Battle of the Eastern Solomons: Told from the American Perspective (1/2)

Something is brewing in the South Pacific at least that's what the latest intelligence has indicated to vice admiral Frank Jack Fletcher commander of the U.S carrier forces defending Guadalcanal after the crushing Japanese victory of Savo Island the American transports had withdrawn leaving the Marines stranded on the island with very little supplies the next logical move for the Japanese would be to exploit their Victory with a major offensive to retake Guadalcanal thus it was up to Admiral Fletcher and his powerful carrier Force to protect the Marines holding on to the island and this would all ultimately

lead to the third aircraft carrier battle in the Pacific the battle of the Eastern Solomons one of the most difficult tasks for a carrier Commander during a battle was deciding on when to strike so to better illustrate this struggle we will view this battle with the fog of War over our eyes so that we can experience it exclusively through the lens of The Americans [Music] the Marines holding on to Guadalcanal were in a precarious position they were on half rations had little ammunition and virtually none of their heavy equipment for construction or defense with them.

Regardless of their unfortunate circumstances they set out to accomplish the tasks they have been given they quickly formed a defensive perimeter around the Airfield and went to work on finishing it on August 12th the Airfield was completed in honor of major Henderson the brave Marine squadron commander who perished at Midway the airstrip was named Henderson field however it would be some time before the Americans could deliver aircraft to the island in the meantime any air support for the stranded Marines would come from Admiral Fletcher and history carriers in Task Force 61. At this point his

name shouldn't be unfamiliar to us. Fletcher, age 57, was a black shoe Admiral meaning he was of the older generation of naval officers who rose up the ranks commanding Cruisers and battleships although he was not an Aviator he was given a carrier command at the onset of the war and he quickly became seasoned in carrier operations he has been described as confident straightforward unpretentious and possessing strength of character despite these Praises his most negative trait unfortunately is the one he is most known for he had the reputation of being a cautious Commander while yes this

was true it didn't mean he was completely passive he was always willing to take risk only if he felt it was warranted and that he could inflict more damage to the enemy I mean all one must do is look at how he led a Midway in that battle he was in passive or yielding to the enemy he was in an opportune position to deliver heavy punishment to the Kido Butai and he took it in the first half of that battle his carrier Force took out three of the four Japanese carriers with that said his wartime

record is a mix having impressive successes under his belt like coral sea Midway but also some failed operations most notably the unsuccessful wake relief mission oh and just recently he had committed his most controversial action of his career when two days into operation Watchtower he had withdrawn his carriers Fletcher had his defensible reasons for pulling out his forces prematurely but it didn't escape the heavy criticism that followed particularly from the Marines who felt they had been left high and dry by him and especially from Admiral King who felt Fletcher was too cautious and lacked aggression

regardless of all these criticisms in August 1942 vice admiral Fletcher was the most combat experience aircraft carrier Commander the U.S Navy had his men felt safe under his command on August 11th Fletcher was issued new orders concerning Cactus which was the code name for guadalcanau his primary mission was to provide air cover for Cactus and for the incoming convoys that were scheduled to supply the Marines now Fletcher hated this in his experience carriers were not made to provide static air cover they were meant for mobile offensive operations where they could strike the enemy quickly and

then withdraw before any retaliation being stuck in this defensive holding pattern put his carriers at risk of being spotted and attracting unwanted attention from both submarines and enemy aircraft but given the circumstances the Marines found themselves in it was considered that protecting the island and the convoys warranted the risk of his carriers after fueling on the 12th and 13th Fletcher commenced his mission his tactical situation was tricky he had to keep within 12 hours striking range to intercept any enemy Ships coming south to endanger the Marines while at the same time making sure he stayed

out of range from Rebels land-based aircraft the result was that for the next seven days he patrolled in a position generally south of Guadalcanal where he was close to the island but not too close on August 15th the first Convoy since the retreat of the transports arrived and delivered much needed supplies to the Marines however in his efforts to be out of range of enemy aircraft Fletcher failed to intercept numerous Japanese destroyers that have been dashing South to the island to conduct nightly raids and land enemy troops but fortunately for the Marines these raids had

largely been ineffective causing only negligible damage throughout this tense period Fletcher also had to keep a lookout for any signs of a major enemy offensive to retake the island and according to the latest Intel it wasn't far off this brings us to our next topic American intelligence as before at Coral Sea and Midway Fletcher was relying on radio intelligence to provide him with an advance warning before the enemy arrived on August 11th radio analyst and Intelligence Officers correctly noted that a new Force had been created containing the main carriers of the Imperial Navy this was

the newly reconstituted Kido Butai it was now a shadow of his former self but remained a deadly force nonetheless it was composed of the shokaku zuikaku and a light carrier also detected was the second Fleet a powerful surface Task Force Under Admiral Kondo both task forces were believed to be in Japanese home Waters but were expected to depart shortly to operate in the Solomon Islands on August 15th the Japanese carriers were reported in home Waters but noted that Admiral Kondo with his surface Fleet had already sorted and headed south so far so good radio intelligence

