The US Navy's Worst Defeat, The Battle of Savo Island 1942 - Animated

today we're sponsored by blinkist and the app is genuinely a really good idea here at the operations room we read a lot of books blinkist takes top non-fiction books in 27 categories including history and condenses the key information and ideas into 15-minute texts and audio summaries called blinks you can then do what i do and listen to the blinks while going about your day they've even teamed up with popular podcast creators to blink podcast episodes as well like the 14 million active users you can listen to your selected titles while offline i just finished and greatly enjoyed huay 1968 by the author who wrote black hawk down mark bowden the first hundred people to go to blinkist.com the operations room are going to get free unlimited access for one week to try it out and you can cancel at any time in those seven days you'll also get 25 off if you want the full membership i do think blinkist is a great idea and i hope you enjoy it too it's the late afternoon of august 7th 1942 and steaming out of the major japanese base at rabal is a powerful japanese cruiser force upon receiving the first report of an american landing on guadalcanal admiral mikawa commander of the japanese eighth fleet decides to launch an immediate night attack mikawa's hastily assembled force of mainly older warships include five heavy cruisers two light cruiser and one destroyer and is led by mikawa's flagship the heavy cruiser chokai mikawa draws confidence from his crew's excellent training and equipment for naval night fighting they pass right over the american submarine s-38 and minutes later s-38 reports two destroyers and three heavy cruisers have just powered through the water above her however it would not be until early the next morning that rear admiral kelly turner in command of the naval forces of guadalcanal receives s-38's report as macarthur's warships steam out of reball the first american offensive of the pacific war is underway marines are ashore on guadalcanal and are slowly moving inland against little opposition whilst on tulagi and gavutu tanembogo the marines meet much fiercer japanese opposition and nearly all of the defenders are eventually killed for months commander-in-chief u.s fleet admiral ernest j young had wanted to take the offensive in the southern pacific with the momentous american victory at midway essentially eliminating the threat posed by the imperial japanese navy in the central pacific admiral wright could focus his still limited forces in the south pacific thus when american radio intelligence indicated the japanese were building an airfield on guadalcanal threatening allied supply lines to australia the us first marine division was hastily assembled with the task of seizing strategic islands in the southern solomons despite the now received report of japanese vessels leaving rabul turner's command is unconcerned believing any japanese force would be detected by allied reconnaissance aircraft before reaching guadalcanal with sunrise on august 8th mikawa is anxious to know where the american carriers are and just how strong the american naval forces are off the island therefore he decides to conduct his own reconnaissance of the area three cruiser float planes are ordered to search north of the solomons with heavy cruiser alba's float plane ordered to reconnoiter the american naval forces off guadalcanal at 10 25 am his force is spotted by a royal australian air force hudson and mikawa orders his warships to turn 90 degrees hoping to leave it confused as to their heading the hudson is under orders to follow any japanese force until additional allied aircraft can continue the pursuit but the pilot only stays in the area for 16 minutes before leaving at 11 am another australian hudson sites mikawa's force but chokai soon forces it away with her main guns as they wait nervously for an anticipated air attack alba's float plane returns and reports citing large numbers of transports destroyers cruisers and various other warships off godel canal with still no word on the location of the american carriers mikawa pushes on determined to crush the american naval forces what mikawa does not know is that ineffective allied air reconnaissance is allowing his force to pass through the slot as the waters down the solomons would become known essentially undetected poor weather has grounded several reconnaissance flights and those that get airborne fly too early to detect mikhail's force later in the day mikawa has timed his approach well after the morning air searches are finished u.s admirals fletcher and turner have requested additional afternoon air searches but these do not materialize despite the potential danger of s-38s report furthermore upon returning to milne bay both australian hudson pilots have now reported citing an array of warships with the first mistakenly reported exciting two gun boats or seaplane tenders yet it will take until late in the evening for both aircraft's reports to reach turner and then until almost midnight before he is informed the air searches had only been partially completed or not completed at all as such as august the 9th closes in turner concludes the japanese force cited earlier gravely misidentified as only containing two seaplane tenders is of no immediate threat to his naval forces concluding the japanese are just going to establish a seaplane