incapacitated.

As Takanami was destroyed, the rest of Tanaka's ships, almost unnoticed by the Americans, were increasing speed, maneuvering, and preparing to respond to the American attack. All of the American torpedoes missed. Tanaka's flagship, Naganami , reversed course to starboard , opened fire and began laying a smoke screen. The next two ships astern, Kawakaze and Suzukaze , reversed course to port.

Meanwhile, the four destroyers at the head of the Japanese column maintained their heading down the Guadalcanal coast, allowing Wright's cruisers to pass on the opposite course. Once clear of Takanami at One warhead exploded the aviation fuel storage tanks forward of turret one and the other knocked out three of the ship's four firerooms. The bow forward of turret one folded down at a degree angle and the ship lost power and steering control. Thirty-seven men were killed. Less than a minute later a torpedo hit New Orleans abreast of turret one and exploded the ship's forward ammunition magazines and aviation gasoline storage.

The blast severed the ship's entire bow forward of turret two. The bow twisted to port, damaging the ship's hull as it was wrenched free by the ship's momentum, and sank immediately off the aft port quarter. Everyone in turrets one and two perished. New Orleans was forced into a reverse course to starboard and lost steering and communications. I had to see. I walked alongside the silent turret two and was stopped by a lifeline stretched from the outboard port lifeline to the side of the turret. Thank God it was there, for one more step and I would have pitched head first into the dark water thirty feet below.

The bow was gone. Eighteen hundred tons of ship were gone.

Oh my God, all those guys I went through boot camp with — all gone. Pensacola followed next astern in the cruiser column. Observing Minneapolis and New Orleans taking hits and slowing, Pensacola steered to pass them on the port side and then, once past, returned to the same base course. The explosion spread flaming oil throughout the interior and across the main deck of the ship, killing of the ship's crew.

The hit ripped away the port outer driveshaft and the ship took a degree list and lost power, communications, and steering.

Battle of Tassafaronga

Astern of Pensacola , Honolulu's captain chose to pass Minneapolis and New Orleans on the starboard side. The last cruiser in the American column, Northampton , followed Honolulu to pass the damaged cruisers ahead to starboard. Unlike Honolulu , Northampton did not increase speed or attempt any radical maneuvers. Fifty men were killed. The last ships in Wright's column, Lamson and Lardner , failed to locate any targets and exited the battle area to the east after being mistakenly fired on by machine guns from New Orleans.

Cole's four destroyers circled completely around Savo Island at maximum speed and reentered the battle area, but the engagement had already ended. When Takanami failed to respond to radio calls, Tanaka directed Oyashio and Kuroshio to go to her assistance. The two destroyers located the burning ship at Takanami was the only Japanese warship hit by American gunfire and seriously damaged during the battle. Takanami' s surviving crew abandoned ship at Of her crew of , 48 survived to reach shore on Guadalcanal and 19 of them were captured by the Americans.

Northampton' s crew was unable to contain the ship's fires and list and began to abandon ship at The ship sank at Pensacola departed Tulagi for rear area ports and further repair on December 6. All three cruisers required lengthy and extensive repairs.

The battle, along with the losses suffered during the Battle of Savo Island, Cape Esperance and the Naval Battles of Guadalcanal temporarily left the US Navy with only 4 operational heavy cruisers and 9 light cruisers in the entire Pacific Ocean. In spite of his defeat in the battle, Wright was awarded the Navy Cross , one of the highest American military decorations for bravery, for his actions during the engagement.

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Mitigating to some degree the destruction of his task force, Wright, in his after-action report, claimed that his force sank four Japanese destroyers and damaged two others. Halsey, in his comments on Wright's report, placed much of the blame for the defeat on Cole, saying that the destroyer squadron commander fired his torpedoes from too great a distance to be effective and should have "helped" the cruisers instead of circling around Savo Island.

The recriminations did not affect Cole's career; he had won a Navy Cross of his own for actions during the Naval battles of Guadalcanal, and continued to lead destroyer squadrons in the Pacific, later being promoted to rear admiral. Tanaka claimed to have sunk a battleship and two cruisers in the battle. The results of the battle led to further discussion in the US Pacific Fleet about changes in tactical doctrine and the need for technical improvements, such as flashless powder.