was performing remarkably accurate but it soon ran into a smoke screen because also on this day on the 15th the Japanese changed their Naval code from jn25c to jn25d code Breakers were now temporarily be left in the dark for potentially up to two weeks as they try to break into this new code this was obviously terrible timing as they suspected the enemy would shortly be heading towards the Solomons at any time this change of the Japanese Naval Cipher could potentially amass the movements of the Japanese carriers as a result of this blackout period radio analysts

would have to rely solely on traffic analysis to gain any more valuable Intelligence on enemy activities but even this effort was slightly stymied because three days later the Japanese changed all major call signs of their units and as if it couldn't get worse it was soon speculated that the Japanese might be using radio deception having other units assume the cause signs of the carriers all of these actions by the enemy pointed to one thing an operation was imminent the question was when from August 16th to the 21st kirobutai continued to be reported in home Waters

but even intelligence analysts found this odd they eventually admitted it was possible that carriers could have already slipped out undetected and headed south but this couldn't be confirmed they went on to say that unless Orange Radio deception is remarkably efficient this Force remains in the Homeland still even so on the evening of the 17th Fletcher received his first definite warning that action was coming condo's fleet was expected to arrive in the region in a few days and a convoy with a covering force of escorting Cruisers were already at Sea with guadalcanal as its probable destination

he is told these forces could arrive between the 20th and the 23rd as to the whereabouts of enemy carriers intelligence remained ambiguous no concrete indications to shokaku zuikaku and ryujo had left Japan but possibility of an undetected move to South exist the timing of this possible enemy arrival couldn't be more worrisome because at the moment Fletcher was providing escort for a very important mission on August 20th a significant delivery was made one that would change the course of the campaign and decisively give the Americans a permanent Edge 31 aircraft took off from the escort carrier

Long Island and flew to Henderson field and with this the cactus Air Force had been born author Paul S. dull writes the importance of this the Marines now had permanent air power to resist Japanese reinforcements efforts and to counter Japanese Naval or aerial bombardment notwithstanding the delivery hadn't been made without any consequences task 461 had spotted a snooper in the skies the enemy flying boat was chased away but its close proximity meant it had probably revealed Fletcher's position to the enemy the delivery of aircraft to Guadalcanal boosted the morale of the Marines that day and

it couldn't have come at a moment too soon for that night a major Japanese attempt to retake the Airfield occurred in what would be called The Battle of the tenaru the Marines were attacked by 900 Japanese troops that have been stealthily landed on the island not only did they stop the attack but they encountered the following morning and practically destroyed the entire Japanese force it was a great victory for the Marines but they couldn't have known that it was only the first of many battles for control of the Airfield that laid ahead of them on

August 21st Fletcher guarded two convoys and route to Cactus he also kept a careful lookout for any approaching enemy forces but his air searches revealed none in contrast the enemy had more luck and discovered his carriers again the snooper was blown out of the sky but not before transmitting its citing report both convoys arrived by midnight and unloaded their supplies successfully however their escorts ran into trouble that night in the early morning hours of the 22nd two of the escorting destroyers were on patrol in Savo sound when suddenly they were attacked by a single Japanese

Destroyer achieving surprise the Japanese Destroyer kawakaze Unleashed a torpedo Salvo and struck the blue she then made her Escape without receiving any damage whatsoever the blue was fatally wounded and would be scuttled the next day this impressive performance confirmed the verdict of Savo Island the Japanese were Superior at night battles come daylight Fletcher launched a search and again found no major enemy forces bearing down on Guadalcanal it was now obvious that the intelligence estimate of an offensive between August 20th to the 23rd was off the much anticipated counter-offensive had failed to materialize and he began

to cast some doubts onto the accuracy of his intelligence to add to his troubles he had wasted fuel in his maneuvers and to Fletcher's Grand annoyance his force was spotted for the third time by a scout plane which was subsequently destroyed that evening Fletcher advised his Superior vice admiral Gormley of the situation he told him he was certain his location had been revealed to the enemy so he was going to move to a position further east the next day and he also told Gormley the unsettling news that task force 61 would need to reveal soon

Fletcher duly received both a response and an updated intelligence report one that corrected the previous estimate indications Point strongly to enemy attack in force on Cactus area 23rd to 26th of August from available intelligence presence of carriers possible but not confirmed important feeling to be conducted soon as possible and if practicable one carrier Task Force at a time retiring for that purpose thus by Nightfall of August 22nd what Fletcher knows is the following a major Naval engagement was forthcoming now estimated between the 23rd and the 26th if it would contain enemy carriers was yet to

be seen he had a rough order of battle of the enemy Force so he knew what forces were coming but as to their intentions that remained murky from when and where they would attack continue to be unknown all he could do was remain Vigilant and prepare for what was to come task force 61 was composed of three carriers each with its own separate task force task force 11 contained the old but reliable Saratoga Fletcher's flagship task force 16 had the much revered and battle-hardened Enterprise and task force 18 contained the newest addition to the Pacific

