Savo Island
VAdm Mikawa’s scratch force of seven cruisers and one old destroyer was in a column steaming due south, some 30,000 yards north of Savo Island at 2357 hours. His column was comprised of Chokai FF, 6th Cruiser Squadron (RAdm Goto), Aoba, Kinugasa, Furutaka and Kako, the 18th Cruiser Squadron (RAdm Matsuyama) Tenryu F with Yubari attached and the destroyer Yunagi. Their speed was 20 knots to take Furutaka’s engine problems into account.
The wind was a Force 2 southerly so smoke would last a few minutes at least. The sky was clear with fog to the SW and reducing visibility (4,000 yards) in that direction. There might be squalls in the sound but none so far. The moon was new and it was a dark if not so stormy night.
Mikawa knew from aerial reconnaissance that were anchorages at Laguna Point and Tulagi. Those were his targets. Mikawa intended to avoid combat until he reached Laguna Point where he intended to engage the ships anchored there and then strike for Tulagi. Mikawa expected to suffer air attack in the morning if he still anywhere near Savo Island. He gave himself 3 hours to accomplish his goals and be exiting the sound heading home to Rabaul.
To accomplish this Mikawa intended to hug Guadalcanal all the way to Laguna Point hoping the land shadow of the Island would help to conceal him in the dark. Mikawa turned 45 degrees towards Cape Esperance.
Mikawa reached Cape Esperance at 0021 hours without seeing anyone (He rolled a 12) or there being any apparent reaction by the Allies (Blue turned back along patrol route and the 9 she rolled was not enough to pick the IJN up on radar) and turned south within 3,000 yards of the shore.
Mikawa reached Laguna Point at 0057 hours without seeing any Allies enroute. The Southern Force had picked him up on radar but had not been able to acquire. Bode reported the contact to Crutchley who dismissed it (he rolled a 10) and Australia also failed to detect Mikawa as he passed without seeing them either.
The destroyers patrolling Laguna Point failed to pick up on Mikawa (they rolled a 12) and Mikawa could only see 2,000 yards (he rolled a 10) so he had his FP drop flares off Laguna Point. The flares illuminated the anchorage and Mikawa saw 13 ships at anchor about 1,500 yards from shore and arrayed in 3 columns. Mikawa turned 45 degrees to port on a heading of 135 and at 0106 hours launched every torpedo he had in the starboard arc at the anchored ships.
Chokai got a hit on a ship (McCawley) and sunk her. Aoba got a hit on a ship (American Legion) and set her on fire. Kinugasa missed. Furutaka got 2 hits on a ship (Barnett) and sank her. Kako missed. Tenryu got 3 hits on a ship (Hunter Leggett), set her on fire and she quickly sank. Yubari missed. Yunagi got 2 hits on a ship (President Adams) and sank her. Mikawa reversed course to bring his port tubes to bear. But this was pressing his luck and Australia at anchor acquired his ships (She rolled a 2). Australia began to get under way but could not stop Mikawa from getting torps off from Chokai. Chokai got a hit on a ship (Crescent City) and sank her. Australia did fire star shell and illuminated Chokai and Aoba.
At 0112 hours the 6th Cruiser Squadron got off its port torpedoes. Aoba, Kinugasa and Kako all missed. Furutaka hit a ship (President Hayes) and sank her. Mikawa turned to port to start towards Tulagi. Night sky erupted as Australia engaged Chokai and the USN destroyers Selfridge, Henley and Mugford engaged Aoba (they had rolled another 12 and could only see illuminated ships). Chokai had got around and engaged Amercian Legion. While the 6th Cruiser Squadron engaged Australia. The light cruisers and Yunagi took on the American cans.enley and Mugford
Chokai sank American Legion. The 6th Cruiser Squadron laid 7 hits on Australia, setting her on fire, knocking out her port secondaries and fore turret, damaging her hull and a bulkhead. Tenryu engaged Selfridge twice, knocking out her fore mount and damaging her hull. Yubari engaged Henley, hitting her twice, knocking out her fore mount and damaging a bulkhead. Yunagi engaged Mugford and missed. Australia hit Chokai once, damaging her hull. Selfridge, Henley and Mugford firing rapidly hit Aoba thrice, setting her on fire and bouncing off her belt twice but causing minor damage to her hull.
