The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal 1942 - Animated 

From the comfort of my home is easy to think that a good option would be "trust the intel on the most modern radar on your fleet", but who knows if false echos would have made things worse.

joined the army

Have Scott in command and not Callaghan. Scott had night combat experience as the victor in the Battle of Cape Esperance. Callaghan was brave, but more of a paper pusher and this was his first combat. Both were killed and awarded the Medal of Honor, but both could have lived as Scott would have crossed the T and also changed his command to the Helena, which had radar.

Callaghan should have put His strongest radar ship at the front of the fleet.

Americans: Place radar and radio antennae on those little islands north of the airfield. Japanese: Don't attack Americans.

Ironbottom Sound, they call it. Though I think much of the ships were made of steel...

@@Chino56751 And steel is made of iron, so it all makes sense in the end doesn't it?

@@Toke3004 True lol

@@Toke3004 But not its final form. They're the same, but different

Most naval engagements are messy. Look at Jutland. It was a clusterf*ck with neither side coming out the clear victor.

YOU DID GOOD MATE

Great Work!

Good work chaps. A very powerful combined force you make, I must say!

Do Samar next

Great co op guys. Fantastic video! Looking forward to so much more in the future!

From this video I can fully understand why he disliked the man. Also, it seems the only reason he was awarded the Medal of Honor is because he died in the battle. And probably for purposes of moral(I suppose?). That should never be the case though. NOT with the Medal of Honor.

The men I talked to HATE DUG-OUT-DOUG.... at the start of the war, we had Peace Time admirals in charge... he'll, after ww2, the fired Winston Churchill. -- thank God we had Bull Halsey and Chester Nimitz in the Pacific.

What a great sacrifice all made for freedom. I thank them all.

Adm. Scott would have been a better commander that night. Scott understood more of the modern technology such as radar.

@@Carwash301 he who makes the fewest mistakes wins...

I can imagine very little of what takes place during the events of this video as being anything but terrifying.

Also consider that most of the crew down inside the hull really don't know what's going on during the battle. They are at their battle stations, which is often some part of the ship with no outside view and they run through the procedures they have rehearsed to operate the various systems, so they don't know there is a shell about to hit them or a torpedo on the other side of that bulkhead that's about to burst through and blow them up or drown them. When they are told to abandon ship they only know that something awful has happened but not quite what it is or where they are at. The only guys with any clue what is going on are topside.

Crocodiles ate some of them when they drifted close to the islands.

they were at least within visual range of guadalcanal so they could've swam or rowed there after sunrise. not everyone made it of course, but it's better than drifting on the open ocean thousands of miles from anything resembling land, like the survivors of the USS Indianapolis did.

Cold water and lots of sharks

Great!

Will do, I follow Drach anyway so look forward to it. Cheers chaps.

I'll be there!

I love Drach!

Wow id would have to watch both on split screen!

damn what do you work with?

Ah same here the past 3 weeks been 15 11hr days. Then if possible back to 40 hr weeks

"WAKE UP MARINE, THE JAPANESE ARE ATTACKING HENDERSON FIELD!"

I miss Crunch Week in holyday work OT pays better

General quarter, all brain cells man your battle stations.

Crazy to think him surviving might have been what led to you being here today, its almost scary to think about, would love to hear his story!

USS Laffey's suicidal attack on IJN Hiei is the stuff of legends. Imagine finding your destroyer racing in to only 30 m from the batteries of 14", 6" and 3" guns on the opposing battleship and being able to sail away from the encounter. Amazing stuff!

I bet Laffey was so close that he could see the Japanese sailors' faces

​@@Feargal011❤ N É N Ç N

My father, ARM2/c Edward P. Hayes was aboard Washington. He was a radio-gunner on the OS2U Kingerfisher scout plane

My dad was also on the Washington. A.L.Jackson. I took dad to several BB56 reunions in the 80s n 90s. God rest them all.

17 years old...It's hard to imagine. My uncle John Wilkinson died on His 19th birthday at Anzio

My great grandfather was a gunners mate for West Virginia’s main guns

@@hughgrection4205 is your uncle know or meet audie murphy the most decorated soldier in america history in anzio?

Yeah. The Allied advantage in radar was huge. Cape Matapan, Guadacanal (the second one), North Cape, Surigao Strait; all won because of radar and radar-directed guns. Scharnhorst, Kirishima, Yamashiro and several Italian heavy cruisers fell victim to British and American battleships as a result.

I wonder if the night fighting also played a factor. The Japanese relied on color dyed shells to see which ship's shells are landing and at night it with multiple ships firing it would be hard to tell if you were on target or if it was another ships shells. Also, it would be crazy to see the maneuvering the USS Washington had to pull off to dodge multiple waves of IJN torpedoes.

