The Wrangell sentinel., 1944-10-27


 October 27, battle records of Varl- ous naval units have been released by the Navy department for pupil cation. Following is all interesting account of the U.S.S. Juneau, light cruiser. which, during the battle of Guadalcanal played a commen- dable part in the operations.
 The 6,OOO-ton light cruiser Ju- neau. second of the new Atlanta class was commissioned on March 22. i942. Captain Lyman K. Sven son, U.S.N., of 333 East Fourth street, Provo, Utah, assuming com mand. Captain Swenson lost his life on November 13, 1942, when the Juneau was sunk during the Battle of Guadalcanal, less than eight months after her commission ing. Captain Swenson's widow, Mrs Laurette Bruner Swenson now lives at 82 East 61st street, New York City.
 In June and July, 1922, the Ju- mean operated in the Atlantic, and then proceeded to the Pacific.
 In her new theatre of war the Juneau was attached to a task force commanded by Rear Admiral Leigh Moves, U.S.N., of Washington, DC, which included the carrier Wasp. Within a week after joining this force. while steaming in supporting distance of a transport group bound 4-l messed the loss of the Wasp. The Juneau was keeping station within a few hundred yards of the carrier. when she was hit by the enemy.
 The Juneau's first major action was the Battle of Santa Cruz is lands, October 26, 1942.
 Hornet Escort
 The Juneau was part of the es- cort of the Hornet, when the Hornets task force joined the En- terprise group on October 24, northeast of the New Hebrides is lands. The combined force moved to a point north of the Santa Cruz islands in order to be in a position to intercept enemy forces h t might attempt to close Guadalcanal.
 Meanwhile, on Guadalcanal, the enemy had pressed home an all-out land offensive against Marine posi- lions. During the night of October 25, Japanese troops achieved mporary break-through along Lunga Ridge. That short-liVed sue cess was evidently the signal for the enemy surface forces to ap- proach the island, for Japanese Ves- sels including four carriers and four battleships, began converging on Guadalcanal.
 Sixteen US. carrier planes con- ducted a search at am, on De- tober 26, and they discovered at least two groups of enemy ships. One of these forces was attacked immediately. A Japanese carrier was damaged, and cruiser was possibly hit. Several Japanese planes were shot down by US. air craft in various encounters. Both US. carriers launched successive waves of attack groups beginning at 8:3O am. American planes scored at least four bomb hits on a carrier; a battleship took two or three bombs, and three cruisers and a destroyer were also damaged.
 The battle was far from being one-sided, however, for while US. aircraft were locating and attack ing the enemy, American ships were also under attack. A few minutes after 10 am, approximately 27 Japanese planes battled their way through the American fighters pro tecting the Hornet and carried out A coordinated dive bombing and torpedo plane assault on the car rier. The Juneau and the other ships in the screen immediately threw up a heavy barrage of anti aircraft fire which brought down about 20 of the attackers. Despite this effective protection, the Hornet was badly damaged by several bomb and torpedo hits. She com menced to burn fiercely and smoke welled from her in clouds. A cruiser took the damaged carrier in tow at 11:O5 am, about four minutes before a dive bomber in effectively dropped several bombs aimed at the Hornet.
 Just before noon, the Juneau left the Hornets escort and pro- ceeded to the Enterprise group a few miles distant. The Enterprise had undergone an attack by "A planes at about II am, and all though several of the attackers had been shot down, she had been dam aged. One US. destroyer was badly damaged by a torpedo during this assault and was abandoned later. At approximately 11:35 am, a heavy torpedo plane attack was made on this force also. None of the fish" struck home, and the taol foroo'c antiairpra fire ac-