Aoba put her fire out and Henley repaired a bulkhead. But Australia’s repairs failed and she took more damage. Crutchley by now was ordering all three cruiser forces and the picket destroyers to close on Laguna Point. Mikawa continued to turn until he was heading due east on a heading of 90 degrees. The Americans also turned east and accelerated to 25 knots.
The heavies engaged Australia while light cruisers and Yunagi engaged the cans as before. Chokai hit Australia once but the 6th Cruiser Squadron due to multiple batteries and the turn whiffed altogether. Only Yubari hit, but she hit Henley thrice, knocking out her fore port side TT, damaging her hull and knocking out her aft gun mount.
Australia missed Chokai. Selfridge, Henley and Mugford engaged Tenryu, Yubari and Yunagi in that order. Selfridge hit Tenryu once to no effect. Henley and Mugford hit Yubari and Yunagi once each. Yubari had a bulkhead damaged and Yunagi lost her fore mount.
Henley withdrew southward under smoke (she rolled a 12 for moral). But Selfridge and Mugford continued (Selfridge rolled a 5).
It was now 0124 hours and Australia repaired her bulkhead. Selfridge and Mugford fired every TT that would bear at Chokai. Mikawa was heading due east under smoke trying to break contact so he could begin reloading his torpedoes. Chokai failed to evade and Selfridge hit her with a torpedo. There was another loud thud and the Mark VI imploder struck again. Chokai suffered hull damage that restricted her 22 knots and lost her fore mount to flooding a magazine. The heavies engaged Selfridge (Australia was blanked by smoke) and the rest engaged Mugford. Selfridge suffered 2 hits that damaged her hull slowing her to 23 knots. Mugford lost her fore mount.
Mikawa continued east at 20 knots. At 0130 hours Chokai was illuminated by star shell from dead ahead. Scott had acquired Mikawa at 16,000 yards on radar and turned to cross his Tee. But Mikawa also acquired San Juan and Hobart (he had rolled a 2). Mikawa now turned 45 degrees to starboard to a heading of 135 degrees to open up his broadsides. The range was just inside 12,000 yards.
Mean while Crutchley had come to the conclusion that Mikawa was gone and that Australia at 21 knots was not going to catch him, tried to decide what to do. He would keep this up until 0142 hours (when he finally rolled a 5 or less) when he remembered the Anchorage at Tulagi and ordered the cruiser forces and picket destroyers there.
Now back to Scott’s action. San Juan engaged Aoba while Hobart picked on Kinugasa whose movement following Chokai illuminated and they both missed. Chokai hit San Juan twice, knocking her DIW (double engine hits are rough). Aoba missed Hobart. Kinugasa, Furutaka and Kako engaged Selridge, hitting her 6 times, knocking out her fore TT, her remaining fore mount, damaging her hull as well as a bulkhead, damaging her engines and an aft gun mount. Tenryu, Yubari and Yunagi engaged Mugford, hitting her 4 times, knocking out her last gun mount, damaging her hull and hitting her bridge. Selfridge engaged Kinugasa, hitting her thrice, knocking out her fore turret, fore starboard secondary and damaging a bulkhead. Mugford engaged Tenryu and missed. Mugford made morale.
0133 hours, San Juan repaired an engine and was now reduced to 22 knots. Furutaka failed to repair her bulkhead.
Mikawa continued to engage Scott and the Cans as he was kind of sandwiched between them. The range had closed inside 8,000 yards. Scott’s cans, Monssen and Buchanan now joined the fight.
