Evening star., 1944-03-16


operations and the hard gruellinE
struggle that must precede victory
The latest example of over-state.
ment which has in it an unfor-
tunate tendency to disparage othel
weapons of war comes this week il
a news dispatch written by ar
American correspondent Aboard &
United States aircraft carrier in the
Pacific" He writes:
Carriers have decided almost
every critical Pacific naval battle
of this war-Coral Sea, Midway
Eastern Solomons and Santa Cruz
In these engagements fighting sur.
face ships did not sight the enemy
Most of them were 100 miles away
Misleading Impression.
The foregoing was doubtless not
intended to belittle the accomplish
ments of other naval forces, but
millions of readers will get from
that dispatch a misleading impress
sion. For it should not be forgotten
that the battles referred to were
defensive battles for us-they were
critical" only because Japan was
on the offensive.
The most important battle fought
by the United States Navy, in fact
our first offensive" naval battle
Of this war and one that may 60
down in American history as really
the turning point in the Pacific,
was for the most part in hours
when airplanes are useless at sea
at night-in the vicinity of Qua
dalcanal in the Solomons from No.
vember 13 to Is, 1912. In that first
engagement Admiral Halsey's crui-
sers and destroyers steamed right
into row of japanese warships,
including battleship. In that bat
tie Admiral Callaghan on the crui-
ser San Francisco lost his life. In
that battle a numerically inferior
American group of cruisers and de-
stroyers engaged a heavy Japanese
fleet. On the second night Amer
ican battleship reinforcements came
to the rescue. The fighting was at
close range.
Was it critical battle? The
stakes were 10000 American ma
rines standing helpless on Guadal-
canal. Had that battle been lost,
our marines would have been BUTCH
cred by an overwhelming Japanese
force, and Henderson Field, the first
air base we acquired when we turned
the war in the Pacific from the de-
fensive to the offensive, was saved
for what has since become the con-
quest of the whole Solomons archi-
pelago
Battle of November 2.
Another critical night battle of
naval vessels was fought on No
vember 2, 1943, off Empress Augusta
Bay to protect the landing of our
ground troops on Bougainville in
the Northern Solomons. The Japa-
nese Navy thought the area impor-
tant enough to send down a fleet
of IL japanese warships, which was
beaten off after three hours of
slugging by our cruisers and de-
stroyers. That meant the acquisi-
ton for us of a big air1eld on
Bougainville Island and new bases
for the land-based planes which
have done so much damage since
to Rabaul.
Also it may be asked, what Of
the destroyers which have helped
to win for Gen. MacArthur's planes
more and more land bases in New
Britain and fought so many undra-
matte battles in and around New
Guinea, New Britain and New Ire
land, venturing boldly into harbors
and inlets and bombarding the en-
envy shipping there? What of the
constant naval bombardment of our
cruisers before landings are made
and what of the work Of the sub
marines which have cut enemy
lines? All this could be called the
battle of New Guinea and the Solo
mons. A battle is no less critical
or decisive because it takes months
instead of days to win. This battle
from Guadalcanal to Rabaul has
extended over period of 18 months
Without the victory won there and
the subsequent naval blockade, our
aircraft carriers would have met
land-based enemy planes from the
Rabaul and Bougainville areas and
would not have dared to venture
Into the Carolines, where enemy