@@ColoradoStreaming The Japanese were not as blind as you might think. The first thing they did was test every seaman for night vision, and they only used the ones with the best test results for night lookouts. They had what were easily the best optics in the world at the time, including some binoculars on automatic mounts slaved to the searchlight system. The lookout, using binoculars with lenses as large as 48", could follow the searchlight beam, or leave the light off until he spotted something, switch it on for a few seconds until he spotted the ship he was looking for, and have an automatic readout of the approximate distance to the target as well as its lat/long. They also developed the world's brightest starshells, at 1.7 million candelas, as well as a parachute system that could keep the shell in the air for as long as eight minutes. They also practiced for night warfare constantly, something the USN almost never did before the war. About the only time the Japanese were at a serious disadvantage in the first two years of the war was when the visibility was zero from rain or fog, Radar could still see, but things really turned against them once we developed gunfire control radar that could bracket a ship with the first salvo. No human gunfire control officer could match that performance.

@@sarjim4381 Very interesting, I appreciate the explanation!

@@ColoradoStreaming You're quite welcome. Sometimes it's good for me too, because it helps organize my thoughts about the subject. As much as I'm a fan of all things electronic, sometime the Mark 1 Eyeball is still the best sensor. :-)

"...resulting in the war department not allowing brothers to serve together again in the same theater of conflict. Still enforced today." That's not true on several levels. It's just one of many myths surrounding the Sullivan Brothers that have been going around since WW2. I and three of my brothers served on active duty in various branches of the US military and I became very familiar with this policy. Not only did/does the War Dept or the Dept of Defense not prohibit brothers from being in the "same theater of conflict", it did not (and does not) even prohibit brothers from serving on the same ship. This is straight from the horse's mouth, aka the US Navy - "Several misconceptions, common during World War II and after, continue to circulate about the Sullivan brothers and the assignment of family members to U.S. Navy ships. Reference to a "Sullivan Act" in connection with family members serving in the same ship/unit is a popular misconception. The Sullivan Law of 29 May 1911 is a New York State Law dealing with firearms. Although proposed after the death of the five Sullivan Brothers, no "Sullivan Act" was ever enacted by Congress related to family members serving together. Similarly, no President has ever issued any executive order forbidding assignment of family members to the same ship/unit." www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/disasters-and-phenomena/the-sullivan-brothers-and-the-assignment-of-family-members/sullivan-brothers-policy-family-members.html As for the DoD in general, there's the 1948 Sole Survivor Policy (DoD Directive 1315.15 "Special Separation Policies for Survivorship"), but that also doesn't say what you described. It applies to surviving sons and daughters but is NOT a strict prohibition. It is a completely voluntary program that allows a military member to apply for exemption if he or she becomes a survivor due to the military service-related death(s) of one or more family member, or a draftee to apply for "peacetime deferment" from a draft under certain circumstances. There is no mention in the policy of any prohibition of siblings "serving in the same theater of conflict" or even in/on the same unit/ship/etc. The 1948 policy was updated in 1971 to allow for any survivor as described by the policy to apply for draft exemption or discharge from service, not just a "sole" survivor. Here's an explanation of the policy from the USMC, but the same policy applies to the entire DoD - marineparents.com/deployment/issues-sss.asp

During the late 1990's I served on a submarine with 2 Sullivan brothers. There were no regulations against it happening but it was a running joke on board.

In Battle of Cape Esperance, Adm Scott (who died in this battle) also chose a wrong flagship (USS San Francisco San) who don't have SG radar, but still he managed to win that battle with less chaos and in an organized way. Even though at the beginning ther was a miscommunication about the commence firing order.

And how about not forgetting to send the dd,pt and pby in at day to rescue the 600 crew from Juneau ? Theres a lesson in that !!!

Wont say he didn't deserve the medal- but his blunder was very avoidable...

@@charlesatanasio1622 Agreed on both counts. He was definitely courageous and went into a dangerous situation in less than ideal circumstances because they really had little other choice, but he bungled in the heat of the moment.

And he sunk one of his own ships and still got a MOH. Our military is funny sometimes.

jutland was a bigger naval battle (Actually the biggest modern battle). You could also argue that the Battle of Cape Ecnomus was bigger than jutland but since those are wastly different era I wouldn't want to compare them

I forget what it is called but they should make a video about the battle with a small group of ships called taffy 3 against the Japanese main fleet.

