Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal

by James D. Hornfischer

  21: Enter Fighting

  “You will take command”: Halsey, Admiral Halsey’s Story, 109. “I have always insisted on”: Ibid., 137. “We were absolutely elated”: Musicant, Battleship at War, 88. “During wartime it’s important”: Graff interview. “The Enterprise is now operating”: COMSOPAC, “Operational History of the South Pacific,” 4. “A real old salt”: U.S. Naval Academy, Lucky Bag, 1904. “We would take the top”: Soule, Shooting the Pacific War, 122. “He was a fighting man”: Custer, Through the Perilous Night, 43–44. “From the American admiral”: Hoyt, How They Won the War in the Pacific, 165–166. “Boiling oil.”…“You go to hell!” COMSOPAC, “Operational History,” 3. “Brilliant in common sense”: Mustin interview, 528. “The officers and chiefs”: Halsey, Admiral, 140. “COMPLETE WITH BLACK TIE”: Ibid., 139. “I would like to see it”: Hoyt, How They Won, 172. “As I dug into my new job”: Halsey, Admiral, 136. “The maximum possible urgency”: Halsey to Vice OpNav, October 21, 1942 (0517). “You are well aware of”: Hoyt, How They Won, 172. “What do we get in exchange?” and “We will continue to protect you”: Halsey, manuscript, 369–370; Potter, Bull Halsey, 184; Schom, The Eagle and the Rising Sun, 408–410. “If we are defeated”: Hayes, The History of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in World War II, 191. “Today—our Saturday”: Nimitz to Mrs. Nimitz, October 24, 1942. “Tired, hungry”: Nimitz to Mrs. Nimitz, October 24, 1942. “The view expressed”: Hurd, “Pacific Command Shake-Up Is Laid to Guadalcanal Crisis,” 1, 41. “What did I do that was wrong?” Nimitz to Robert L. Ghormley, Jr., January 27, 1961. “Complete lack of offensive use … I presume most of us”: Hoyt, How They Won, 168. “When history is written”: Weaver, “Some Reminiscences,” 10. “My anxiety about the Southwest Pacific”: Arnold, Global Mission, 355.

  22: “Strike—Repeat, Strike”

  “Something is in the air”: Merillat, Guadalcanal Remembered, 226–227. “Smash anything we find”: Mustin diary, October 25, 1942. Japanese forces: Frank, Guadalcanal, 374–376; Morison, The Struggle for Guadalcanal, 206–207. “The victory is already”: Frank, Guadalcanal, 341–342. “2300 BANZAI!”: Ibid., 354. “This settled everything”: Ugaki, Fading Victory, 245. “Having inferior forces”: Hoyt, How They Won the War in the Pacific, 171. “They began to echo”: Halsey, Admiral Halsey’s Story, 116. “Are we going to evacuate or hold?” and “I can hold”: Halsey, Admiral, 117. “If Vandegrift had fired an arrow”: Richard B. Frank, email to author, September 24, 2009. “Carrier power varies”: Halsey, Admiral, 120. “Strike—Repeat, Strike”: Lundstrom, The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign, 349.

  23: Santa Cruz

  U.S. aircraft strength: Lundstrom, The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign, 353. “pROCEED WITHOUT hORNET”: Moore, The Buzzard Brigade, 29. “Drove the guns into the stops”: Grahn interview. “It was beneath the dignity”: Claypool, God on a Battlewagon, 5; Backus interview, 126. Backus disputed Morison’s description of the South Dakota as an “abominably dirty” ship, 200 fn. “Forasmuch as the spirit”: Claypool, God, 7. “In their borrowed clothes”: Ibid., 6–9. “Men have to have something”: Ibid., 74. “I wish we had as many carriers”: Nimitz to Mrs. Nimitz, October 27, 1942. “Numerically or tactically” and “Considering the great superiority”: Hara, Japanese Destroyer Captain, 134.

