Evening star., 1942-11-13

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the end of February when hand
full Of United States ships steamed
into the jaws of an overwhelming
japanese invasion force. The third
time was at Savo Island the night
Of August 8 when Japanese cruisers
and destroyers slipped in by night
and surprised American and Austria
lian cruisers and destroyers that
escorted the original marine forces
to Guadalcanal and Tulagi Islands. \
The first battle Of Savo Island
was singing defeat that cost us
four cruisers-the Australian Can
berra and the United States
Astoria, Vincennes and Quincy. The
second battle Of Savo Island evened
the score at almost the same spot
and in much the same manner-a
lightning stroke in the dark that
caught the enemy entirely of guard.
cat the. time of the first bat
tie I was on Guadalcanal where
excited watchers on the beach
could tell only one thing from
the gunfire and the magazine ex-
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side was faring much better than
the other)
Ever since late in August little
more than q fortnight after the
marines moved into the Solomons,
Jap cruisers and destroyers and at
least one submarine (they called it
Oscar have been slipping down to
Guadalcanal every few nights with
boldness that amounted to sheer
impudence. They would land troops
and supplies in driblets few miles
up the coast from the marines and
then move along and toss shells at
marine camps in a grand nose
thumbing gesture before retiring in
the dark. Marine sshore batteries
were inadequate to stop them and
night flying from the imperfect
Henderson Field had proved too
costly.
Catapulted Plane Expiodes.
The marines soon named this pro-
cession Of ships the Toxic Express"
and spoke of the cruisers as Pull
mans and the destroyers as day
coaches.
The way to stop it was with ships
and the admiral proposed to do 1t IN
an action something like surprising
the over confident chicken thief
with a sawed-off shotgun just as he
reaches for the roost.
AS darkness came on the appoint
ed night, the American force was
moving at speed calculated to
place it in the vicinity of Savo
Island and Cape Esperance north
west Of Guadalcanal shortly before
midnight. That area was the fav-
ored terminus of the Toxic ex-
press"
The night was extremely dark.
The sea was smooth with q south
east wind Of 10 knots. The exposed
officers and men wore lifejackets
and steel helmets. Peering into the
darkness they were tense and alert
because of the value of surprise and
the vital factor of getting in the
first shot had been drilled into them
hard.
It looked like a bad sign when one
Of the cruisers catapulted plane
and the plane Immediately exploded
on the water. (But luck was with
the pilot and his radioman, as it
later turned out. Suffering slight
burns, they got the rubber boat from
the flaming plane and padded all
the way around Savo Island and
turned up safely at Guadalcanal
three days laterD
In battle formation, the warships
plowed ahead-cruisers and destroy
ers all in their assigned stations.
Nothing turned UP on the first run
across the hot passage, and about
6 miles west of Savo Island the
ships doubled back to continue the
search.
Japs Thrown Into Confusion.
Then 1t came-at 10:46. A COL
umn Of japanese cruisers and de-
stroyers bearing southeast straight
for Cape Esperance. Some destroy
ers between the opposing cruisers.
Range about 1000 yards.
Our ships put their searchlights
on the enemy and instantly let 90
with the first shot. That first salvo
and the incessant murderous fire
that followed threw the Japs into
confusion. It was 10 minutes before
they returned the fire.
Ninety seconds after the opening
round Of gunfire, three Japanese de-
stroyers were burning and the
searchlights were no longer neces-
sary. BY the time the Japs had
collected their wits enough to start
shooting, they were turning away
to the west, trying to break of the
action. They were cut and torn
by the continuous stream Of shatter-
ing fire from our large and medium
caliber guns at short ranges. Most
OF the Japanese fire, once 1t did
start, was wild. There were many
splashes around our ships but few
hits.
Torpedoes from both sides were
streaking through the water but no
Jap torpedo found its mark. Our
torpedoes did.
p One Jap cruiser was well ahead
Of the other three. For convenience
in picturing the engagement they
might be called A, B, c and d, from
the front to the rear.
Fight 80 Minutes Long.
At 1852, D, which had wheeled
sharply back to the north, rolled
over and sank. B, which had swung
sharply to the right in attempting
to withdraw, blew up and probably
sank.