base nearby and launch torpedo attacks the following day but over on mikawa's warships their crews ready themselves for battle with the japanese force closing in turner has made the grave mistake of determining what the japanese intend to do and not acting against what the japanese with their excellent night fighting doctrine might be capable of doing thus turner's failure to warn his naval forces that a night attack could occur and to enhance their alert status accordingly is about to lead to disaster awaiting mikawa's force off guadalcanal are several separated fleets of allied warships the southern group to the southeast of savo island commanded by rear admiral victor crutchley royal navy comprises the australian heavy cruisers hmas australia and canberra american heavy cruiser uss chicago and destroyers uss bagley and paterson however earlier in the evening rear admiral crutchley leaves with australia to meet with admiral turner leaving command of the southern group to captain howard bode on the chicago to the north east of savo island is the northern group commanded by captain frederick reefcall comprising the heavy cruisers uss vincennes quincy and astoria and destroyers helm and wilson furthermore patrolling either side of savor island with their radar are the destroyers blue and ralph talbot but their courses are uncoordinated and at times could be almost 20 miles apart leaving the way wide open for an enemy force to pass through unseen as the allied warships patrol off guadalcanal mikawa's undetected force presses forward and at 11 12 pm launches four cruiser float planes to report the location of allied warships and to be ready to illuminate the dark waters off savo island these float planes are seen and recognized as cruiser flight planes by the crews aboard the allied warships but allied commanders are not alerted to the sightings at midnight mikawa orders his warships increased speed to 26 knots and for his crews to come to battle stations the force is led by mikawa's own flagship the heavy cruiser chokai followed by the heavy cruisers alba keiko kinagasa and fiurataka then the light cruises tenryu yubari and the destroyer unagi at 12 50 a.m lookouts on chokai cite the picket destroyer blue to the southwest of saavo island with their guns trained on blue mikano reduces the speed of his warships to lower their wakes and pushes north to enter via the northern passage however as he does lookouts on chokai report citing another destroyer in that direction and so mikawa orders his fleet to enter via the south of savo island at 1 34 am chokai sights the destroyer jarvis on her port site leaving the waters off guadalcanal having received damage from an air attack the day before minutes later chokai lookouts report citing three cruisers just six miles away this is the southern group and as makawa's warships turn to starboard at 1 38 am the battle of savo island begins chokai launches four torpedoes at hmas canberra followed shortly by her main guns three japanese heavy cruisers unleash a relentless torrent of lead into canberra which is now being illuminated by flares from the japanese float planes launched earlier canberra is hit with 24 shells in just a few minutes leaving her captain for dead cutting her power and causing her to lift heavily to starboard as japanese shells penetrate her below the waterline despite this canberra manages to avoid all 11 torpedoes launched at her the japanese warships begin to maul the rest of the southern group mikawa's force divides into two with chokai alba keiko and kunigaza heading east and yubari tenrou and furataka heading north unagi has broken off to exchange fire with the jarvis desperately confused to see the australian heavy cruiser coming under fire and maneuvering violently at 1 47 am a torpedo from caicos strikes the chicago on her starboard side another strikes the cruiser towards the stern but does not explode seconds later a shell strikes the chicago's main mast spraying shrapnel over the ship wounding and killing some of her crew in return chicago struggles to bring her main guns to bear against the japanese warships but her secondary five-inch guns hit tenryu killing 23 on the light cruiser as the japanese warships sweep to the north chicago continues west searching vainly to her port side with two searchlights and eventually leaving the battle astonishingly captain boat completely fails to report the action that has just taken place and leaves his two destroyers without orders the patterson trades fire with three of the japanese warships but is ultimately forced to turn away having herself been damaged by japanese shells meanwhile bagley launches torpedoes against furataka and kinagaza but all miss bagley begins to move west south of savo island it has taken mikawa's force just minutes to the southern group yet in spite of the devastating attack not one of the warships from the southern group report what has just taken place now in two columns mikawa's warships continue north trokai's lookouts cite the uss vincennes from the northern group at 1 38 am from the incredible range of nine miles chokai begins the attack on the northern group by launching four torpedoes at vincennes just like the southern group the northern group is taken by surprise when the three american heavy cruisers are smothered by large searchlights on the japanese warships now with their targets clearly illuminated the