  24: Secret History

  Pilot and aircrew casualties: Scouting Squadron 3, “Report of Operations at Guadalcanal Island,” 1–4. “Have received most earnest attention”: Turner to Vandegrift, October 29, 1942. King’s lasciviousness: Buell, Master of Sea Power, 78–79, which elaborates, “Women avoided sitting near him at dinner parties because his hands were too often beneath the table. King’s interest in women led him into a number of extramarital affairs.” “Enemy offensives since September 15”: Halsey to Commander, Task Force 42, October 30, 1942. Japanese supply requirements and capacity: Parshall, “Oil and the Japanese Strategy in the Solomons.” “In the end, one side or”: Hurd, “Navies Manoeuvre for Big Stakes in Solomons,” E3. “We won”: Graybar, “Admiral King’s Toughest Battle,” 39. “So far as I’m concerned”: McCormick, “King of the Navy,” 20. Chicago Tribune incident: Toland, The Rising Sun, vol. 1, 427. “So mismanaged was”: Graybar, “Admiral King’s,” 40. “I spoke more frankly”: Baldwin interview, 356–359. The angry captain was Charles R. “Cat” Brown (see Samuel B. Griffith to Charles R. Brown, October 10, 1962, and Griffith to Hanson W. Baldwin, October 10, 1962, Baldwin Papers). “The Boise fired on six targets”: USS Boise, “Report of Action,” 1; Fox Movietone News, “Hero ‘Battleship X’ Revealed to Be the USS South Dakota” (newsreel). “There was every reason to believe”: Graybar, “Admiral King’s,” 42–43. “There was no one in Washington”: Baldwin interview, 361–362.

  25: Turner’s Choice

  “In the half dawn” and “He couldn’t thank us enough”: Leavelle, “The Log of the Mighty A,” March 29, 1943. November 4 naval bombardment: USS Helena, “Report of Shore Bombardment,” 1–3; Turner to Nimitz, November 7, 1942 (2358). “I know we haven’t got much”: Eller interview, 590. “It wasn’t the noise”: Halsey, Admiral Halsey’s Story, 123. “The gunners fired as though”: Morris, The Fightin’est Ship, 67. “For operations against Jap light forces”: Scott to Halsey, November 8, 1942 (0020). Pensacola’s problems: Holbrook, The History and Times of the USS Portland, 175. “He spent a great deal of time”: Mustin interview, 523. Japanese plans: Frank, Guadalcanal, 429. U.S. estimates: Turner to Callaghan, “Letter of Instructions Concerning Future Operations of Task Force 67,” quoted in COMINCH, “Battle Experience: November 1942,” 27-17, 27-18. “It looks this time”: Hoyt, How They Won the War in the Pacific, 182–183. “We must establish local naval superiority”: Baldwin, “Lessons of the Solomons Campaign,” 3.

