Evening star., 1944-04-30

more supplies and reinforcement
were vitally needed. Under thest
circumstances Vice Admiral (nov
AdmiraD William F. Halsey, jr., whc
on October 18 had replaced Vice
Admiral Ghormley as commander
South Pacific Force, realized thai
we would have to cover our supply
lines and at the same time counter
the expected enemy offensive, other.
wise our position in the South Pa.
cific would be seriously jeopardized
Following this general plan, Real
Admiral (now Vice AdmiraD R. K
Turner was placed in charge of the
supply operation and Rear AdmiralS
D. J. Callaghan and Norman Scott
assigned to command the covering
forces. In addition. Rear Admira.
Turner was to be supported by q
task force commanded by Rear Ad-
miral Kinkaid, built around the
damaged Enterprise and the battle
ships Washington and South Da-
kota.
Vessels Reach Guadalcanal.
On the morning of November II
three of our cargo vessels escorted
by Rear Admiral SCOTS task force
reached Guadalcanal and began un-
loading off Lunga Point. Loading
operations were interrupted by an
air attack about four hours later
which damaged the transport zeilin
enon~I oi, nf+only hNIrJc
after that.
On the morning of the 18th the
second contingent of ships with sup
plies and reinforcements, under Rear
Admirals Turner and Callaghan, ar
rived and joined forces with Rear
Admiral Scott. The enemy deliv-
cred an air attack. One damaged
enemy plane, however, dived onto
the San Francisco, starting num-
Der of minor fires and killing 80 men.
Meanwhile our scouts had located
strong enemy forces bearing down
on Guadalcanal from the northwest,
disposed in three groups. To meet
that force Rear Admiral Turner as
signed two heavy cruisers, one light
cruiser, two antiaircraft light cruis-
ers and eight destroyers to Rear
Admiral Callaghan and withdrew
with the transports and cargo YES
sells, escorted by three destroyers.
The plan was for Rear Admiral
Callaghan to fight delaying ac-
ton, so that the battleship- carrier
fNr1r Y,yaln,- pnor a Ir11irn1 Kir1lya air RI
would have time to intercept the
japanese landing forces believed to
be en- route.
Forces Nearly CoIlided.
After Rear Admiral Callaghan's
force had escorted the transport
group clear of the area, it re-entered
the sound shortly after midnight
through Lengo Channel for the pur-
pose of searching the vicinity Of
Savo' island Near Lunga Point
three groups of enemy ships were
picked up to the northwestward and
shortly afterward fourth group to
the northward. rc 4e
Our own force was a single COL
umn, with four destroyers in the
van, five cruisers in the center and
four destroyers in the rear. In that
situation-which was by no means
as clear then as it is now, it being
a very dark night with no moon
accurate identification of enemy
ships was almost impossible, and in
the darkness the forces nearly COL
lided with each other before a gun
was fired
The action began when the Japa-
nese Illuminated our ships with
searchlights and both sides opened
fire at close range. Immediate re-
suits Of the exchanges of gunfire
were favorable to U.s. An enemy
ship in the right-hand group blew
up within a minute under the fire
from the San Francisco and other
ships, and on the other side, two
enemy cruisers burst into flames
simultaneously the Atlanta, after
suffering some hits herself, took a
light cruiser under fire. At this
point the Atlanta was struck by a
torpedo and with all power lost, her
rudder jammed. While she was cir
cling an enemy heavy cruiser bat
tered her heavily, starting intense
fires and killing Rear Admiral Scott
and many other personnel on board
Laffey Blown Up.
A few minutes later the Sar
Francisco found herself engaged
with an enemy battleship in the
enemy center group. In addition tc
the fire of the San Francisco, the
battleship was attacked by the
Laffey, and the Cushing, although
badly damaged, scored torpedo hit:
on her. The Laffey, during this part
of the action. was hit by a torpedo
and later blew up. The Cushing was
put out of action by gunfre.
The Barton was also torpedoec
and sank almost Immediately, bu
the O'Bannon closed with the bat.
tleship and made more torpedo hits
BY this time, the Portland hac
wrecked a destroyer, but had beer
torpedoed herself, and the Juneau
having lost all fire control, retirec
from the action.
The San Francisco. assisted by tn
Portland (Which responded to Rea
Admiral Callaghan's radio I'VE wan
the big ones"), concentrated fire OF
the battleship. the Helena mean
while engaging an enemy cruise
firing at the San Francisco. At thi
point salvo from the enemy bat
tleShip smashed the San Francisco
bridge, killing Rear Admiral Cal
laghan, Capt. Cassin Young, com
manding officer of the San Fran
cisco, and many other officers an
men, but the San Francisco con
tinued to fire and before she wa
put out Of action she had also &C
counted for destroyer
To recapitulate the damages sus
tanned in the first Is minutes of tn
action:
The Gushing had been put out c
action by gunfire and was dead i
the water; the Laffey had SUM
the Sterrett and O'Bannon had bee
damaged, the Atlanta was burnin
and the San Francisco and Portlan
were badly holed. The Juneau ha
been forced to leave the action an
the Barton had blown up. TIL
Helena had suffered minor damagl