japanese sailors can see the state of confusion aboard the american warships at this moment they opened fire chokai alba and keiko quickly find the range on the quincy striking her numerous times hitting her bridge and causing the fuel on her float planes to engulf the upper deck with fire quincy's main guns returned fire several times with two eight-inch shells hitting chockeye's chart room killing 36 and almost makawa himself torpedoes are in the water from tenru and alba and in the darkness they strike the heavy cruiser quincy has been hit by japanese gunfire over 50 times and is quickly rendered completely out of action seeing the quincy is under withering fire keiko alters her aim to target vincennes which is now responding against kinuganza keiko quickly begins to range vincennes striking her numerous times of midships and like on quincy vincent's float planes cause intense fires on her upper deck coming under increasingly accurate fire vincenz's captain tries to maneuver his warship away but a torpedo from chokai strikes the heavy cruiser shortly after vincennes is hit by another torpedo from yubari her captain knows her situation is hopeless and the order is given to abandon ship as chocolate switches her fire to astoria astoria's gunnery officer orders her 8-inch main guns to begin firing back at the japanese but as the captain comes to the bridge he orders estoria to hold fire fearing she is firing on friendly vessels very soon it becomes clear that she is not and astoria continues firing back the japanese fire is relentless and soon shells from chokai put two of astoria's three main guns out of action more of the japanese warships switch their fire to astoria and the heavy cruiser is smothered with shells leaving her a flaming wreck one of her final acts would be to strike chokai's leading main battery turret killing and wounding many of the gun crew with all three of the american heavy cruisers either in the process of sinking or being consumed by fires the japanese warships begin to withdraw to the north of sabo island they cite the picket destroyer ralph talbot striking at once yubari then illuminates the destroyer with her searchlight and five more hits are scored salvation comes for the ralph talbert as she is covered by rain at 2 16 am mikawa discusses the situation with his staff whilst this force still has plenty of ammunition left and has taken only very limited damage his warships are now well out of formation as such mikawa's command believe it will take two hours for his warships to reform their formation and attack the transports off guadalcanal and tulagi this would only leave them with another hour of darkness and the break of dawn would surely see them swarmed with incoming american carrier aircraft now that their presence is very much known memory of the fate of the japanese megami class heavy cruisers mikuma and megami sunk and severely damaged respectively at the battle of midway makes mikawa fearful of what american carrier aircraft could do to his force if he does not immediately leave the area moreover mikawa is content that his force has achieved an overwhelming naval victory and he has been assured that the imperial japanese army will easily sweep the americans from guadalcanal thus at 2 20 am mikawa gives the order for his force to withdraw had he chosen to reform his force and attack the 18 american transport off guadalcanal and tulagi he could have transformed his crushing tactical victory into an overwhelming strategic victory and without their supplies and the transports to deliver them it is unlikely the marines on gwadar canal could have held the island and the first american offensive of the pacific war would have failed as mikawa's force leaves the area the american sailors left aboard the three heavy cruisers of the northern group fight to stay alive abandoned ship is ordered on quincy and vincennes and they both sink during the night to the south with fire spreading throughout the ship at 5 15 the order to abandon hmas canberra is given at 8 am she synced after being scuttled by american destroyers astoria sinks the following day with astoria sinking allied losses come to four heavy cruisers sunk one damaged as well as two destroyers damaged 1077 allied sailors are lost in the battle almost as many as the 1207 marines that would die in the guadalcanal campaign overall the japanese only lose 34 sailors at the battle of savo island mikawa achieves an outstanding yet incomplete victory he showed extraordinary aggression in attacking the stronger american and australian naval force off guadalcanal but whilst he did win an overwhelming victory had he destroyed the american transports the result would have been catastrophic for the allies the americans could find some solace in the fact that although they had suffered the worst defeat in the history of the us navy their transports and supplies had largely survived and as time would reveal the battle for gwandal canal was far from over and there would be many more savage battles to come you

Channel: The Operations Room

Views: 687,212

Keywords: battleship, ww2, history, time-lapse, animated, time lapse, warship, second world war, documentary, guadalcanal, us navy, war in the pacific, japanese navy, battle of savo island, uss quincy, uss vincennes, uss astoria

Id: HGsqFxVnC8E

Length: 17min 11sec (1031 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 18 2021