  26: Suicide

  “I heard about all the plans”: Tarrant interview. Turner’s order to Callaghan: Turner to Callaghan, November 12, 1942 (0133), quoted in Nimitz, “Preliminary Report of Action, 12–13 November 1942,” 3. “He said to me, ‘Yes’ ”: Tarrant interview. “The wind carried their voices”: Bennett interview. “Calm, unemotional, resolute”: Bennett, “Callaghan Was Calm …, ” 18. “We were all prepared to die”: Whitt interview. “All hell seemed dancing”: www.siprep.org/about/si_history_brief.cfm. Callaghan, Virgil, and Dante: Murphy, Fighting Admiral, www.microworks.net/pacific/library/fa-chapter1.htm. Joe Foss interception: SOPAC, “Naval Air Combat Intelligence Report,” November 8–12, 1942; COMINCH, “Battle Experience: November 1942,” 27-8. “An old-time cavalry deployment”: McCandless, “The San Francisco Story,” 37. “With this beautifully clear view”: Mustin interview, 564. “Seemed to literally hammer them”: COMINCH, “Battle Experience: November 1942,” 28-8. “I just had time”: Wallace quoted at www.modelwarships.com/features/words/Wallace/Wallace.html. “We heard them yelling”: Morris, The Fightin’est Ship, 71. “To set his ship down” and Betty versus DD: Leavelle, “The Log of the Mighty A,” March 30, 1943. “There was no comment”: Jack Slack quoted in Parrent, Third Savo, 60. “Almost pathetically”: Morris, The Fightin’est Ship, 72–73. “I got him over my shoulders” and “How he got into”: Wallace, www.usssanfrancisco.org. “A delaying action”: COMSOPAC, “Operational History of the South Pacific,” 19. Turner wrote Callaghan, “At White Poppy (Nouméa) is Task Force 16. I have no knowledge as to its future movements.” COMINCH, “Battle Experience: November 1942,” 27-17, 27-18. “God’s burning finger”: Melville, Moby-Dick, 579. “This is suicide, you know”: Hammel, Guadalcanal: Decision at Sea, 112. “You will not fear”: Bible, Psalm 91, New International Version. “If Callaghan had had”: Mustin interview, 571, 574. “Only to show disparity”: Bennett interview. “You’re in no condition”: Bennett interview. “I was praying”: Howe interview, 21.

  27: Black Friday

  “A place of bitter struggles”: Ugaki, Fading Victory, 255. Volunteer Attack Force usage: Dull, Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 256–257. “In all the years of” and “This blessed squall”:
Hara, Japanese Destroyer Captain, 138. “Small island” and “Prepare for gun”: Ibid., 140. “A blackness so thick” and “Where in the hell”: Hartney, “The Story of the Juneau,” 2. U.S. approach: USS Cushing, “Report of Engagement,” 1; USS Helena, “Action Off North Coast,” 17. “When we finally had”: Graff interview. “As uncomplicated as”: Morris, The Fightin’est Ship, 84. “We knew the bearing”: Hagen interview. “Solution! Enemy course 107”: Calhoun, Tin Can Sailor, 75. “I said a short prayer”: McKinney, CL-51 Revisited, 39. “There is a ship crossing”: USS Cushing, “Report of Engagement,” 1. “What do you make of it”: USS Helena, Extracts from Helena’s TBS Log for 0142. “Shall I let them have”: Ibid., 1441 GCT. “There in the starlight”: Mustin interview, 576. “What are you doing, Sam?”: USS Portland, “Night Action Between Task Force 67.4 and Japanese Forces, November 13, 1942,” 3. Turn ninety degrees left: The Portland’s action report states at 0146, “At about this time, column movement 90 degrees L to 270 degrees was believed ordered.” The Helena’s TBS log indicates at 0149, “Changed course to left. Hard left rudder.” “PROBABLE ENEMY SHIPS IN SIGHT”: Frank, Guadalcanal, 440. “There was a stampede”: Hara, Japanese, 141.

  28: Into the Light

  “The light seemed high”: Cochran, “Recollections.” “Counter-illuminate!”: Graff interview; Morison manuscript, p. 6, has Nickelson ordering counter-illumination; but Graff, who was there, states that Jenkins ordered counter-illumination and that Nickelson exclaimed as indicated. See also Leavelle, “The Log of the Mighty A,” March 31, 1943. “Action port”: USS Atlanta, “Engagement with Japanese Surface Forces Off Guadalcanal,” Encl. D, Paragraph 4. “You couldn’t help but see”: Mustin interview, 579. “Odd ships commence fire”: USS Portland, “Night Action Between Task Force 67.4 and Japanese Forces, November 13, 1942,” 3. “A display of futility”: Mustin interview, 585. “It was disorganized”: Becton, The Ship That Would Not Die, 9. “A roar so constant”: Barham, The 228 Days of the United States Destroyer Laffey (DD-459), 81–82. “It was so close”: Hale, letter to author, 2. “She was only about”: Barham, 228 Days, 81–82. “So close Hank could have”: Becton, The Ship, 9. “The whole world suddenly” and “The Laffey was designed”: Barham, 228 Days, 84. “The next second”: Ibid., 84–85. “I could see that”: Hale, letter to author, 2. “The air was full”: Barham, 228 Days, 89. “I gulped”: Hara, Japanese Destroyer Captain, 114. “A form of firecracker”: USS Sterett, “Report of Action on Night of November 12–13, 1942,” 7. “A ghostly gray”: Ibid., 4. “Oh, you poor”: Calhoun, Tin Can Sailor, 78–79. “It was as if a huge” and “The number-four handling room”: Parrent, Third Savo, 32. Damage to Sterett: USS Sterett, “Report,” 2, 6. Citations of Sterett’s crew: Ibid., 11–15.