Fleet the small but well-led wasp combined Fletcher had 216 aircraft enough if not more to combat the estimated three carriers of the Kido Butai the morning of August 23rd began with some significant news radio analysts dispatched an intelligence report very distinct from the previous ones enemy carers were now reported not to be in home Waters but instead staging for the upcoming battle enemy carriers are now either in or near truck and Kondo's powerful second fleet was reportedly roaming the truck rabaul area although grateful for this significant update the intentions of these forces still remained unknown

in either case if accurate the location of the carriers meant they were days away from making an appearance regardless Fletcher decided not to take anything for granted and remain alert to all possibilities he will launch his own searches and see what he himself could find he didn't have to wait long for the first enemy reports to arrive at 0942 he received a report that a pby had spotted eight ships 250 miles north of cactus which made it 350 miles Northwest of him there was no description course or speed of deciding based on this incomplete intelligence

Fletcher decided to wait for a more precise report before acting on it that came at 11 54. the group was now identified as two Cruisers three destroyers and four transports closing guada Canal from the Northwest at 17 knots with this concrete information Fletcher reverse course and began to close the distance to this target however Fletcher was still reluctant to launch against this surface Force which by the looks of it was an enemy Convoy first off he was out of range and second wanting to guard against all possibilities he wanted to hold off and await further

developments maybe enemy carriers or condos powerful second Fleet were nearby however the remain nervous morning searches revealed neither all that were found were some submarines in the area two flow planes near the Convoy and two transports with two destroyers at the shortland islands now this was rather unusual thus far in his experience every major operation involving amphibious Landings came with carrier support and so far there is no sign of them so in a rather Reckless move it appeared the Japanese were standing in a convoy with practically no air cover well if that was the case

he would make them pay for that mistake so at 1415 lacking any more suitable targets Fletcher ordered a strike on the Convoy the trip would be quite a stretch so no fighter escorts were provided since they lacked the range to make it also the strike leader Commander felt was told to return to guadalcanal that evening instead of making a dangerous night landing on the carrier 31 sbds and 6 tbfs were given the search and destroy mission and they took off at 1440. the Marines on Cactus were also told of this incoming Convoy so they sent

their own greeting party as well 10-strike aircraft with 13 escorts were launched at 1615. both strikes reached the reported area but found nothing nothing below but empty ocean that clever Convoy must have put back once they realized it was being shadowed by the pby both air groups returned safely to guadacana that night Fletcher was disappointed that his strike had failed to find the Convoy but nevertheless glad that his Flyers hadn't suffered any losses that evening Fletcher receives a new intelligence report and is going to greatly influence his next course of action and surprise surprise this

new report differs from the one received that morning this time it confidently places the carriers not in or near truk but instead and Route Japan to truck thus enemy carriers were actually farther than 1300 miles from him simply looking at a chart it could be calculated that if enemy carriers were still north of truck they could not possibly make an appearance earlier than the 27th or the 28th of August this new update only confirmed Fletcher's impression of the developing situation namely that although clearly an operation was assembling the much anticipated counter-offensive itself was days away

from taking place his own afternoon search confirmed it revealing no enemy ships except for a lone Convoy according to this Fletcher now had a window of opportunity to finally remedy a problem that had been bothering him in recent days fuel now fuel was not at a critical level at this point but if he kept waiting he would be critics could say that this was his fault for not being prepared before but remember the vague estimates he received on when the enemy should arrive they caused him to waste fuel he was first told that the battle

would come between the 20th and the 23rd he was ready then three days passed and nothing only to be told nope our mistake battle will come between the 23rd and the 26th he was ready for that scenario as well and intel was now suggesting that the carriers couldn't even make an appearance for another four days so his next decision was logical with the latest Intel placing the enemy carriers over 1300 miles away and his own searches revealing no major forces except for that one pesky Convoy Fletcher believed that now was as good time as any

to fuel at 1820 the WASP was detached to refuel for Dawn on the 24th the WASP leaves and takes with it its 63 aircraft lectures powerful task force has now been reduced to 153 aircraft with 38 of them on Guadalcanal the day have been somewhat disappointing so far but at least the situation looks stable with action not seeming likely for the next few days Fletcher must have gone to bed frustrated with the day's lack of conclusion the morning of the 24th was expected to be a rather quiet one for Admiral Fletcher in his mind the

