Battle of Tassafaronga The Battle of Tassafaronga , sometimes referred to as the Fourth Battle of Savo Island or , in Japanese sources , as the , was a nighttime naval battle that took place November 30 , 1942 between United States ( US ) Navy and Imperial Japanese Navy warships during the Guadalcanal campaign . The battle took place in Ironbottom Sound near the Tassafaronga area on Guadalcanal . In the battle , a US warship force of five cruisers and four destroyers under the command of Rear Admiral Carleton H . Wright attempted to surprise and destroy a Japanese warship force of eight destroyers under the command of Rear Admiral Raizo Tanaka . Tanaka ' s warships were attempting to deliver food supplies to Japanese forces on Guadalcanal . Using radar , the US warships opened fire and sank one of the Japanese destroyers . Tanaka and the rest of his ships , however , reacted quickly and launched numerous torpedoes at the US warships . The Japanese torpedoes hit and sank one US cruiser and heavily damaged three others , enabling the rest of Tanaka ' s force to escape without significant additional damage but also without completing the mission of delivering the food supplies . Although a severe tactical defeat for the US , the battle had little strategic impact as the Japanese were unable to take advantage of the victory to assist their ultimately unsuccessful efforts to drive Allied forces from Guadalcanal . Background . Guadalcanal Campaign . On August 7 , 1942 , Allied forces ( primarily US ) landed on Guadalcanal , Tulagi , and the Florida Islands in the Solomon Islands . The landings on the islands were meant to deny their use by the Japanese as bases for threatening the supply routes between the US and Australia , and to secure the islands as starting points for a campaign with the eventual goal of neutralising the major Japanese base at Rabaul while also supporting the Allied New Guinea campaign . The landings initiated the six - month - long Guadalcanal campaign . The 2 , 000 – 3 , 000 Japanese personnel present on the islands were taken by surprise , and by nightfall on August 8 the 11 , 000 Allied troops , under the command of Lieutenant General Alexander Vandegrift , secured Tulagi and nearby small islands as well as the Japanese airfield under construction at Lunga Point on Guadalcanal . The Allies later renamed the airfield Henderson Field . Allied aircraft operating out of Henderson were called the " Cactus Air Force " ( CAF ) after the Allied code name for Guadalcanal . To protect the airfield , the US Marines established a perimeter defense around Lunga Point . Additional reinforcements over the next two months increased the number of US troops at Lunga Point on Guadalcanal to more than 20 , 000 . In response to the Allied landings on Guadalcanal , the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters assigned the Imperial Japanese Army ' s 17th Army , a corps - sized command based at Rabaul and under the command of Lieutenant General Harukichi Hyakutake , the task of retaking Guadalcanal . Units of the 17th Army began to arrive on Guadalcanal on August 19 to drive Allied forces from the island . Because of the threat by CAF aircraft based at Henderson Field , the Japanese were rarely able to use large , slow transport ships to deliver troops and supplies to the island . Instead , the Japanese used warships based at Rabaul and the Shortland Islands to carry their forces to Guadalcanal . The Japanese warships , mainly light cruiser s and destroyer s from the Eighth Fleet under the command of Vice Admiral Gunichi Mikawa , were usually able to make the round trip down " The Slot " to Guadalcanal and back in a single night , thereby minimizing their exposure to CAF air attack . Delivering the troops in this manner , however , prevented most of the soldiers ' heavy equipment and supplies , such as heavy artillery , vehicles , and much food and ammunition , from being carried to Guadalcanal with them . These high speed warship runs to Guadalcanal occurred throughout the campaign and were later called the " Tokyo Express " by Allied forces and " Rat Transportation " by the Japanese . The Japanese attempted several times between August and November 1942 to recapture Henderson Field and drive Allied forces from Guadalcanal , to no avail . The last attempt by the Japanese to deliver significant additional forces to the island failed during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal of November 12 – 15 . On November 26 , Japanese Lieutenant General Hitoshi Imamura took command of the newly formed Eighth Area Army at Rabaul . The new command encompassed both Hyakutake ' s 17th Army in the Solomons and the 18th Army in New Guinea . One of Imamura ' s first priorities upon assuming command was the continuation of the attempts to retake Henderson Field and Guadalcanal . The Allied offensive at Buna in New Guinea , however , changed Imamura ' s priorities . Because the Allied attempt to take Buna was considered a more severe threat to Rabaul , Imamura postponed further major reinforcement efforts to