Battle of Tassafaronga

Encyclopedia : B : BA : BAT : Battle of Tassafaronga

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Solomon Islands campaign
Guadalcanal – Savo I. – Eastern Solomons – Cape Esperance – Santa Cruz Is. – Naval Guadalcanal – Tassafaronga – Rennell I. – Blackett Strait – Operation Cartwheel – New Georgia – Kula Gulf – Kolombangara – Vella Gulf – Horaniu – Vella Lavella – Naval Vella Lavella – Treasury Is. – Choiseul – Empress Augusta Bay – Cape St. George – Green Is. – 2nd Rabaul – Bougainville

The Battle of Tassafaronga, sometimes referred to as the Fourth Battle of Savo Island or the Battle of Lunga Point was a naval battle fought between United States and Japanese forces on November 30 1942. The battle was the last in a series of naval battles during the six-months-long Battle of Guadalcanal. The battle occurred in the channel between Guadalcanal and Savo Island, and was named after Tassafaronga on Guadalcanal, a landing point for Japanese supplies on Guadalcanal and the destination of the Japanese destroyer squadron involved in this battle.

In the battle, a US cruiser force was badly mauled by a squadron of Japanese destroyers, losing one cruiser sunk and three cruisers so badly damaged that they were all out of the war for more than nine months, while the Japanese lost but one destroyer. However, the Japanese didn't possess the resources to be able to take advantage of their victory in the engagement to gain an upper hand in the battle for Guadalcanal. Thus, although Tassafaronga was a tactical victory for the Japanese, it had little strategic impact.

Background

On August 7, 1942, Allied forces (primarily U.S.) landed on Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and Florida Islands in the Solomon Islands. The landings on the islands were meant to deny their use by the Japanese as bases to threaten the supply routes between the U.S. and Australia, and to use them as starting points for a campaign with the eventual goal of isolating the major Japanese base at Rabaul while also supporting the Allied New Guinea and New Britain campaigns. The landings initiated the six-month-long Battle of Guadalcanal.

Following the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal the Japanese command doubted their ability to retake the island and began to look at New Georgia, to the north of Guadalcanal, as a base from which they could thwart the American advance in the Solomons. The battleship and cruiser bombardments of Guadalcanal ceased but the Tokyo Express continued its frequent supply and evacuation runs at night to the island, one of which resulted in this battle.

On November 30, 1942, Rear Admiral Raizo Tanaka led a force of eight Japanese destroyers, with six performing as supply transports, and two (Tanaka's flagship Naganami and Takanami) as escorts.

Task Force 67, a recently formed cruiser/destroyer force that comprised the heavy cruisers Minneapolis, New Orleans, Pensacola, and Northampton, the light cruiser Honolulu, and four destroyers Fletcher, Drayton, Maury, and Perkins under the command of Rear Admiral Carleton H. Wright, steamed north from Espiritu Santo to interdict the Tokyo Express run. Destroyers Lamson and Lardner returning from an escort assignment to Guadalcanal were ordered to join up with Task Force 67, but, lacking the time to brief the commanding officers of the joining destroyers they were assigned a position behind the cruisers.

Battle

On the night of November 30, Minneapolis made radar contact with the Japanese ships and, just after 23:00, three US destroyers launched twenty torpedoes while the American cruisers opened fire. Japanese destroyer Takanami was hit by numerous shells and quickly sank but the American torpedoes missed the rest of the Japanese ships. The U.S. warship's gun flashes provided a clear target for the Japanese squadron, which quickly replied with twenty torpedoes of their own and turned to escape in the darkness. The American ships failed to maneuver to avoid the Japanese "Long Lance" torpedoes and Minneapolis was hit by two 24-inch torpedoes which severed her bow, New Orleans by one torpedo which also severed her bow, and Pensacola by one torpedo that caused heavy damage and a fire. Northampton received two torpedo hits which caused her to sink later.

Aftermath

The damaged U.S. heavy cruisers managed to reach Tulagi harbor where emergency repairs were carried out. The three all managed to eventually make it to the U.S. for repairs but all three were out of the war for more than nine months.

This battle underscored continued Japanese superiority in night actions and led to further discussion in the Pacific Fleet about changes in tactical doctrine. Of particular note was the lack of familiarity by Adm. Wright in using search radar (particularly against a land background in constricted waters) to offset the Japanese advantage in night optics, and the need for units to acquire experience in working together before being committed to night combat. Both of these lessons were partially rectified in naval surface engagements in the central Solomons in the following summer and autumn.

It is a painful truth that the Battle of Tassafaronga was a sharp defeat inflicted on an alert and superior cruiser force by a partially surprised and inferior destroyer force. - Samuel Eliot Morison

References

Books

• -Firsthand account of the battle by a surviving crewmember of New Orleans.

External links

• [Order of battle]
• [WW2DB: Guadalcanal Campaign]

Notes

 

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