only Target that might appear this day would probably be that elusive Convoy that had avoided his strike the day before if discovered again he vowed to destroy it this time the Enterprise was scheduled to be the duty carrier providing the air searches and combat Air Patrol while Saratoga would be the strike carrier tasked with destroying the enemy if it appeared again Sarah's Air Group furloughed on Guadalcanal was expected to be back at 10 30. now I have to prepare the audience for the Mayhem that is about to come and for this we need to know

the limits of aerial reconnaissance in 1942. discovering the enemy via search planes was far from easy and accurate many factors hindered its effectiveness first there was human error messages could be delayed when sent up the chain of command also it was very common for Pilots to misidentify the ships they saw or accidentally report its position off by some miles second the particular atmospheric conditions in the South Pacific tended to garble and block messages so despite One's best efforts you could send an accurate report just to have it come out garbled at the other end with

that in mind let's look at the reconnaissance plan for that day in addition to Fletcher's own morning search that day 6 PBYs from ndeni were also sent to cover the waters north of task force 61. none of the 20 search planes Fletcher sent found the enemy but every single pby ran into Japanese forces starting at 10 hundred hours a series nay a flood of reports began to arrive to Fletcher all of which ended up influencing the course of events let's begin at 1003 a pby discovers two light Cruisers and a destroyer 300 miles away from

Fletcher's position at the same time a B-17 from Espiritu Santo found an enemy Cruiser 125 miles from Henderson field at 1016 the easternmost pby spotted two Cruisers and two destroyers 330 miles off task Force 61. at 10 30 the same pilot reported being attacked by three aircraft later reported as zeros at just about the same time another Catalina reports being attacked by zero type Fighters and that he was returning to base at 10 50 yet another pby claimed it was being attacked by unspecified enemy aircraft this occurred 330 miles north of task force 61. although

no carriers have been reported these last few messages of zero-type aircraft being encountered were worrisome for Fletcher they were the first evidence that enemy carriers might be in the vicinity while Fletcher was monitoring these early reports saratoga's Air Group finally arrived from Guadalcanal this was welcome news since all these sightings meant that a busy day was ahead of them but no sooner had they landed that the most startling message came at 11 16. but not from any of the search planes but from Enterprises Commander rear Admiral Kinkaid a carrier had been spotted at 0-935 a

pby ran across a carrier two Cruisers and a destroyer the pilot sent his report which the Enterprise received but unfortunately the Saratoga didn't KinKaid wisely rebroadcasted the siding to Fletcher by radio but again Saratoga failed to receive it it was only now that Kinkaid suspicious of the inactivity of his Commander asked him to confirm the carrier siding Fletcher quickly acknowledged and thanked Kinkaid for this important update so wow barely into the battle and already communication failures are obstructing the commander from reacting appropriately the most crucial sighting had been delivered successfully but it was over an

hour and a half old in a similar manner at 11 17 another delayed message was received by Fletcher a light Cruiser and four unidentified ships have been found at zero nine zero five therefore at around 11 30 this is what vice admiral Fletcher sees a nightmare his hope of having an uneventful day has been shattered clearly the much anticipated counter-offensive was now underway with at least one carrier confirmed and surely two more carriers were lurking nearby there had to be there was no way Japan was conducting an operation this big without all three the problem

was the remaining two had yet to be found it would be no exaggeration to say that the situation looked critical battle had commenced days before being expected and with the WASP unable to participate it's at this moment that Fletcher must have begun to regret his decision of letting the WASP refuel his flawed intelligence had put him in such a terrible position so some analysis could be made at this point the surface unit cited posed no immediate threat to Fletcher's carriers so they can be disregarded they're not worth hitting it's these sightings that warrant our attention

clearly the sighting of a carrier with an additional report that zeros were active meant that this was definitely a carrier worse yet it was at best only within extreme striking range on the Eastern sector all there was were these two reports of aircraft but no definite sightings on carriers now you just can't conclude that aircraft encounter means an enemy carriers nearby there is always the possibility that Pilots had gotten a bit jumpy and misidentified the aircraft they could be carrier-based Fighters or they could be float planes from Cruisers so until carriers were confirmed Fletcher decides

to put these sightings on hold as suspicious but not urgent so a dilemma had arrived for Admiral Fletcher Kinkaid tells Fletcher that an airstrike is possible against the one carrier that has been found the target has probably closed the distance and should be 245 Miles Away by now just within striking range should Fletcher launch at the only confirmed carrier sighting he has now or hold back and wait until he finds the remaining two carriers in carrier Warfare launching your strike first is advantageous if he is lucky he can destroy the carrier with his Planes still

on board but then again you don't want to throw your main punch at just one carrier it would be ideal if you could find all three so you could then plan your attack more carefully although waiting could be dangerous given that no enemy search planes had been detected on radar so far it looked like his position hasn't been revealed to the enemy and it would be safe to wait so if you were Fletcher at this moment what would you do [Music] well if you decided not to have a trigger finger and instead hold back your