  29: The Killing Salvo

  “Should have sufficed”: McCandless, “The San Francisco Story,” 39. Callaghan may have realized that a close-range fight was the only way his cruisers could defeat battleships, but no evidence exists that this was his design. “At least four bursts of flame”: USS Portland, “Night Action Between Task Force 67.4 and Japanese Forces, November 13, 1942,” Encl. B, “Gunnery Officer’s Report,” 2. “Practically all of our shots”: USS Helena, “Action Off North Coast Guadalcanal,” 5. “The tracers from fifteen guns”: Luehman interview, 6. “Smoky orange bonfire”: Morris, The Fightin’est Ship, 86. “The Atlanta’s turning left” and “First I had to swing”: McCandless, “The San Francisco Story,” 40–41. “Swept out of line”: Morris, The Fightin’est Ship, 87. “A tremendous piiing”: Graff interview. “A monstrous column of water”: Mustin interview, 583. Second torpedo hit on Atlanta: Ibid., 581. “Like a pendulum”: Parrent, Third Savo, 47. “Stick a pillow in it”: Shaw, Beside Me Still, 107. “It was absolutely deafening”: Mustin interview, 582–583. Atlanta’s final range reading: McKinney, CL-51 Revisited, 45. Identification of San Francisco: Morton, Mustin, 197. “Some alarm on the port side” and damage to Atlanta: Mustin interview, 590; Leavelle, “The Log Mighty A,” April 1, 1943. My God, they got Scott: Graff interview. “Let’s get below”: Hammel, Guadalcanal: Decision at Sea, 255. “I hit, I’m pretty certain”: Moredock, quoted in National Geographic Society, The Lost Fleet of Guadalcanal. “I don’t know where I thought”: Graff interview. “Illuminated the firing ship”: Mustin interview, 588–589. “We were firing”: Gibson, “As I Remember,” 32. “Probably she drifted”: McCandless, “The San Francisco Story,” 41. The Atlanta’s William B. McKinney added, “Two years later I met the officer who had been in charge of Turret 3 on that heavy cruiser. He acknowledged that they had pumped out three three-gun salvos at what they first thought was a Japanese ship. Also, in later years, Bob Tyler [EM1/c] served on the same ship with the former San Francisco gunnery officer who conceded that all San Francisco’s main battery turrets had fired three salvos at Atlanta” (McKinney, CL-51, 49). “You could measure them”: Mustin interview, 590–591. “I continued to try our phones”: McKinney, CL-51, 40. “The smoke was so thick”: Ibid., 41. “Cease firing own ships”: USS Portland, “Night Action,” 4. “What is the dope”: Ibid., 3. One naval historian has claimed that Callaghan “gave the [cease fire] order deliberately to conceal the approach of his cruisers” and “hoped to use the extreme darkness of that particular night to his advantage.” See Hone, “Give Them Hell,” 190. I have found no evidence of this. “We fired at so many targets”: Harrison interview. “I watched, almost transfixed”: Casten, Our Ship: The Helena, 60.