@@yourdailydoseofdumb The battle of samar

Whilst I understand Wikipedia is not taken as the most accurate site around. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Largest_naval_battle_in_history gives a good comparison of the Largest battle. Both Michael and Burn are right just in different areas, and I quote for Jutland, "In terms of total displacement of ships involved, it was the largest surface battle." and for Leyte Gulf, "The largest in terms of displacement of ships in the combined orders of battle, if not necessarily in terms of displacement of the ships engaged, was also the largest in terms of the displacement of ships sunk and in terms of the size of the area within which the component battles took place." I personally consider Leyte the bigger battle because of the number of ships and personnel involved and the area the battle took place in. The displacement of the ships involved, to me, just does not matter as much because smaller ships and aircraft have sunk bigger ships. Edit was for grammar mistakes after I posted.

​@@jonahstoehr3637 Now whilst it is accurate that destroyers and aircraft can sink bigger ships its mostly that non-capital ships get disregarded because they are seldomly the decisive factors. And also (as I understand it) quotes wikipedia that the heaviest ships took part in the battle of Leyte Gulf which is tbh expected of a battle that happens 25 years later. In addition you could argue that the Battle of Leyte actually is made up of 4 "subbattles".

The Jap navy was much more honorable than the army - the army would have gunned them down.

Honorable Imperial Navy

@@MRREDD12 The Japanese code of honor considered people who surrendered to be cowards. That was why ground troops that surrendered to the Japanese army were treated so poorly. The naval troops hadn’t surrendered. They had literally gone down fighting. I think that’s why the Japanese treated them more honorably.

The WWII Vets area all quietly dying and its really sad that such a great generation is leaving us.

Do you know if your grandfather was aboard Preston prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor? It's quite possible he and my dad were shipmates. My dad was a radioman aboard her until just after Preston arrived at Pearl. Dad was then sent to Kearney, NJ where he joined the commissioning crew of Fletcher and remained onboard her for the duration of the war. It wasn't mentioned in this video but Fletcher was the thirteenth and final US ship on the night of 13 NOV - the day before your grandfather's ship sank. Tin can sailors were (and are) a breed apart.

Your Grandpa is part of the Greatest Generation To Have Ever Walked The Earth!! 🙏🇺🇸❤ My Grandpa served in the US Army during WW2 and was in the European Theater...he was also in the 3rd Army. That would have been General Patton's 3rd Army. ❤🇺🇸🙏 Every single man and woman who served during WW2 in my opinion are Heroes. They deserve our complete and utter respect and adoration. I wish our Country would have sat down with these brave and courageous young men and women and gotten their stories....Because everyone should know what they did for us.

I want to see it am close enough to do it

It's a beautiful monument, you look out at wide view of the Pacific Ocean. My uncle, husband of my mom's older sister, was younger brother of Rheinhardt Keppler. He was on the USS San Francisco for several years, including dry dock during attack on Pearl Harbor. He was wounded but kept going back below deck to pull up others: the fumes would kill sailors who could not make it topside on their own. He literally bled to death because of these efforts. At the memorial's annual commemoration one of the two surviving veterans told me Rheinhardt just finally collapsed when topside, dead. Same vet recounted how years later he and other crew members decided on their own to create a special extra plague for him. To get around Park regulations they secretly attached it on the north side of the lower section, still there today. He was also recognized for his valor at the time, a transport ship was named after him. His body is buried in nearby Golden Gate Cemetery.

Like a knife fight in a phone booth in the dark.

@@JeepWranglerIslander It was described as a "bar room brawl with the lights shot out."

@@Chino56751 Savo Island?

'Hey, let's try cross the T of the Japanese fleet!' *Draws the line instead*

Trying figure out why the admiral wasn't on the ship with the _____g radar! A mystery.

LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WHAT THE

5:34PM the mother removes her sandal in a threatening manner. 5:36PM: without regard for their well-being, the two children relentlessly tease their mother's less than flattering haircut 5:38PM: all hands lost.

At 1004hrs, Mum identifies brother A in his bedroom. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to either, brother B is cleaning his teeth.

@@SlavicCelery LMAOOOOO EXACTLY. I READ IT WITH THE NARRATORS VOICE XD

They need to do something like this for April Fools

The father of a very good friend of mine and a man I admired very much marched all the way to Germany, he never much talked about anything he saw or did in Europe. Talked a lot about training in England, not much of a peep about Europe. He would have been first wave at Omaha Beach, he got injured boarding the landing craft, got knocked into the ship and injured his leg. Probably saved his life. Said the beach was still red when he finally landed weeks later.

Blazing Star, Setting Sun is also about Guadalcanal and is very good as well.

Currently listening to Neptunes Inferno and came here looking for a video to get a better understanding on the chaos of this engagement. The book is excellent and so is this video!

heres a change of pace, Theres a book on audible called Japanese Destroyer Captain. Its about the captain of the IJN Amatsukaze. (7:05) He is actaully the one who created the japanese torperdo doctrine as well as created the superior japanese torpedos before the war. He is also the only destroyer captain to survive the war. It gives reallly good insight on not only this battle but basically his entire life/ the entire war. Seeing this book from japanese prepsective as well as getting insight as to the condition the japanese were in throughout the war is stunning. highly recommend

Also Eric Hammel's Guadalcanal; Decision at Sea. It's excellent! I love Neptune's Inferno too!