airstrike for future use then you followed in Fletcher's exact footsteps Fletcher made the decision to wait for further developments he would close the distance with the only known carrier thus far and hold back the strike group in the hopes the two remaining carriers would be found the reluctance can be explained the situation was looking eerily similar to what he faced at Coral Sea in that battle he had launched his entire strike against what he believed was the main enemy Force only to discover that he had struck a light carrier while his main prey got off

scot-free the next day that same pair fatally damaged his carrier he did not want that to happen again so convinced that additional carriers were nearby Fletcher ordered a second air search to find them meanwhile the Saratoga had its Air Group ready 50 aircraft on the deck fueled and armed ready to attack any further carriers that would turn up meanwhile Fletcher's tactical situation just kept getting Grimmer at 11 50 radar detected a snooper in Disguise 30 miles away the Mavis flying boat was shot down by Fighters at 12 13. fortunately no radio Transmissions from the plane

were detected this and given the fact of how far away it had been shot down Fletcher felt his position had not been revealed at 12 42 an updated siding report comes in of some surface units heading north but most importantly no carrier is reported among them 10 minutes later another enemy search aircraft appears on radar a low flying Betty gets intercepted and destroyed but this time only seven miles from Saratoga again just like the previous search aircraft no reported transmission was detected but as you can imagine Fletcher didn't believe his luck could be that good

he would later say the presence of these planes clearly indicated that our position must be known to the enemy then at 1320 a significant development occurs saratoga's radar detects an airstrike that was already airborne but fortunately for Fletcher the Air Group appeared to be heading towards Cactus and not him however for Fletcher this was the last straw he had waited as long as he dared many reasons were now compelling him to Launch first he firmly believed his position had been revealed to the enemy this strike could divert at any time and head towards him instead

or another strike could come from the two undiscovered carriers second his vulnerability if he kept waiting he would risk getting attacked with aircraft on board which as we saw at Midway would be disastrous and third time was a factor it was already well into the afternoon time was running out if you wanted to strike and return before dark so again the question was posed should Fletcher attack this Sole carrier or continue to press his luck and wait for the remaining two to appear keeping in mind the high possibility that his position has been revealed and

an enemy airstrike could come at any time again I would ask you to consider the options this time around what would you do [Music] well Fletcher felt he had no other choice having failed to discover any other carriers he decided to send this powerful Air Group towards the loan carrier Northwest of him at 1340 he sent Aloft 30 dive bombers and eight torpedo bombers as before no escorts were given because of the distance Fletcher still retaining hope that the remaining two carers would appear ordered his carriers to form a small reserve from whatever planes they

could find in such an event while Sarah was launching her Air Group a new bogey appeared on Enterprises radar Fighters were sent and the float plane was destroyed again weirdly enough no transmission was detected from the aircraft as Sara's Air Group was in route Fletcher got an update on the lone carrier that surely disappointed him the carrier was believed to be the light carrier ryujo great his main striking force was heading for a secondary Target while his main prey remained at large and undiscovered vigilance was an absolute must at this moment at 1440 reports came

in from Cactus it had been attacked at 1415 four fighters on combat Air Patrol spotted an enemy formation to the north this Air Group belonged to the ryujo it consisted of 6 kate bombers and 15 zeros no doubt this was the same airstrike that Fletcher had earlier detected on radar and as suspected Henderson had been its Target all along the four Wildcats rushed in to engage the formation the alarm was raised and 12 additional Fighters scrambled to the sky despite this the bombers reached Henderson field successfully and released their bombs at 14 30. they left

an accurate cluster of craters below but it caused no real damage following right behind them were nine fighters who strafed the runway on their way out the air group was set upon by Fighters and it suffered some considerable losses ryujo's Air Group ended up losing 4 Kates and three zeros in return Cactus loss three Fighters given the losses of the Air Group and the negligible damage to the Airfield the air raid can be seen as a failure the Marine pilots landed back at Henderson and rejoiced enthusiastically in what was their first major aerial Victory against

the Japanese as the Marines successfully defended themselves against the air raid the Enterprise afternoon search continued reporting a further series of contacts most were just amplifying reports of that light carrier that Sara's Air Group was currently heading towards but the most ominous transmission came at 1525 a Garbo transmission was heard and all that was received was that a pilot had unsuccessfully attacked two CVS with decks full and that was it no location no course no speed nothing somewhere in this immense sector two carriers had been cited but as to where it was was anybody's guess

as can be seen the day was truly turning out to be one of frustration and disappointment Fletcher had kept a small reserve strike on board the Enterprise and Saratoga in the event these two elusive carriers appeared and they finally had but with no location he couldn't do anything about it realizing the danger if the reserve kept waiting on the flight deck he deliberated on what to do perhaps he should send them towards the ryujo sighting as well, he could help neutralize the target there but he soon received reports it wouldn't be necessary at 1550 felt's

