The Battle of Cape Esperance 1942 - Cruiser Chaos off Guadalcanal - Animated

[Music] at just past 11 p.m on the 11th of october 1942 passing in front of the channel between guadalcanal and savo island is task 464 with the decision by the commander of the south pacific area vice admiral robert gormley that the forces on the island should be reinforced with the 164th regiment of the 23rd infantry division commonly known as the americal division task 464 commanded by rear admiral norman scott has been given the vital objective of ensuring the security of the convoy carrying the regiment to the island his mission is also to intercept and destroy any japanese naval forces in the area rear admiral scott knows his task force faces a challenge in confronting the imperial japanese navy at night thus far in the war the allies have lost eight cruisers and three destroyers in night combat against the imperial japanese navy without having sunk a single japanese warship in return since the battle of savo island in august during the day american carrier aircraft and aircraft from henderson field itself ensure control over the surrounding waters however with their superior night fighting ability by night these waters are dominated by the japanese navy allowing supply and troop reinforcements to ground forces on the island u.s vice admiral gormley concludes that the japanese effort to build up their forces on guadalcanal has to be confronted and taskful 64 commander rear admiral scott begins to prepare his cruiser destroyer force for night combat his plan is to keep his task force in an easy to control line ahead formation and to use his destroyers a head and a stern of the formation to illuminate targets using searchlights and star shells once radar contact has been established this will allow his cruisers at the center of the formation the freedom to fire independently and rapidly to devastate any target identified with their heavy firepower meanwhile his destroyers will launch torpedoes against heavier enemy ships with his task force drilled in this new tactic and in position to react quickly on october the 11th a b-17 spots a japanese surface task force heading to guadalcanal the imperial japanese navy is launching an operation to bombard the u.s held airfield of henderson field and annihilate the u.s naval forces trying to protect u.s ground forces on the island two imperial japanese navy task groups under the command of rear admiral goto has set out to provide the imperial japanese army on guadalcanal with substantial reinforcements and to bombard henderson field a reinforcement group will for the first time employ the fast seaplane tenders nishin and chatoze to transport heavy howitzers and field guns to the island the bombardment group comprises the three heavy cruisers alba furataka and kinugaza escorted by the destroyer's fubuki hatsuyuki and commanded by goto himself this bombardment group will hit henderson field the japanese are so confident that no u.s naval forces will confront them in the darkness and the reinforcement group will arrive before the powerful bombardment group arrives with the reinforcement group spotted just off the west side of the island task force 64 is on its way sailing in a liner head formation the force is lined up with the destroyers farrenholt duncan laffy heavy cruiser san francisco light cruiser boise heavy cruiser salt lake city and light cruiser helena followed by the destroyers buchanan and makala as they move towards the reinforcement group at 11 25 pm the sc radar on board helena detects new contacts at 27 700 yards away however scott is not informed of this detection to compound this he is not making use of his potentially greatest advantage he is unaware of just how much more powerful the new sg radar on his light cruisers boise and helena is compared to older sc radar on his heavy cruisers but having stuck with tradition in choosing the heavy cruiser san francisco with the older sc radar as his flagship scott is denying himself a clearer image of the location of the enemy and the opportunity to launch a more coordinated attack against the oncoming japanese warships with scott unaware helena has detected a contact he orders his formation to reverse course with the order given scots ships should each continue ahead and begin their turn at the current position of the lead destroyer fahrenhold so the formation shape is maintained however inexplicably scott's own flagship san francisco begins to turn to port immediately this forces the captain on the boise to also turn to port in order to keep the cruisers together this leaves the first three american destroyers moving down the starboard side of scots cruisers instead of ahead of them as the american cruisers begin to report radar contacts at different bearings he worries that they are picking up his three out of place destroyers on his starboard side however as scott worries where his lead destroyers are aboard boise and helena it is clear the radar contacts they have been tracking are closing on them fast and are clearly hostile they have detected the japanese bombardment group with the japanese force now just three miles away helena's crew makes visual contact leading helena's radar officer to comment what are we going to do boards them what scott does not realize is that his course change has inadvertently placed his task force across the t of the bombardment group knowing that the time to act is slipping away helena's captain messages scott for permission to open fire twice the san francisco replies with roger not realising that scott is simply acknowledging receipt of his messages and not the request to open fire helena's captain orders his 15 six-inch guns to open fire in the darkness they unleash a torrent of relentless gunfire towards the approaching japanese warships almost immediately the other american cruisers open fire on the oncoming japanese ships having crossed the tee they