Second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal: Turning Point in the Pacific War

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At 11:36, a three-minute eternity, South Dakota restored partial power and opened fire on Nagara. The first salvo set three planes on the Japanese cruiser’s quarterdeck on fire. The next salvo snuffed out the blaze and sent the planes into the sea.

Washington opened up on the enemy searchlights. But there were dozens of blips on the radar screen, most of them Savo Island, making tracking difficult.

At 11:42, South Dakota–still having problems–fired a salvo from her No. 3 turret that set fire to one of her Kingfisher seaplanes. Once again the battleship was illuminated. Damage control crews, including a 12-year-old sailor named Calvin Graham–he had falsified his age to join the Navy–quelled the blaze.

Meanwhile, Kondo’s battleship and two cruisers were still marking time north of Savo. Kondo, fearing a repetition of the Friday 13th chaos, held his ships back. His convoy was coming behind them. All Japan needed to win the war was one good shove.

Lee, meanwhile, made his moves. He put Washington on course 282 at 11:35, then detached the battered Gwin and Benham to retire; the wounded destroyers were a hindrance.

Now Kondo moved. Takao sighted Washington, and Atago’s lookout said the enemy vessel ‘looked like a battleship.’ Kondo disagreed, but now he figured it was time to shell the airfield. At 11:54 he set course 130, right for Guadalcanal and Washington.

Washington’s SG radar had picked up Kondo’s force and was tracking it as it came in. South Dakota was not doing so well. Her radar had gone out again. When it came back on, it picked up Kondo forward of her starboard beam just three miles away. Kondo saw South Dakota, too, at 11:58, but even now he still did not believe it was a battleship.

At 11:40, Washington located Kondo’s two lead destroyers, two cruisers and Kirishima. The firing solution was sent to the guns, but just as the firing circuits were to be closed, Walsh yelled, ‘Check fire!’

Walsh was afraid radar had picked out South Dakota instead of Kirishima. The problem was the location of the SG radar. The 80-degree blind arc left a gap precisely where South Dakota was. Washington’s gunners had to wait.

Down in the engine room, Johnny Brown broke out a jug that normally stored anti-corrosive gas compounds. Tonight it held illegal raisin jack. Everyone had a swig.

Lee’s ships were now 11 miles west of Savo. Kondo launched torpedoes at South Dakota, but none hit. At precisely midnight, the beginning of November 15, Atago’s main searchlight picked out South Dakota. Kondo and his staff trained binoculars and studied the battleship’s distinctive pyramid foremast.

Kondo finally believed he was facing America’s newest battleships. All Japanese ships aimed at South Dakota, and soon a variety of shells of many calibers were flying at her. So were a large number of torpedoes, but once again the Americans were lucky and the torpedoes all missed. South Dakota’s Type B armor plate defeated a 14-inch shell, but 26 hits landed on her superstructure. Many rounds failed to explode. Other incoming shells were Type 3 ammunition, which could not penetrate South Dakota’s armor. But damage was done, nonetheless. The shells cut up South Dakota’s radar and communications cables, shattering radar plot and disabling gun directors. Four of six fire-control radars were destroyed.

More shells hit South Dakota. A 14-incher hit outboard of the No. 3 turret’s roller, jamming her in train and ripping open a fuel line. South Dakota was in little danger of sinking, but she was virtually useless. Worse, her captain had lost touch with Washington. Lee wrote later that the effect of the shelling was to ‘render one of our new battleships deaf, dumb, blind and impotent.’

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Tags: 20th - 21st Century, Historical Conflicts, Naval Battles, World War II

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