Guadalcanal to concentrate on the situation in New Guinea . Supply crisis . Due to a combination of the threat from CAF aircraft , US Navy PT boat s stationed at Tulagi , and a cycle of bright moonlight , the Japanese had switched to using submarines to deliver provisions to their forces on Guadalcanal . Beginning on November 16 , 1942 , and continuing for the next three weeks , 16 submarines made nocturnal deliveries of foodstuffs to the island , with one submarine making the trip each night . Each submarine could deliver 20 to 30 tons of supplies , about one day ' s worth of food , for the 17th Army , but the difficult task of transporting the supplies by hand through the jungle to the frontline units limited their value to sustain the Japanese troops on Guadalcanal . At the same time , the Japanese tried to establish a chain of three bases in the central Solomons to allow small boats to use them as staging sites for making supply deliveries to Guadalcanal , but damaging Allied airstrikes on the bases forced the abandonment of this plan . On November 26 , the 17th Army notified Imamura that it faced a critical food crisis . Some front - line units had not been resupplied for six days and even the rear - area troops were on one - third rations . The situation forced the Japanese to return to using destroyers to deliver the necessary supplies . Eighth Fleet personnel devised a plan to help reduce the exposure of destroyers delivering supplies to Guadalcanal . Large oil or gas drums were cleaned and filled with medical supplies and food , with enough air space to provide buoyancy , and strung together with rope . When the destroyers arrived at Guadalcanal they would make a sharp turn , the drums would be cut loose , and a swimmer or boat from shore could pick up the buoyed end of a rope and return it to the beach , where the soldiers could haul in the supplies . The Eighth Fleet ' s Guadalcanal Reinforcement Unit , based in the Shortland Islands and under the command of Rear Admiral Raizo Tanaka , was tasked by Mikawa with making the first of five scheduled runs using the drum method on the night of November 30 . Tanaka ' s unit was centered around the eight ships of Destroyer Squadron ( Desron ) 2 , with six destroyers assigned to carry from 200 to 240 drums of supplies apiece , to Tassafaronga at Guadalcanal . Tanaka ' s flagship " Naganami " along with " Takanami " acted as escorts . The six drum - carrying destroyers were " Kuroshio " , " Oyashio " , " Kagero " , " Suzukaze " , " Kawakaze " , and " Makinami " . To save weight , the drum - carrying destroyers left their reloads of Type 93 torpedo es ( Long Lances ) at the Shortlands , leaving each ship with eight torpedoes , one for each tube . After the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal , US Vice Admiral William Halsey , commander of Allied forces in the South Pacific , had reorganized US naval forces under his command , including , on November 24 , the formation of Task Force 67 ( TF67 ) at Espiritu Santo , comprising the heavy cruiser s USS " Minneapolis " , " New Orleans " , " Pensacola " , and " Northampton " , the light cruiser " Honolulu " , and four destroyers ( " Fletcher " , " Drayton " , " Maury " , and " Perkins " ) . US Rear Admiral Carleton H . Wright replaced Thomas Kinkaid as commander of TF67 on November 28 . Upon taking command , Wright briefed his ship commanders on his plan for engaging the Japanese in future , expected night battles around Guadalcanal . The plan , which he had drafted with Kinkaid , stated that radar - equipped destroyers were to scout in front of the cruisers and deliver a surprise torpedo attack upon sighting Japanese warships , then vacate the area to give the cruisers a clear field of fire . The cruisers were then to engage with gunfire from to . The cruisers ' floatplane s would scout and drop flares during the battle . On November 29 , Allied intelligence personnel intercepted and decoded a Japanese message transmitted to the 17th Army on Guadalcanal alerting them to Tanaka ' s supply run . Informed of the message , Halsey ordered Wright to take TF67 to intercept Tanaka off Guadalcanal . TF67 , with Wright flying his flag on " Minneapolis " , departed Espiritu Santo at just before midnight on November 29 for the run to Guadalcanal . En route , destroyers " Lamson " and " Lardner " , returning from a convoy escort assignment to Guadalcanal , were ordered to join up with TF67 . Lacking the time to brief the commanding officers of the joining destroyers of his battle plan , Wright assigned them a position behind the cruisers . At 17 : 00 on November 30 , Wright ' s cruisers launched one floatplane each for Tulagi to drop flares during the expected battle that night . At 20 : 00 , Wright sent his crews to battle stations . Tanaka ' s force departed the Shortlands just after midnight on November 30 for the run to Guadalcanal . Tanaka attempted to evade Allied aerial reconnaissance aircraft by first heading northeast through Bougainville Strait before turning southeast and then south to pass through