The Wrangell sentinel., 1944-10-27
History of Valiant Last Battle of Cruiser Juneau
 Released for Navy Day

was in the vicinity about this time, added her firepower 10 help repel these dive bombers and torpedoI planes. Eight of the attackers were. downed, and none of the US. ships took a hit Still another attack de- veloped at 12:30 p.m., when sever al bombers dived on the South Da- kota and a light cruiser. Each of these ships suffered one bomb hit, but the damage was minor.
 This last assault concluded the action as far as the Juneau and the rest of the Enterprise group were concerned, but the Hornet was again set upon by enemy planes later in the day. She was so badly damaged that she had to be sunk later by a US. destroyer
 Although the Battle of Santa Cruz was a costly one to the United States. it did secure certain adyan- tages, both immediate and far reaching. for the Allied cause in the South Pacific. The damage in flicted on the Japanese ships in this action and the victory of the Marines on Guadalcanal which denied the enemy possession of Henderson Field, turned back his thrust at the island. Furthermore, the damaging of two enemy carriers sharply curtailed the air cover available to the Japanese in the subsequent Battle of Guadalcanal.
 On November 13, 1942, the JuzI neau, still under the command of Captain Swenson, participated in the decisive Battle of Guadalcanal, during which engagement she was damaged so badly that she was forced to retire. On November 14, during her retirement, the Juneau was hit again and sank in a matter of seconds
 The Juneau had left for the Guadalcanal area on November s, when, in company with four other cOmbatant ships, the Juneau was assigned to duty escorting four transports. This task group joined another group of United St a e s ships enroute to Guadalcanal, and the combined force proceeded to- gether. They reached Guadalcanal early in the morning of November 12, when the Juneau took up sta tion as a unit of the protective screen drawn around the transports and cargo vessels.
 Battle Is Begun
 v Q m Ta anese shore batteries began to shell the US auxiliaries These guns were silenced by several American destroyers which moved in close to shore and laid down counterfire Unloading of the transports a | cargo ships then proceeded unmol- ested until 2:05 p.m., when 20 toI 25 Japanese torpedo planes, accom- panied by five Zeros, attacked the alerted us. group. Those screening ships which were in position to do so, opened fire immediately. Their antiaircraft gunnery was devastat- ing. The Juneau alone accounted for six aircraft, and many other planes were observed to crash inj the sea. The rest broke off the at- tack, but were bounced on by US. fighter planes and only one of the bOmbers escaped. The Japanese managed to damage one American ship when a suicidal pilot crashed on deck, but unloading resumed al- most at once.
 Later in the day, at 6:15 pm, the auXiliaries left Guadalcanal when reports were received that q large enemy surface force was headed for the island. An American attack force of cruisers and destroy CTS which included the Juneau was hastily former and stood out to meet the Japanese.
 At 1:48 a.m., on Friday, Novem- Der 13, the ships in the relatively small US. force became engaged with three or four enemy groups. There were at least Is or 20 Japa- nese ships present, including two battleships. The enemy's guns out numbered and outranged those of the U. S. vessels, but, at the subse- quent action proved, did not out fight them.
 Juneau Hit By Torpedo The action opened at short rang es of from one to two miles. The US. gunnery scored effectively all most immediately, and one Japa- nese cruiser sank in a matter of minutes. The Juneau teamed with another American cruiser and took an enemy light cruiser under fire. After several minutes gunfire the target burst into flames and later sank In the fast and furious action of the succeeding moments, both