Air Group appeared over the much anticipated enemy carrier and indeed it was de ryujo a light carrier just under 11 000 tons it was currently waiting to recover its Air Group that had just attacked cactus although seven Fighters were providing air cover none had vectored out to intercept The Americans felt split his Force into two groups with the larger one going for the carrier and the smaller one against the cruiser however the Nimble and quick ryujo turned to starboard in her evasive maneuvers caused all the dive bombers aiming for her to miss felt and the

remaining smaller group saw this and quickly diverted together they were able to land at least three devastating hits on the carrier torpedo bombers followed up and managed to land a hit on her starboard side the rujo was finished despite the seven fighters on combat Air Patrol not a single aircraft from felt's Air Group was lost equally telling not a single zero fighter was lost thus suggesting a lack of aggressiveness on their behalf the Americans disappeared over the horizon and saw with delight the ryujo on fire in pouring out smoke ryujo's strike group soon returned only

to discover they had nowhere to land all the planes had to ditch but their air Crews were rescued crewmen from Ryujo were evacuated as it was clear she would eventually sink the carrier slipped beneath the waves at 20 hundred hours she lost 120 men from this attack and practically all of the aircraft she had started the day with Fletcher heard about saratoga's Air Group pounding an enemy carrier it was encouraging use because at least he had gotten one while he pondered over what to do with his reserve news abruptly came that he no longer had

the option of waiting large bogeys were detected on radar 88 miles out and closing Fletcher's worst fears had finally come true he was about to absorb an enemy airstrike from an unlocated force and with his own airstrike having already been committed we will now lift the fog of War for our viewers two massive airstrikes are coming towards the Americans The elusive Japanese carers were actually just north of Fletcher and had remained undetected this entire time furthermore they had won the game it was they who had located the enemy first and it was they who were

about to strike first a moment of Reckoning was about to come for Fletcher all he could do was prepare to repel these airstrikes as best he could [Music] Lieutenant Commander Oscar Pederson task force 61's air operations officer summed up the current situation perfectly to say the least we were in a bad predicament all of our attack planes were committed on missions with the main enemy Force still unlocated and his Planes coming in to attack us the best we could do was to get ready for an air attack and hope for the best that airstrike was

now 88 miles away to the Northwest and closing it was 27 dive bombers with 10 zeros as escorts all under the command of Lieutenant Commander seki Fletcher turning to the wind and began launching all his available Fighters eventually reaching a strong combat Air Patrol of 53 Wildcats the reserve strike group on the Enterprise and Saratoga were ordered to launch immediately and head towards the ryujo contact sure she was already destroyed but maybe the pilots could find some other worthy targets nearby within 20 minutes both flight decks were clear of aircraft and the carriers took fire

preventive measures as they anxiously waited for the arrival of the enemy radar showed the enemy contact now only 44 miles away so the fighter director officer ordered 11 Wildcats along with 16 in support to the Northwest to intercept the airstrike however two major issues would hinder their effectiveness the first was altitude radar could accurately detect an incoming strike and its course but what it could not estimate was its altitude that relied on some guesswork on part of the fighter director officers and they unfortunately calculated the strike at 12 000 feet when in reality it was

actually at sixteen thousand feet the second was poor radio discipline all the fighters shared the same frequency keep in mind that only one transmission could be made at a time when One Pilot talked on the radio no one else could as you can imagine for the fighter director having to direct 53 pilots on one frequency during a battle would become a near impossible task with that said the distant interception was a mess Seki had spotted task force 61 earlier at 1620 and had turned abruptly to the east he did this because he wanted to attack

the American carriers from the north this unexpected change of course in addition to the interception altitude being too low cost both fighter groups to practically Miss seki's formation as it simply flew over them further hindering interception was the poor radio discipline American Pilots would display making unnecessary Transmissions such as these Transmissions blocked the fighter circuit and the fighter director officer was unable to grasp the situation and Victor out his Fighters effectively only one zero was destroyed while seki's bomber formation pushed on through therefore as 1638 the Japanese dive bombers had successfully penetrated the outer combat