Indispensable Strait . Paul Mason , an Australian coastwatcher stationed in southern Bougainville , reported by radio the departure of Tanaka ' s ships from Shortland and this message was passed to Wright . At the same time , a Japanese search aircraft spotted an Allied convoy near Guadalcanal and communicated the sighting to Tanaka who told his destroyer commanders to expect action that night and that , " In such an event , utmost efforts will be made to destroy the enemy without regard for the unloading of supplies . " Battle . Prelude . At 21 : 40 on November 30 , Tanaka ' s ships sighted Savo Island from Indispensable Strait . The Japanese ships were in line ahead formation , interval , in the order of " Takanami " , " Oyashio " , " Kuroshio " , " Kagero " , " Makinami " , " Naganami " , " Kawakaze " , and " Suzukaze " . At this same time , TF67 entered Lengo Channel en route to Ironbottom Sound . Wright ' s ships were in column in the order " Fletcher " , " Perkins " , " Maury " , " Drayton " , " Minneapolis " , " New Orleans " , " Pensacola " , " Honolulu " , " Northampton " , " Lamson " , and " Lardner " . The four van destroyers led the cruisers by and the cruisers steamed apart . At 22 : 40 , Tanaka ' s ships passed south of Savo about offshore from Guadalcanal and slowed to as they approached the unloading area . " Takanami " took station about seaward to screen the column . At the same time , TF67 exited Lengo Channel into the sound and headed at towards Savo Island . Wright ' s van destroyers moved to a position slightly inshore of the cruisers . The night sky was moonless with between and of visibility . Because of extremely calm seas which created a suction effect on their pontoons , Wright ' s cruiser floatplanes were delayed in lifting off from Tulagi harbor , and would not be a factor in the battle . At 23 : 06 , Wright ' s force began to detect Tanaka ' s ships on radar near Cape Esperance on Guadalcanal about away . Wright ' s destroyers rejoined the column as it continued to head towards Savo . At the same time , Tanaka ' s ships , which were not equipped with radar , split into two groups and prepared to shove the drums overboard . " Naganami " , " Kawakaze " , and " Suzukaze " headed for their drop - off point near Doma Reef while " Makinami " , " Kagero " , " Oyashio " , and " Kurashio " aimed for nearby Tassafaronga . At 23 : 12 , " Takanami ' s " crew visually sighted Wright ' s column , quickly confirmed by lookouts on Tanaka ' s other ships . At 23 : 16 , Tanaka ordered unloading preparations halted and " All ships attack . " Action . At 23 : 14 , operators on " Fletcher " established firm radar contact with " Takanami " and the lead group of four drum - carrying destroyers . At 23 : 15 , with the range , Commander William M . Cole , commander of Wright ' s destroyer group and captain of " Fletcher " , radioed Wright for permission to fire torpedoes . Wright waited two minutes and then responded with , " Range on bogies [ Tanaka ' s ships on radar ] excessive at present . " Cole responded that the range was fine . Another two minutes passed before Wright responded with permission to fire . In the meantime , the US destroyer ' s targets escaped from an optimum firing setup ahead to a marginal position passing abeam , giving the American torpedoes a long overtaking run near the limit of their range . At 23 : 20 , " Fletcher " , " Perkins " , and " Drayton " fired a total of 20 Mark 15 torpedo es towards Tanaka ' s ships . " Maury " , lacking SG radar and thus having no contacts , withheld fire . At the same time , Wright ordered his force to open fire . At 23 : 21 , " Minneapolis " complied with her first salvo , quickly followed by the other American cruisers . Cole ' s four destroyers fired star shell s to illuminate the targets as previously directed then increased speed to clear the area for the cruisers to operate . Because of her closer proximity to Wright ' s column , " Takanami " was the target of most of the American ' s initial gunfire . " Takanami " returned fire and launched her full load of eight torpedoes , but was quickly hit by American gunfire and , within four minutes , was set afire and incapacitated . As " Takanami " was destroyed , the rest of Tanaka ' s ships , almost unnoticed by the Americans , were increasing speed , maneuvering , and preparing to respond to the American attack . All of the American torpedoes missed . Historian Russell S . Crenshaw , Jr . postulates that had the twenty - four torpedoes fired by U . S . Navy destroyers during the battle not been fatally flawed , the outcome of the battle might have been different . Tanaka ' s flagship , " Naganami " , reversed course to starboard , opened fire and began laying a smoke screen . The next two ships astern , " Kawakaze " and " Suzukaze " , reversed course to port . At 23 : 23 , " Suzukaze " fired eight torpedoes in the direction of the gunflashes from Wright ' s cruisers , followed by " Naganami " and " Kawakaze " which fired their full loads of eight torpedoes at 23 : 32 and 23 : 33 respectively . Meanwhile , the four destroyers at the head of the Japanese column maintained their heading down the Guadalcanal coast , allowing Wright ' s cruisers to pass on the opposite course . Once clear of " Takanami " at 23 : 28 , " Kuroshio " fired four and " Oyashio " fired eight torpedoes in the direction of Wright ' s column and then reversed course and increased speed . Wright ' s cruisers maintained the same course and speed as the 44 Japanese torpedoes headed in their direction . At 23 : 27 , as " Minneapolis " fired her ninth salvo and Wright prepared to order a course change for his column , two torpedoes , from either " Suzukaze " or " Takanami " , slammed into her forward half . One warhead exploded the aviation fuel storage tanks forward of turret one and the other knocked out three of the ship ' s four firerooms . The bow forward of turret one folded down at a 70 - degree angle and the ship lost power and steering control . Thirty - seven men were killed . Less than a minute later a torpedo hit " New Orleans " abreast of turret one and exploded the ship ' s forward ammunition magazines and aviation gasoline storage . The blast severed the ship ' s entire bow forward of turret two . The bow twisted to port , damaging the ship ' s hull as it was wrenched free by the ship ' s momentum , and sank immediately off the aft port quarter . Everyone in turrets one and two perished . " New Orleans " was forced into a reverse course to starboard and lost steering and communications . A total of 183 men were killed . Herbert Brown , a seaman in the ship ' s plotting room , described the scene after the torpedo hit , " Pensacola " followed next astern in the cruiser column . Observing " Minneapolis " and " New Orleans " taking hits and slowing , " Pensacola " steered to pass them on the port side and then , once past , returned to the same base course . At 23 : 39 , " Pensacola " took a torpedo abreast the mainmast . The explosion spread flaming oil throughout the interior and across the main deck of the ship , killing 125 of the ship ' s crew . The hit ripped away the port outer driveshaft and the ship took a 13 - degree list and lost power , communications , and steering . Astern of " Pensacola " , " Honolulu ' s " captain chose to pass " Minneapolis " and " New Orleans " on the starboard side . At the same time , the ship increased speed to , maneuvered radically , and successfully transited the battle area without taking any damage while maintaining main battery fire at the rapidly disappearing Japanese destroyers . The last cruiser in the American column , " Northampton " , followed " Honolulu " to pass the damaged cruisers ahead to starboard . Unlike " Honolulu " , " Northampton " did not increase speed or attempt any radical maneuvers . At 23 : 48 , after returning to the base course , " Northampton " was hit by two of " Kawakaze ' s " torpedoes . One hit below the waterline abreast the after engine room , and four seconds later , the second hit further aft . The after engine room flooded , three of four shafts ceased turning , and the ship listed 10 degrees to port and caught fire . Fifty men were killed . The last ships in Wright ' s column , " Lamson " and " Lardner " , failed to locate any targets and exited the battle area to the east after being mistakenly fired on by machine guns from " New Orleans " . Cole ' s four destroyers circled completely around Savo Island at maximum speed and reentered the battle area , but the engagement had already ended . Meanwhile , at 23 : 44 Tanaka ordered his ships to break contact and retire from the battle area . As they proceeded up Guadalcanal ' s coast , " Kuroshio " and " Kagero " fired eight more torpedoes towards the American ships , which all missed . When " Takanami " failed to respond to radio calls , Tanaka directed " Oyashio " and " Kuroshio " to go to her assistance . The two destroyers located the burning ship at 01 : 00 on December 1 but abandoned rescue efforts after detecting American warships in the area . " Oyashio " and " Kuroshio " quickly departed the sound to rejoin the rest of Tanaka ' s ships for the return journey to the Shortlands , which they reached 10 hours later . " Takanami " was the only Japanese warship hit by American gunfire and seriously damaged during the battle . Aftermath . " Takanami " ' s surviving crew abandoned ship at 01 : 30 , but a large explosion killed many more of them in the water , including the destroyer division commander , Toshio Shimizu , and the ship ' s captain , Masami Ogura . Of her crew of 244 , 48 survived to reach shore on Guadalcanal and 19 of them were captured by the Americans . " Northampton " ' s crew was unable to contain the ship ' s fires and list and began to abandon ship at 01 : 30 . The ship sank at 03 : 04 about from Doma Cove on Guadalcanal ( ) . " Fletcher " and " Drayton " rescued the ship ' s 773 survivors . " Minneapolis " , " New Orleans " , and " Pensacola " were able to make it the to Tulagi on the morning of December 1 where they were berthed for emergency repairs . The fires on " Pensacola " burned for 12 