There are differing versions of that statement. In his book on the Guadalcanal battle, author Richard Frank said it was "a barroom brawl after the lights had been shot out." He was quoting the captain of the US destroyer Monssen, who had attributed it to another American officer.

In the miniseries "The Pacific," it is depicted as a light show with thunder. The Marines were glad to have foxholes.

@@sillyone52062 Banzai charges vs Long Lance torpedoes...

Yeah there are some great written narratives by people on the island, one included the phrase "from the beach it resembled a door to Hell opening and closing ... over and over"

And remember that The Bombardment (Kongo and Haruna) was just a month prior, so they had experience with what Hiei and Kirishima could do if given the chance.

My father was a young CPL in the 1st Marine Division on Guadalcanal. He talked very little about his experiences there but did mention watching this naval battle, not only the horrendous noise but how it lit up the sky. It was hard to tell the American and Japanese ships apart, but they would cheer when a Japanese ship was hit and exploded. A fireworks display of the biggest order! Love those Marines!

Damn, how do you accidentally almost collide with a whole damn city?

@@Crankiebox99 Bad charts? :)

@@Crankiebox99 Going for a drive-thru meal. This naval warfare leaves Sailors feeling hungry.

An antifa super-soldier picked the city up and threw it at them. We have a magazine full of Portlands.

On my version of the book it is mentioned, that they nearly collided with U.S.S San Francisco. It had been hit so hard that her gun turrets were missing and Hara mistakenly identified her as a Japanese submarine tender ship Jingei. This book I highly recommend to everyone to read, who are interested in the Pacific War Theatre. I read it many years back and accidentally found my own copy of it at the town market. Price tag was really high for a badly held book but I bought it and I have been read it many times since then.

Par for the course, actually.

this is what happens when you don't bring your Aircraft Carrier to a Gun fight.

My grandfather was also in the boiler room of the South Dakota, he passed in '08, much respect to these sailers!!

Woo being in the boiler room would be a very dodgy job!!

Imo the Pacific theatre is the most interesting

I love your channel. Your sick dude.

Thanks for the idea!

Our pleasure!

Coast Guard also contributed

I think modern scholarship has pretty much squashed the conventional wisdom. The Navy condemned a lot of men to Davy Jones to defend the men at Guadalcanal in brutal fighting. There weren’t many naval assets in the pacific to help in the first place either.

@@phormioofathens4774 Davy Jones Locker

@@joeclayton2121 Davy Jones manages the poor devils sent to the locker

I always thought the term abandoned was poorly chosen. The Navy did what he could at the time but they were just completely outmatched. Even so, they went into battles like this one knowing the odds more than once.

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Bmc9NFfhx74.html

According to Hornfischer there were at one stage 26 ships within a 5-mile radius!

They think they're hurting someone better than them. it's meanness and envy coupled with low self esteem only chanced because of anonymity. That's what I think.

Glad you enjoyed it!

Would love to see a series of these vids, covering surface engagements from Savo to Cape St. George (November 1943).

Check out the 'Flashman' book series. They are a historical fiction novel series that coverers many lesser know British engagements during the Victorian era. Some very interesting battles including the first Sikh war, the disaster in Afghanistan, the river fighting in Borneo by a rogue British officer who became King of Sarawak, the Sepoy Mutiny and many others.

I thought that they were the Solomon brothers

@@Shadow-sq2yj Wikipedia says Sullivan.

@@gimmethegepgun you can't trust wikipedia 100% because everyone can edit.

@@gimmethegepgun I might have misheard it then. I watched Battle 360's version a while back, and I don't have a good memory.

@@Shadow-sq2yj There is a King Solomon, though. And the islands are named that as well

Wow, thank you!

Glad you enjoy it!

@@TheOperationsRoom keep them coming!!

feels sad you dont know about Historia Civilis

ru-vid.comBmc9NFfhx74?feature=share

Glad it was helpful!

Appreciate it

@@TheOperationsRoom Some might mistake this Laffey for the OTHER Laffey...the one I mentioned before. The one that withstood that excessive kamikaze attack off Okinawa.

Thanks, will do!

TOR's 73 Eastings video was good. I will probably watch it again at the same time as the Greatest Tank Battles episode where the tankers (including McMasters) are telling what happened during the battle. I really like the one TOR did on the special ops at Portsmouth October 2020 (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-CRme_HlPN-Y.html&ab_channel=TheOperationsRoom) I believe the SAS(?) helos flying over him is what got his attention and he got the video out within the week!

thanks!

Some of the largest naval battles in history

thanks!