Pacific War series

Domobran7

Active member
Dec 7, 2017
172
168
southern Croatia
Pacific War 16 – The Ironbottom Sound

The Battle of the Savo Island had sent to the bottom a large number of ships. Yet it was but a beginning. For months the battles were fought in this area, the two sides being very evenly matched and unable to gain a decisive advantage. This fact made it all the more surprising that the battles always ended in a decisive defeat of one side or another – with the success in one battle being regularly negated by the loss in the next one. Success would remain unexploited, and soon negated by the enemy counterattack. This lasted for a long time, with frequent small clashes and several large battles which sent to the bottom a significant number of warships. Rare were areas where so many ships had been sunk on such a small area, earning it the nicnmame – the Ironbottom Sound.

Despite their defeats at the Coral Sea and Midway, the Japanese still wanted to take Port Moresby and threaten Australia. Victory near Savo Island only reinforced their determination. First step in this plan was to complete the conquest of Guadalcanal with “Operation KA”. For this purpose, Japanese ships sailed from Rabaul on 19 August 1942. Elite forces of 1500 troops embarked on fast transport ships were escorted by the cruiser Zincu and eight destroyers. Close by was a seaplane carrier Chitose with a single destroyer. The escort squadron was especially powerful: large fleet carriers Shokaku and Zuikaku, three battleships and eight cruisers. Finally, a separate squadron consisting of a light aircraft carrier Ryujo and a heavy cruiser had been tasked with drawing the enemy attention, hopefully enabling the Japanese fleet carriers to launch a decisive strike while the US forces were busy attacking Ryujo. Finally, there were nine large submarines deployed in the expected combat area and the fleet was to be supported by land-based aircraft.
 

Bleeding around Guadalcanal continued. Neither side could gather enough strength to push back the other. Attack was followed by counterattack, which was followed up by a counter-counterattack. While individual battles could be one-sided indeed, there was no real result, only mounting losses. Both sides created imaginative new surprises for the enemy, and the fate toyed with both.

For the Japanese, the particular issue was the Henderson Field air base. This American air base was located at Guadalcanal itself, in immediate proximity to the battlefield. From here, US aircraft could constantly attack the Japanese troops, transport ships and warships. As a result, there were many attacks mounted against it. Japanese heavy bombers regularly bombed it from 10 000 meters, but the engineering troops regularly repaired the runways on the same day.

During the night of 14th October 1942., Japanese battleships Kongo and Haruna suddenly appeared off the island. Their 16 14-inch guns bombarded the air field with high explosive projectiles, causing massive destruction. Half the aircraft at the air field were destroyed, and fires consumed nearly the entire fuel supply. Despite all the efforts of the engineering crews, the air field was incapable of operations the next morning, just in time for the Japanese convoy to deliver supplies. And the next night, the hell came again: Japanese heavy cruisers Chokai and Kinugasa, under command of admiral Mikawa, came to deliver the next blow. Over 700 large-calibre projectiles rained on the airfield over the night.
 

Bleeding around Guadalcanal continued. Neither side could gather enough strength to push back the other. Attack was followed by counterattack, which was followed up by a counter-counterattack. While individual battles could be one-sided indeed, there was no real result, only mounting losses. Both sides created imaginative new surprises for the enemy, and the fate toyed with both.

For the Japanese, the particular issue was the Henderson Field air base. This American air base was located at Guadalcanal itself, in immediate proximity to the battlefield. From here, US aircraft could constantly attack the Japanese troops, transport ships and warships. As a result, there were many attacks mounted against it. Japanese heavy bombers regularly bombed it from 10 000 meters, but the engineering troops regularly repaired the runways on the same day.

During the night of 14th October 1942., Japanese battleships Kongo and Haruna suddenly appeared off the island. Their 16 14-inch guns bombarded the air field with high explosive projectiles, causing massive destruction. Half the aircraft at the air field were destroyed, and fires consumed nearly the entire fuel supply. Despite all the efforts of the engineering crews, the air field was incapable of operations the next morning, just in time for the Japanese convoy to deliver supplies. And the next night, the hell came again: Japanese heavy cruisers Chokai and Kinugasa, under command of admiral Mikawa, came to deliver the next blow. Over 700 large-calibre projectiles rained on the airfield over the night.
Picard, kindly make your Rafale vs J-20 and Rafale vs F-35/F-22 analysis in this thread:

 
Changed the adress of the site:
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rajput Lion