hours before being extinguished . " Pensacola " departed Tulagi for rear area ports and further repair on December 6 . After construction of temporary bows from coconut logs , " Minneapolis " and " New Orleans " departed Tulagi for Espiritu Santo or Sydney , Australia on December 12 . All three cruisers required lengthy and extensive repairs . " New Orleans " returned to action in August , " Minneapolis " in September , and " Pensacola " in October 1943 . The battle was one of the worst defeats suffered by the US Navy in World War II , third only to the Attack on Pearl Harbor and the Battle of Savo Island . The battle , along with the losses suffered during the Battle of Savo Island , Cape Esperance and the Naval Battles of Guadalcanal temporarily left the US Navy with only 4 operational heavy cruisers and 9 light cruisers in the entire Pacific Ocean . In spite of his defeat in the battle , Wright was awarded the Navy Cross , one of the highest American military decorations for bravery , for his actions during the engagement . Mitigating to some degree the destruction of his task force , Wright , in his after - action report , claimed that his force sank four Japanese destroyers and damaged two others . Halsey , in his comments on Wright ' s report , placed much of the blame for the defeat on Cole , saying that the destroyer squadron commander fired his torpedoes from too great a distance to be effective and should have " helped " the cruisers instead of circling around Savo Island . Tanaka claimed to have sunk a battleship and two cruisers in the battle . The results of the battle led to further discussion in the US Pacific Fleet about changes in tactical doctrine and the need for technical improvements , such as flashless powder . It was not until eight months later that the naval high command recognized there was serious problems with the functioning of the torpedoes . The Americans were still unaware of the range and power of Japanese torpedoes and the effectiveness of Japanese night battle tactics . In fact , Wright claimed that his ships must have been fired on by submarines since the observed position of Tanaka ' s ships " make it improbable that torpedoes with speed - distance characteristics similar to our own " could have caused such damage , though Tanaka states that his torpedoes were fired at a range as short as three miles . The Americans would not recognize the true capabilities of their Pacific adversary ' s torpedoes and night tactics until well into 1943 . After the war , Tanaka said of his victory at Tassafaronga , " I have heard that US naval experts praised my command in that action . I am not deserving of such honors . It was the superb proficiency and devotion of the men who served me that produced the tactical victory for us . " In spite of their defeat in the battle , the Americans had prevented Tanaka from landing the desperately needed food supplies on Guadalcanal , albeit at high cost . A second Japanese supply delivery attempt by 10 destroyers led by Tanaka on December 3 successfully dumped 1 , 500 drums of provisions off Tassafaronga , but strafing American aircraft sank all but 310 of them the next day before they could be pulled ashore . On December 7 , a third attempt by 12 destroyers was turned back by US PT boats off Cape Esperance . The next night , two US PT boats torpedoed and sank the Japanese submarine " I - 3 " as it attempted to deliver supplies to Guadalcanal . Based on the difficulties experienced trying to deliver food to the island , the Japanese Navy informed Imamura on December 8 that they intended to stop all destroyer transportation runs to Guadalcanal immediately . After Imamura protested , the navy agreed to one more run to the island . The last attempt to deliver food to Guadalcanal by destroyers in 1942 was led by Tanaka on the night of December 11 and consisted of 11 destroyers . Five US PT boats met Tanaka off Guadalcanal and torpedoed his flagship " Teruzuki " , severely damaging the destroyer and injuring Tanaka . After Tanaka transferred to " Naganami " , " Teruzuki " was scuttled . Only 220 of the 1 , 200 drums released that night were recovered by Japanese army personnel on shore . Tanaka was subsequently relieved of command and transferred to Japan on December 29 , 1942 . On December 12 , the Japanese Navy proposed that Guadalcanal be abandoned . Despite opposition from Japanese Army leaders , who still hoped that Guadalcanal could eventually be retaken from the Allies , on December 31 , 1942 Japan ' s Imperial General Headquarters , with approval from the Emperor , agreed to the evacuation of all Japanese forces from the island and the establishment of a new line of defense for the Solomons on New Georgia . The Japanese evacuated their remaining forces from Guadalcanal over three nights between February 2 and February 7 , 1943 , conceding the hard fought campaign to the Allies . Building on their success at Guadalcanal and elsewhere , the Allies continued their campaign against Japan , ultimately culminating in Japan ' s defeat and the end of World War II .