  30: Death in the Machine Age

  “I drank coffee by the gallon”: Halsey manuscript, 386–387; Halsey, Admiral Halsey’s Story, 126. “The concussion could be felt”: William Marshal Chaney, 1st Battalion, 147th Infantry RCT, quoted in Parrent, Third Savo, 24. “The star shells rose, terrible and red”: Leckie, A Helmet for My Pillow, 116–118. “All you could see”: Melhorn interview, 95. “Consciously or unconsciously”: Jones, WWII, 54. “Can we open fire”: USS Helena, “Action Off North Coast of Guadalcanal,” Encl. B, TBS log, 1500 GMT (0200 GMT –11), 3. “The duel about to begin” and “Two four-gun salvos hit”: McCandless, “The San Francisco Story,” 41. “We just put a nine-gun”: Hamilton interview. Hits claimed: USS San Francisco, “Action Report—Night Action—Nov. 12–13, 1942,” 2. “With a pagoda-like superstructure”: Spencer, The War Years, 76. “Just like a barroom brawl”: Trumbull, “Mortally Wounded U.S. Destroyer Torpedoed Japanese Battleship,” 5. “From bow to stern” and “Attempting to locate”: USS O’Bannon, “Report of Engagement with Japanese Units on Morning of November 13, 1942,” 3. “Seemingly everywhere”: McCandless, “The San Francisco Story,” 49. “The smell of burning flesh”: Bennett interview. “That failure kept me alive”: Arison, “A Battle to Remember.” “One instant I was fine”: Spencer, The War Years: Hellfire and Glory, 77. “I’ve lost steering control, sir!” McCandless, “The San Francisco Story,” 41–42. Schonland’s damage-control efforts: Schonland interview 1, 28–37. “This locker is too thin”: Spencer, email to author, February 4, 2009. “Mangled red meat” and “Get off of me”: Spencer, The War Years, 77. “Leaving Higdon” and “Against a midnight-blue”: McCandless, “The San Francisco Story,” 42–43. “Fighting by departments” and “We had good interior communications”: Ibid., 44–46.

  31: Point Blank

  Portland’s torpedo hit and exchange with Hiei: USS Portland, “Night Action Between Task Force 67.4 and Japanese Forces, November 13, 1942,” 4, 7, 8; Encl. B, gunnery officer’s report, 3. “Other ships, blazing”: Morris, The Fightin’est Ship, 87. “Wallowing there”: Hartney, “The Story of the USS Juneau,” 3. “A weird, unforgettable pageantry”: Ibid., 4–5. “Chief, just get me going”: Barham, The 228 Days of the United States Destroyer Laffey (DD-459), 90. “My first reaction”: Ibid., 95. “That these disasters”: McCandless, “The San Francisco Story,” 42. “Like a huge apartment building”: Cook interview. “Don’t cheer, men”: Maclay, The Life and Adventures of Jack Philip, Admiral, USN, 254 n. Damage to Hiei: Tully, “Death of Batt
leship Hiei.” Kirishima’s withdrawal: Tokuno, USSBS interrogation, 2. “In the confused picture”: USS Portland, “Night Action,” 4. “Shell drunk” and “I hunched my back”: Hara, Japanese Destroyer Captain, 149, 158. Damage to Helena: USS Helena, “Action Off North Coast of Guadalcanal,” 17; Luehman interview. “We’re going to take water”: Schonland interview 1, 32. “Rogers couldn’t see”: Bennett interview. “We were the only game” and “You move like”: Tarrant interview. “I am reluctant to compare”: Becton, The Ship That Would Not Die, 9. “Exploded and simply disappeared”: USS Fletcher, “Report of Action,” 4. “The ship, broken in two”: Hara, Japanese, 146. Damage to Aaron Ward: USS Aaron Ward, “Report of Action,” 6; Hagen, Nimitz Museum interview, 20; author interview. “Hey Joe, aren’t you glad”: Wylie, NWC interview, 72.