Air Patrol screen and had made it to their targets without a scratch seki split the formation into two groups he would personally lead 18 dive bombers towards the Enterprise while the remaining nine went for the Saratoga Fierce anti-aircraft fire greeted seki and his men as they reached their dive points over the Enterprise at 1641 Enterprises ordeal begins the first couple of vals missed but a hit was scored near the number three elevator going through three decks before exploding the second hit landed near the AFT elevator as well igniting serious fires and finally a 10-foot hole

was blown in the center of the flight deck intense anti-aircraft fire forced the last three planes to attack the battleship North Carolina but they scored no hits meanwhile on the other side the remaining nine dive bombers had flown towards the Saratoga however this division ran into Fierce opposition from Fighters so they diverted for the Enterprise instead on their way there two planes including the flight leader were destroyed causing the Air Group to split into two sections four vals dived on the battleship North Carolina but all missed the remaining three aircraft went for the wounded Enterprise

but fortunately for her all missed as well the survivors of the Japanese airstrike now turned North to head back home but that's when their real trouble began vengeful Wildcat set upon them and caused additional losses to the Air Group all told when the survivors returned home they discovered they had lost 19 dive bombers and six zeros that was an atrocious 68 percent of their Air Group. A heavy price to pay... but for their effort they had heavily damaged the Enterprise for the Americans only five Wildcats have been lost during this dramatic engagement the Enterprise was

on fire but thanks to her superb damage control parties the fires were quickly contained the hose on her flight deck were patched up and within an hour flight deck operations had resumed meanwhile on the Saratoga Fletcher was relieved they had survived the main blow and had made it out more or less intact but this short period of safety did not last long because radar showed a new contact only 50 miles away a 1651 this was a follow-up airstrike the Japanese had sent it was composed of 27 dive bombers and nine zeros under the command of

Lieutenant Takahashi and to make things worse as an indirect result of the bomb hits Enterprises steering engine shorted out and her Rudder jammed to starboard she was now helplessly stuck steaming in circles at 10 knots Fletcher nervously awaited on what was no doubt about to be the coup de gras for The Big E the airstrike would inevitably Target the wounded Enterprise who given her situation was practically a Sitting Duck nervous radar operators on the Enterprise tracked the incoming strike but bizarrely it flew an arc around task 461 and ended up south of the carriers then

the contact turned West and at 1827 it disappeared off screen to the northwest it was never seen again four reasons unbeknownst at that time the second Japanese airstrike failed to appear over task force 61. wow obviously something had gone terribly wrong for the Japanese and with that great Stroke of Luck the Enterprise was spared her killing blow Enterprise we gained steering control at 1853 and together with the Saratoga begin heading Southeast to recover the remaining aircraft now we can discuss what happened to that Reserve strike of 26 planes that had taken off right before the

enemy attacked well there is no Rendezvous of the two carrier groups as hoped Sara's Air Group went North and ran into Kondo's Advanced Force they scored two damaging near misses on the seaplane tender Chitose the Enterprises group themselves split into two groups and proceeded separately the dive bombers headed west found nothing and landed on Guadalcanal and the torpedo bombers also failed to find any Targets but returned to the carriers the last plane Airborne landed amazingly at 2303 so with that in a somewhat anti-climactic finale the carrier Clash at the Battle of Eastern Solomons was over

that evening upon further re-evaluation from all the contacts it was discovered that a powerful surface force was dashing towards task force 61. if Fletcher reversed course he could engage in a night battle with his own forces but Fletcher deemed it unwise Japanese surface forces were Superior in number and as mentioned earlier the Japanese had displayed an impressive ability for night battles on top of that he was low on fuel Enterprise was badly damaged and he knew the enemy retained at least two undamaged carriers in light of this Fletcher decided to withdraw although he knew it

would be controversial it said that Fletcher slumped in his chair and jokingly said boys I'm going to get two dispatches tonight one from Admiral Nimitz telling me what a wonderful job we did and one from King saying why in hell didn't you use her destroyers and make torpedo attacks and by God they'll both be right as expected Fletcher's decision to retire would receive criticism it was believed he wasn't aggressive enough with his surface forces that night but even without hindsight we can see Fletcher had made the right choice there comparing the numbers available any night

battle fletchered offered to the enemy probably wouldn't have gone favorably for him in view of this Fletcher made the right call to call off the battle so Fletcher retired South the next morning surprisingly revealed that the kidobutai had also made the decision to withdraw so ironically both opponents had mutually caught it quits and retired from the area for both the kido butai and task force 61 the battle was over but the operation wasn't let's not forget why this battle had been fought over in the first place it was so the Japanese could land troops on

Guadalcanal to retake Henderson field and astonishingly despite the inconclusive carrier engagement the Convoy had carried on with its mission with no American carriers nearby in support it was up to the cactus Air Force to stop The Invasion Force the Convoy bearing South to Guadalcanal was under the command of rear Admiral Tanaka he had been ordered to continue on with his mission despite the indecisive carrier battle of the 24th unbeknownst to him a radar-equipped pby sighted his Convoy as he trekked South that night by Dawn the Marines were ready to deal with this threat eight marine

and navy sbds with 10 escorts took off to find them the escorts had to break off for lack of fuel but it didn't matter because when the bomber stumbled across Tanaka's Force they discovered it conveniently had no air cover whatsoever the five Marine bombers dived on Tanaka's light Cruiser and struck her bow the explosion knocked the Admiral unconscious but he would survive the three Navy bombers dived on the transport Kinryu Maru and Set her Ablaze only now did they realize the foolishness of sending an unprotected Convoy towards an enemy Air Base the Convoy mission was

called off but the convoys misery wasn't over the destroy mutsuki was alongside the burning kinyumaru taking on board survivors when a flight of three b-17s appeared in a rare achievement the b-17s were remarkably accurate with their high-level bombings they struck the destroyer and she sank the transport was subsequently scuttled by the evening the Convoy had retired North leaving behind the transport and a destroyer Beneath the Sea therefore by preventing Japanese reinforcements from reaching Guadalcanal the Valiant Cactus Flyers had transformed an indecisive Clash of carriers into an Allied strategic success total losses for the Battle of