Chokai fired at San Juan and hit her twice, damaging a bulkhead and knocking her DIW. Aoba fired at Hobart, hitting her thrice, knocking out her fore turret and twice in her engines for another DIW result. (apparently, mobile Allies are an affront to the IJN) Kinugasa, Furutaka and Kako continued to engage Selfridge, missing her for a change. Tenryu, Yubari and Yunagi continued to gang up on Mugford, hitting her once, damaging her hull.
San Juan rapid fired at Chokai, hitting her twice, bouncing off a turret and causing minor hull damage. Hobart also firing rapidly at Aoba, hitting her once, damaging her engines. Monssen fired at Kinugasa rapidly and missed. Buchanan fired rapidly at Furutaka and missed. Selfridge fired rapidly at Kako and missed.
0136 hours, Furutaka repaired her bulkhead. San Juan failed to repair an engine going DIW for real. Hobart repaired her engine. But Aoba failed to repair her engine hit.
The range continued to close as Mikawa didn’t want to turn completely away from Tulagi. Hobart, Monssen and Buchanan now fired every TT that would bear. Selfridge and Mugford had had enough and turned away south under smoke. Hobart and the cans smoked as they passed San Juan to cover her.
Hobart engaged Chokai, hitting her 6 times, knocking out her fore port TT and setting her afire, knocking out her fore port secondary, damaging her engine, knocking out the rest of fore turrets and knocking out her FC. Monssen and Buchanan engaged Aoba and Kinugasa, hitting Aoba once and bouncing off her belt. The heavies all engaged Hobart, hitting her 8 times, damaging her FP and setting her afire, knocking out her starboard TT, fore starboard secondary, her last fore turret and 1 aft, hitting her twice in the hull and hitting her engine again. Tenryu engaged Monssen while Yubari and Yunagi ganged up on Buchanan. Tenryu hit Monssen once, damaging a bulkhead. Yubari and Yunagi missed.
0139 hours, San Juan got one engine going again but both Hobart and Monssen failed to repair. Scott ordered his cans to smoke Hobart and disengage if possible. Chokai repaired her engine. Mikawa continued SE under smoke and began his torpedo reload.
0157 hours, Mikawa having reloaded his torps turned NE towards Tulagi. He still intended to hit the anchorage if he could.
0221 hours, Mikawa approached Tulagi. Hobart had repaired an engine and Scott’s group having reassembled were also approaching Tulagi at 22 knots. Mikawa had his FP drop flares on the anchorage. The flares illuminated the anchorage showing 4 APs and 4 APDs anchored there in two lines about 1,500 yards off shore.
0224 hours, Mikawa turned 45 degrees to port to open his TT arcs and fired off every tube that would bear. Chokai hit a ship (Neville) twice and sank her. Aoba hit a ship (Zeilin) once and damaged her badly. Kinugasa hit a ship (Heywood) twice and sank her. Furutaka missed. Kako hit a ship (Colhun) and sank her. Yubari missed.
The heavies fired at President Adams and hit her 10 times, setting her afire and then sinking her. Tenryu, Yubari and Yunagi engaged Little, McKean & Gregory. Tenryu missed. Yubari hit McKean twice, knocking her DIW. Yunagi hit Little once, damaging a bulkhead.
But the night sky erupted as star shell illuminated Mikawa’s entire line from an arc that ran from his port side, across his front to his starboard side.
0227 hours, Mikawa could see 11 destroyers in the earlier described arc around him. Mikawa would try to sink what was left in the anchorage and then bull his way north towards home.
But gun fire that greeted him was not five inch for the most part but appeared to be mostly 8”. Chokai was hit 4 times, knocking out his starboard secondary and both remaining turrets as well damaging his hull. Furutaka was hit 4 times, knocking out her FP and setting 2 fires, she lost her fore turret and had a bulkhead damaged. Kako took a hit to her hull. Tenryu took 2 hits, setting her afire and knocking out her FP. Yubari took a hit to her fore gun mount. Yunagi took 3 hits, damaging her DC, setting her afire, she lost her fore gun and took the final hit to her bridge. Chokai’s return fire hit Monssen (to port) 4 times, knocking out 2 guns, damaging a bulkhead and then yet another gun due to magazine flooding. Aoba missed but Kinugasa hit Buchanan 4 times, damaging her DC, setting her afire, damaging bulkhead and her hull twice. Furutaka missed but Kako firing to starboard hitting Dale twice in the hull. Tenryu also firing to starboard hit Dewey once in the engines. Yubari firing to starboard hit Farragut once in the bridge and Yunagi missed.