can bring their full broadsides against the bombardment group they fire so fast that sailors on both sides mistake their gunfire for machine gun fire the lead ship of goto's force alba becomes the focus of the american fire she desperately signals to the american warships i am alba believing she is under friendly fire just as scott is struggling to understand exactly what is going on rear admiral goto believes he is being attacked by the reinforcement group not an american force alba's bridge takes a direct hit from an american shell leaving the japanese rear admiral for dead hitting quick succession by 24 shells alba's top side has been heavily damaged and her forward 8 inch guns destroyed with two of her boiler rooms also out of action alba's captain orders a smoke screen and moves her away at speed having been taken by surprise by task 4 64 alba furataka and fubuki start to turn to starboard whilst kina gaza and hatsuyuki start to turn to port as the bombardment group tries to extricate itself from the ambush however as scott reaches san francisco's bridge he furiously orders his task force to cease fire fearing they are hitting his wayward destroyers nevertheless the captains of boise and scott's own flagship san francisco order firing continue so convinced are they of the identity of their targets after scott's wayward destroyers flashed their recognition lights he finally allows his warships actually holding their fire to commence firing once again in the chaos some u.s destroyers now do come under friendly fire from some of the american cruisers a shell explodes above farrenholt shattering her radar antenna and spraying shrapnel slicing through the air flask of a torpedo in her torpedo mount causing it to shoot forward into farrenhold's forward snack thankfully for farrenholt and her crew it fails to explode moments later another shell pierces farrenholt's port side at the waterline cutting her forward power and communications and causing her to list the duncan which after gaining radar contact had veered off to launch an independent torpedo attack has just launched a torpedo towards a japanese cruiser before taking several hits fires rage out of control and she loses steering control continuing in a circle overcome with fires duncan's crew are eventually forced to abandon her and she will sink later the next day to get out of the line of fire farrenholt begins to move past san francisco and to relative safety whilst laffy continues in behind makaula furataka's captain has bravely moved her into alba's wake in order to cover her retreat and all four american cruisers are targeting her they unleash an overwhelming barrage of gunfire against furataka striking her many times knocking out her number three turret and striking her torpedo station which causes a raging fire san francisco and boise locate the destroyer fubuki quickly setting her ablaze she soon begins to slide under the water with fubuki sinking buchanan launches five torpedoes at furataka in the darkness furotaka's crew can't evade the incoming weapons and she takes a hit her engine room is engulfed by a significant explosion she continues to take a battering taking 90 shells with hits under her waterline the flooding causes her to lose power and flounder however with the japanese ships now having had the opportunity to replace their bombardment shells with armor-piercing shells kinigaza begins to bracket san francisco with gunfire she launches torpedoes at boise which just missed the light cruiser trying to locate new targets in the darkness boise's searchlights lock onto kinagaza but kinuganza's guns turn towards the light unleashing a volley of shells which strike boise's bow and forward turret another shell strikes her number two magazine under the waterline as boise moves out of the line at speed salt lake city moves to shield boise from kunigaza illuminated in the dark by boise's fires salt lake city is struck twice by eight inch shells from kino gaza finally at 28 past midnight the firing finally begins to subside and scott decides to end the action as both sides move away from each other alba and kinigaza despite heavy damage successfully retreat into the night furitaka succumbs to her pummeling and plunges to the bottom boise's crew managed to put out her fires and she will later reunite with the american column the following morning 195 of duncan's crew will be rescued by u.s ships but the japanese survivors from the destroyer fubuki bluntly refuse rescue three are brought aboard by force for interrogation and the rest are obliged of their request destroyers from the reinforcement group who had been dispatched to aid the bombardment group during the night are attacked by large numbers of american aircraft from henderson field destroyer natsugumo is sunk after sustaining direct hits from bombs and torpedoes at the battle of cape esperance the imperial japanese navy loses a heavy cruiser three destroyers and 454 sailors the battle has been their first loss in a night action in the war in contrast the americans have lost the destroyer duncan with light cruiser boise severely damaged nevertheless despite victory in the surface engagement the japanese reinforcement group has successfully landed the new japanese regiment and equipment on guadalcanal without interference a few days later the battleships congo and haruna conduct a devastating bombardment of henderson field preventing use of the airfield and destroying nearly all the aviation fuel and half the aircraft stationed there despite scott's victory the battle for guadalcanal is far from over [Music]

Channel: The Operations Room

Views: 601,673

Keywords: battleship, ww2, history, time-lapse, animated, time lapse, warship, second world war, documentary, guadalcanal, us navy, war in the pacific, japanese navy, uss laffey, uss san francisco, battle of cape esperance

Id: EP1z0mfsNVY

Length: 12min 21sec (741 seconds)

Published: Fri May 20 2022