Naval Battle of Guadalcanal

Part of the Pacific Theater of World War II

Smoke rises from two Japanese aircraft shot down off Guadalcanal on 12 November 1942. Photographed from USS President Adams; ship at right is USS Betelgeuse.

Date	12–15 November 1942
Location	Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands
Result	United States strategic victory

Belligerents

United States

Japan

Commanders and leaders

William Halsey, Jr.

Daniel Callaghan †

Norman Scott †

Strength

1 carrier
2 battleships
2 heavy cruisers
3 light cruisers
12 destroyers

2 battleships
6 heavy cruisers
4 light cruisers
16 destroyers
11 transports

Casualties and losses

First phase (13 Nov):
2 light cruisers
4 destroyers

Second phase (14/15 Nov):
3 destroyers

Plus (13–15 Nov):
36 aircraft
for a total of 1,732 killed

First phase:
1 battleship
1 heavy cruiser
2 destroyers
7 transports
Second phase:
1 battleship
1 destroyer
4 transports (beached first)
Plus:
64 aircraft
for a total of 1,900 killed (exclusive of transport losses)

First phase (13 Nov):
2 light cruisers
4 destroyers

The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, sometimes referred to as the Third and Fourth Battles of Savo Island, the Battle of the Solomons, the Battle of Friday the 13th, or, in Japanese sources, the Third Battle of the Solomon Sea (第三次ソロモン海戦, Dai-san-ji Soromon Kaisen^?), took place from 12–15 November 1942, and was the decisive engagement in a series of naval battles between Allied (primarily American) and Imperial Japanese forces during the months-long Guadalcanal Campaign in the Solomon Islands during World War II. The action consisted of combined air and sea engagements over four days, most near Guadalcanal and all related to a Japanese effort to reinforce land forces on the island. The only two U.S. Navy admirals to be killed in a surface engagement in the war were lost in this battle.

Allied forces, primarily from the U.S., had landed on Guadalcanal on 7 August 1942 and seized an airfield, later called Henderson Field, that was under construction by the Japanese military. There were several subsequent attempts by the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy, using reinforcements delivered to Guadalcanal by ship, to recapture the airfield, which ultimately failed. In early November 1942, the Japanese organized a transport convoy to take 7,000 infantry troops and their equipment to Guadalcanal to attempt once again to retake the airfield. Several Japanese warship forces were assigned to bombard Henderson Field with the goal of destroying Allied aircraft that posed a threat to the convoy. Learning of the Japanese reinforcement effort, U.S. forces launched aircraft and warship attacks to defend Henderson Field and prevent the Japanese ground troops from reaching Guadalcanal.

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Wikipedia