It was not until eight months later that the naval high command recognized there were serious problems with the functioning of the torpedoes. In fact, Wright claimed that his ships must have been fired on by submarines since the observed position of Tanaka's ships "make it improbable that torpedoes with speed-distance characteristics similar to our own" could have caused such damage, though Tanaka states that his torpedoes were fired at a range as short as three miles. The Americans did not recognize the true capabilities of their Pacific adversary's torpedoes particularly the surface-ship-fired Type 93 "Long Lance" and night tactics until well into After the war, Tanaka said of his victory at Tassafaronga, "I have heard that US naval experts praised my command in that action.

I am not deserving of such honors. It was the superb proficiency and devotion of the men who served me that produced the tactical victory for us.

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In spite of their defeat in the battle, the Americans had prevented Tanaka from landing the desperately needed food supplies on Guadalcanal, albeit at high cost. Based on the difficulties experienced trying to deliver food to the island, the Japanese Navy informed Imamura on December 8 that they intended to stop all destroyer transportation runs to Guadalcanal immediately.

After Imamura protested, the navy agreed to one more run to the island. After Tanaka transferred to Naganami , Teruzuki was scuttled. Tanaka was subsequently relieved of command and transferred to Japan on December 29, On December 12, the Japanese Navy proposed that Guadalcanal be abandoned. Despite opposition from Japanese Army leaders, who still hoped that Guadalcanal could eventually be retaken from the Allies, on December 31, Japan's Imperial General Headquarters , with approval from the Emperor , agreed to the evacuation of all Japanese forces from the island and the establishment of a new line of defense for the Solomons on New Georgia.

The Japanese evacuated their remaining forces from Guadalcanal over three nights between February 2 and February 7, , conceding the hard-fought campaign to the Allies. Building on their success at Guadalcanal and elsewhere, the Allies continued their campaign against Japan, ultimately culminating in Japan's defeat and the end of World War II.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Austen Naval Savo Is. IJN Takanami , accessed April 2, Of Takanami's crew, Frank says 33 survived and Kilpatrick says 26 were captured by the Americans. Dull says of the crew died. Fletcher fired ten, Perkins eight, and Drayton two torpedoes.

Tanaka thought that Cole's destroyer's star shells were flares dropped by aircraft. The Battle of Tassafaronga , p.

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Frank says 33 survived and Kilpatrick says 26 were captured by the Americans. Dull says of her crew died. They would then be pulled in to the shore by the land forces. The plan was for Japanese fast destroyers to deliver the first of these drops on the night of the 30th November.

Coastwatchers were able to spot the departure of this force — the intelligence was passed along and the US Navy despatched Task Force 67 to intercept. The US ships should have been well placed to effect an ambush as they had the significant advantage of Radar on a proportion of their ships.

The US ships did identify the Japanese force by Radar and launched 24 torpedoes at them.

If most, or even any, of the 24 torpedoes had hit their targets the subsequent controversies about the Battle of Tassafaronga would probably have never emerged. Unfortunately they did not. The US Navy had yet to recognise that their Mark 15 torpedoes used from ships, like their Mark 14 torpedoes on submarines, were not effective. Amongst other problems they usually ran too deep and passed under the ships they were targeted at.

So in this action when the Japanese realised they were under attack they were able to swiftly respond. Their Long Lance torpedoes were very effective and did terrible damage to the US ships. On the USS New Orleans a torpedo hit ignited the forward magazine and blew the whole of the front of the ship off. I had to see. I walked alongside the silent turret two and was stopped by a lifeline stretched from the outboard port lifeline to the side of the turret.

Thank God it was there, for one more step and I would have pitched head first into the dark water thirty feet below. The bow was gone. One hundred and twenty five feet of ship and number one main battery turret with three 8 inch guns were gone. Eighteen hundred tons of ship were gone.

The Battle of Tassafaronga, off Guadalcanal

Oh my God, all those guys I went through boot camp with — all gone. The Battle did, however, prove to be a turning point. Despite the damage done to the US ships the Japanese were still unable to complete the resupply mission. Subsequent attempts to drop resupply loads in the water were shot up by the US planes from Guadalcanal. Soon the Japanese had to recognise that their attempt to dislodge the US forces from Guadalcanal had failed and they would have to withdraw. They would be retreating all the way back across the Pacific to Japan for the rest of the war. It is striking how both the Japanese and the Germans were forced to recognise, by the harsh realities of war, that they were over-extended.

30th November The Battle of Tassafaronga, off Guadalcanal

In the space of little over a week both discovered that their most advanced units could not make any further progress and were in fact isolated and vulnerable. But the strategists in both countries took a very long time to face up to what that really meant. Note that her stern is riding high, and that her forward end is low in the water. The torpedo and subsequent explosion had severed her bow between No. I believe he was in the 2 turret. We never received his remains.

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