Eastern Solomons were the following for the Japanese the light carrier ryujo was lost as well as a transport and a destroyer in addition heavy damage was dealt to two more ships they also lost 64 carrier aircraft but the most damaging aspect of all were the 61 experience air crew with it this was yet another batch of the finite Elite Airmen that the ijn had relied upon since the start of the war being permanently removed from the roster and for the Americans the price for their victory was light just heavy damage to the Enterprise which required

her to go to Pearl Harbor for repairs this excluded her from participating in the Guadalcanal campaign for many weeks 16 carrier planes were lost and seven Airmen were killed Henderson field had been saved from any immediate enemy threat and would live to fight another day it had been an unquestionable American victory so what became of Admiral Fletcher unfortunately for him history was not kind as expected many were not happy with Fletcher's performance in the Battle of Eastern Solomons then a few days later Fletcher was embroiled in yet another controversy he found himself in a disturbingly

similar situation guarding convoys heading towards Guadalcanal between August 26th and August 31st Fletcher was ordered to operate in another holding pattern southeast of cactus lingering in a confined area and for such an extended amount of time would invariably draw unwanted attention as he had always feared on August 31st disaster struck submarine I-26 spotted a Saratoga and Unleashed a deadly Salvo of six torpedoes one of them found their Mark and heavily damaged to Saratoga the carrier would survive but would be unavailable for the next three months her Services would surely be missed as the guada canal

campaign had barely begun this was the last controversy Fletcher's career could stand the guadalcanau campaign had truly tarnished his record to begin with he pulled out early during The Invasion then between August 11th and the 20th he failed to prevent the enemy from Landing troops on the island and conducting raids not to mention that first attempt to retake the Airfield at the Battle of the tenaru he won at Eastern Solomons but many thought he failed to follow through and now he gets a precious carrier torpedoed in retrospect we can see that many of these actions

have their defensible reasons but the top brass didn't think so to their eyes at this moment they needed an aggressive bold commander and Fletcher was not it and so while yes I would agree that Fletcher was a cautious Commander just look at the irony he's now either one or survived relatively intact every engagement with the Enemy and this is the Japanese Navy in 1942 at the Pinnacle of their strength the man should be applauded for just this achievement alone in my opinion Fletcher didn't get the credit he deserved anyways as it was Fletcher was already

due for a rest period in the states he made his way back home on board the wounded Saratoga but Admiral King saw to it that he would never get a combat command in the South Pacific again instead Fletcher served the rest of the war in the relatively quiet North Pacific he died in 1973. the Battle of Eastern Solomons exemplifies how confusing carrier battles were in 1942 author John Lundstrom who in the past decades has done a lot to bring a positive light to Fletcher's War record wrote history has come down hard against Frank Jack Fletcher's

competence as a carrier leader but once his decisions are studied in light of what he himself knew at the time a far different picture emerges and I hope I was able to show you that by placing you in his shoes in the first chaotic hours of August 24th in my opinion Fletcher performed as well as anyone could have given the situation so I'm going to end the video here and I'm sure for many of you this leaves you dissatisfied since you probably have some burning questions that need to be answered such as why was American

intelligence so poor prior to the battle what was the Japanese battle plan during all of this many believed that rujo was used as bait to get the Americans to send their strike in the wrong direction was this the actual case and most mysteriously why didn't the second airstrike find the Enterprise and lastly why did the Japanese withdraw from the battle on the 24th and let the Convoy continue on without any air cover well surely these must be answered and if you are feeling disappointed and Confused that I didn't well it's intentional because this is how

battles were fought you'd fight with your enemy and be left with so many unanswered questions it was only years later when the war was over you could finally see your adversary's battle reports and then you could get a clearer picture so if you would like answers to those questions then I encourage you to see part two of this series which can be seen as the post battle report there I answer all these questions by retelling the battle briefly again from the Japanese perspective and then add some analysis at the end as well but to be

honest this could be a standalone video most of you could probably figure out or correctly guess what was going on on the other side but like I said if you're curious for more details then I'll see you there in part two if you made it this far and watched the whole video I sincerely thank you for the view I hope you liked it and I'll see you on the next one