Tokyo Express The Tokyo Express was the name given by Allied forces to the use of Imperial Japanese Navy ships at night to deliver personnel , supplies , and equipment to Japanese forces operating in and around New Guinea and the Solomon Islands during the Pacific campaign of World War II . The operation involved loading personnel or supplies aboard fast warships ( mainly destroyer s ) , later submarine s , and using the warships ' speed to deliver the personnel or supplies to the desired location and return to the originating base all within one night so Allied aircraft could not intercept them by day . Name . The original name of the resupply missions was " The Cactus Express " , coined by Allied forces on Guadalcanal , using the codename for the island . After the U . S . press began referring to it as the " Tokyo Express , " apparently in order to preserve operational security for the codeword " Cactus , " Allied forces also began to use the phrase . The Japanese called the night resupply missions , because they took place at night . Organization and history . Rat Transportation was necessary for Japanese forces due to Allied air superiority in the South Pacific , established soon after the Allied landings on Guadalcanal and Henderson Field began serving as a base for the " Cactus Air Force " in August 1942 . Delivery of troops and material by slow transport ships to Japanese forces on Guadalcanal and New Guinea soon proved too vulnerable to daytime air attack . Thus , Japanese Combined Fleet commander , Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto , authorized the use of faster warships at night to make the deliveries when the threat of detection was much less and aerial attack minimal . The Tokyo Express began soon after the Battle of Savo Island in August 1942 and continued until late in the Solomon Islands campaign when one of the last , large Express runs was interdicted and almost completely destroyed in the Battle of Cape St . George on November 26 , 1943 . Because the fast destroyers typically used were not configured for cargo handling , many supplies were simply pushed into the water , inside sealed steel drums lashed together ; the drums floated ashore or were picked up by barge . A typical night in December resulted in 1500 drums being rolled into the sea , with only 300 recovered . Most of the warships used for Tokyo Express missions came from the Eighth Fleet , based at Rabaul and Bougainville , although ships from Combined Fleet units based at Truk were often temporarily attached for use in Express missions . The warship formations assigned to Express missions were often formally designated as the Reinforcement Unit , but the size and composition of this unit varied from mission to mission . John F . Kennedy and PT - 109 . John F . Kennedy ' s PT - 109 was lost on a " poorly planned and uncoordinated " attack on the Tokyo Express . 15 PT boats with 60 torpedoes did not register a single hit , let alone sink any enemy ships . The PT - 109 was struck by a destroyer returning from its supply run , estimated to be traveling in excess of 30 knots with no running lights . The end . To signify final victory over the Japanese on Guadalcanal , General Alexander Patch , commander of the land forces on the island , messaged his superior , Admiral William F . Halsey , " Tokyo Express no longer has terminus on Guadalcanal . "