The arc of US cans continued to illuminate Mikawa’s ships. Mikawa pressed on (he rolled a 2).
The Japanese failed to repair anything. Monssen repaired a bulkhead but Buchanan failed to repair. Mikawa wanted to turn away but there was no time get cute. Mikawa fired off all his port TT at Scott’s cruisers and continued north. Chokai now took 2 torpedo hits from her starboard sinking her. Aoba took a torpedo from starboard setting her afire with 2 hull hits. Kinugasa took 2 torpedoes from port setting her afire, damaging an engine and damaging her hull 4 times. RAdm Goto could now see that there an arc of cruisers from north to west inside 8,000 yards behind the destroyers, He counted 8. He ordered flank speed, Furutaka’s engines be dammed and tried to break through due north as that was his only chance to out of the sound by 0300 hours.
But the range had closed due to his dash north and a cruiser (Vincennes) hit Aoba 8 times, setting her afire, knocking out her fore turrets, hitting her hull thrice, damaging a bulkhead and hitting her bridge taking out the admiral. The next cruiser (Astoria) fired at Kinugasa and missed. The Quincy fired at Furutaka and hit her 9 times, taking out all her guns, hitting her engines thrice and damaging a bulkhead. Now it was Chicago’s turn at Kako and she hit her once and knocked out a turret. Then Canberra fired at Tenryu and missed. Then Australia at Yubari and hit her 4 times, knocking out her FP, setting her afire and hitting her in the hull thrice. Then Hobart and San Juan engaged Yunagi firing rapidly hitting her 8 times, damaging her DC and setting her afire, knocking out her TT, all her guns, damaging her hull and a hit to her engines.
Still the American cans continued to illuminate the Japanese with star shell. With Mikawa gone the Japanese morale was reduced to regular. But Goto was gone also and it fell to Matsuyama and decided to break off (he rolled a 10).
0230 hours, only Aoba and Furutaka managed to repair bulkheads as did Monssen. Matsuyama continued to attempt to break out due north. San Juan took 2 torpedoes and sank. Hobart took one that caused 3 hull hits and knocked her DIW again. But Aoba and Kinugasa each took 2 torps apiece. Aoba sank as did Kinugasa.
Vincennes and Astoria engaged Furtaka hitting her 4 times, knocking out her TT and setting her afire, taking out the last of her guns and hitting twice in the hull sinking her. Quincy and Chicago engaged Kako hitting her 19 times, knocking out her TT and setting her afire twice, knocking out all her guns, damaging her hull 8 times as well as a bulkhead, knocking her DIW and sinking her. Canberra and Australia engaged Tenryu and hit her 5 times, knocking out her FP, setting her afire, taking out the last of her guns, damaging a bulkhead and her hull. Hobart engaged Yubari firing rapidly and hitting her 4 times taking out her guns and damaging her hull.
I called it at this point as it was clear nothing had a chance escape.
The Japanese had sunk San Juan and crippled Selfridge, Henley and Mugford while losing their entire force but it really came down to the transports and Aks sunk. The Japanese had sunk 12 AP, AK or APD out right. This gave them +2 modifier and they rolled a 12. Henderson Field fell the IJN won the campaign as they now controlled the air over Iron Bottom Sound.
So, the Japanese gave all but took the prize, Henderson Field. IMHO it worth it. This collection of ships will never get a better chance to turn the tide in the Solomons than they had at the start. The Japanese cannot win the war of attrition in the Solomons if the Allies retain control of Henderson Field.
WMC
