Evening star., 1944-04-30

] dScu NY BulllllS, Ildu 10 IeIlIG. Inc
action, which lasted "a minutes and
which was one of the most furious
sea battles ever fought, was ter
minated when the Fletcher tor
pedoed an enemy heavy cruiser
During the last few minutes of the
action the scattered Japanese forces
had been firing at each other.
After the firing ceased the Helena,
San Francisco and Fletcher Joined
up, proceeded out of the bay and lat
er fell in with the Juneau, O'Bannon
and Sterrett At daylight the next
morning the Portland observed a
Japanese battleship circling slowly
northwest of Savo Island. with
cruiser standing by. The Atlanta
was near the beach, but her fires
had been eXtinguished The Cushing
and Monssen were on fire and the
Aaron Ward was dead in the water.
Observing an enemy destroyer south
of Savo Island, the Portland, still
turning in circles, sank it. Our
planes interrupted the japanese bat
tleShlp firing at the Aaron Ward.
CuSHInS, MOnSSen Sink.
The Cushing and Monssen finally
went down, and as the conditions
on board the Atlanta were impos-
sible to control she had to be sunk
on the afternoon of the 18th.
Just before noon on the 18th, the
damaged Juneau was attacked by
an enemy submarine and sank al
most Immediately with heavy per-
sonnel losses.
On the morning of November 13
the Enterprise launched a flight of
torpedo planes which found the
Japanese battleship and fired three
torpedoes into it. Other attacks on
the battleship were made by Army
planes and other land-based aircraft
from Guadalcanal and Espiritu San
to, and sometime during the even
ing the battleship sank.
On the morning of the 14th a
strong enemy force of cruisers and
destroyers shelled Henderson Field.
A few planes were destroyed, but the
held was not damaged, and the
bombardment was broken off when
the force was attacked by our PIT
boats. Subsequently, planes from
Henderson Field Gncluding Enter
prise planes there) attacked and hit
two heavy cruisers, one of which
was later subjected to a second at
tack by Enterprise planes. Other
planes hit light cruiser and still
another attack group from the En-
terprise scored hits on a second light
cruiser.
Enemy Force Cited.
AS anticipated, an enemy trans
port force, preceded by a heavy ad-
vance guard of battleships, cruisers
and destroyers, was discovered north
OF Guadalcanal. This obviously was
the main invasion force and was es-
corted by fighter planes. Through
out the 14th this transport group
was subjected to heavy air attack by
our forces, which resulted in the
destruction of six transports, the
probably destruction of two more
and the damaging of four. The four
damaged vessels continued to Quad
alcanal and beached themselves on
Cape Esperance that evening. Our
losses in these attacks were slight.
Rear Admiral w. A. Lee. ir.. with
the Washington, South Dakota and
enterprise had been unable to reach
the scene of the action before early
evening on the 14th. Upon arrival
he was ordered to conduct a search
ms objective being to intercept and
destroy enemy bombardment forces
ana the transport force itself,
Shortly after midnight a Japanese
1orce was reported north of Savo
Island, headed west. Contact was
MADE by the Washington which i'm
meolately opened fire on the leading
target. The South Dakota also
opened fire, selecting the third ship
as her target. Both targets dis
appeared and were presumed sunk
simultaneously, four of our destroy-
erS, which were leading the battle
SnlpS, attacked an enemy group of
SIX 10 10 ships, which also were
TAKEN under fire by the secondary
batteries of our battleships. DURING
THIS part of the action, the Preston
was sunk by gunf1re, the Benham
was damaged by torpedo and the
Wake was hit by both torpedoes
ana guntlre. The Wake was aban-
doned and sank in a few minutes
Inc remaining destroyer, the Gwin.
was damaged and forced to retire
AT tins stage of the action all of
/ our deStroyerS had been eliminated
but neither the Washington nor the
/ South Dakota had been hit. The
/ washington soon located new tar
gets, one Of which was a battleshin.
and Immediately opened fire. The
South Dakota fired on an enemy
ship which had turned on her
SearchlightS. The enemy in return
ing the fire concentrated on the
/ South Dakota. The result of this
exchange was that the South Da-
kota shot out all lights and ap-
parently sank one of the illuminat-
ing vessels, but was herself hit. suf-
ferlng considerable damage to her
upper works. The Washington con-
tlnued to fire at the battleship and
after setting her on fire and after
lnflicting damage on other ships,
forced the enemy to retire. The
enemy battleship is believed to have
been sunk in this action.
/ The action having been broken
of and the South Dakota and
Washington having become sepa-
rated, both ships retired and Joined
up the next morning. At daylight
on November Is the four japanese
vessels which had beached them
selves on Guadalcanal were bombed
, by aircraft from Henderson Field
and shelled by marine artillery. The
: destroyer Meade, which now exer-
cised complete control in the area
all by herself then completed the
=, destruction Of the beached ships
, by leisurely bomJardment. The
three-day fight ended with an all
, engagement between Enterprise
! fighters from Henderson Field and
= flight of about II ZeroS.