42: Report and Echo
“Full of the usual horror stories”: Shaw, Beside Me Still, 119. “I now see”: Ibid., 155. “As soon as I could talk”: Graff interview. “The requirement to be ready”: Mustin interview, 513. “Think creatively” and “There are no secrets”: Graff interview. “Something new the psychiatrists”: Custer, Through the Perilous Night, 223. “We have received news”: Ibid., 238–239. “You may not care”: Ibid., 241. “This young man”: Harrison interview. The Sullivans in Waterloo: Satterfield, We Band of Brothers, 199. “The most complete and lucid report”: Hepburn, “Report of Informal Inquiry into the Circumstances Attending the Loss of the USS Vincennes, Quincy and Astoria, and HMAS Canberra, on 9 August 1942, in the Vicinity of Savo Island (Solomon Islands),” 37.
43: The Opinion of Convening Authority
“No one man was responsible”: Weaver, “Some Reminiscences,” 14. “In every circle”: Livy, Book 44, chapter 22. A typescript of a fuller version of this quotation is contained in the Ghormley Papers, box 15, folder u. ECU. “The deficiencies which manifested”: Russell to King, “Memo for Admiral,” 2. In his command study of Admiral Fletcher, Black Shoe Carrier Admiral, John Lundstrom argues that Fletcher should not be criticized for deciding to withdraw Task Force 61 because the decision was announced at a conference in advance of its execution. The record establishes that neither Nimitz nor Ghormley managed to referee this important disagreement among their subordinates. “Sheer stodgy unimaginative bureaucratic complacency”: Stone, “Brass Hats Undaunted,” September 8, 1945, in The Best of I. F. Stone, 90. “Too indefinite in regard” and “No special battle plan”: cited in Hepburn, “Report of Informal Inquiry into the Circumstances Attending the Loss of the USS Vincennes, Quincy and Astoria, and HMAS Canberra, on 9 August 1942, in the Vicinity of Savo Island (Solomon Islands),” Paragraph 79, 35. “Were faulty in requiring them”: Ibid., 35–36. “Only one plan”: Ibid., 41. “In my opinion”: Ibid., 44. “I have been accused”: Dyer, The Amphibians Came to Conquer, 372. “I have always hesitated”: Buell, The Quiet Warrior, 174–175. “There is generally a twilight zone” and “In my opinion the primary cause: Hepburn, “Report,” 52–53. “Far from impressive” and “there is only one instance”: Ibid., 54. “It would be difficult”: Ibid., 53. “Granting that the immediate cause”: King to Forrestal, September 14, 1943, 2. “It does not necessarily follow”: COMINCH, “Memorandum for Admiral,” 4. Bode’s demerits: New York Times, “Annapolis Hazers Punished,” 1. “Seemed to be under” and “He told me” and “It was one of the most pleasant”: Commandant, 15th Naval District, “Record of Proceedings of a Board of Investigation Convened at the U.S. Naval Station Balboa, Canal Zone, in the Case of Howard D. Bode, Late Captain, U.S. Navy,” Statement of Commander, USNR, April 20, 1943, 2–3. “Although there are probably”: Bode to Hepburn, April 8, 1943, 4 (Hepburn Annex, 305). “Within the past two weeks” and “Some time recently” and “I am writing a letter” and “I can find no expression” and “I am sure that”: Bode to Hepburn, April 18, 1943, 1–2. “It is the opinion of”: Commandant, 15th Naval District, April 24, 1943 1–2. “This Bureau concurs”: Chief of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, “Second Endorsement to JAG report dated July 13, 1943, July 17, 1943, 1—.”
44: Ironbottom Sound
“The magnitude of the Solomons campaign”: Custer, Through the Perilous Night, 223. “Senior Marine Corps operations officers”: Pope, “ANZACs Criticize Ghormley Tactics,” 5. “Your father was relieved”: Nimitz to Robert L. Ghormley, Jr., January 27, 1961, Ghormley Papers. “Their hopes for a combined victory”: Weinberg, A World at Arms, 347–348. “We don’t claim to be prophets”: Collier’s, “The Idea Is to Win,” 70. “We have not begun”: Lee, “How Japan Plans to Win,” 74. “Unwilling to pay the price”: Weinberg, World, 344. The IJN’s perceived inferiority: Hirama, “Japanese Naval Preparations for World War II,” 63. “The outstanding feature”: Ohmae, “Japanese Commentary on Guadalcanal,” 59. Land fighting “decisive”; air and sea “ancillary”: Samuel B. Griffith, II, to Hanson W. Baldwin, January 17, 1961, Baldwin Papers. “If our surface forces”: Halsey manuscript, 397. “There were many courageous decisions”: Spruance to King, February 18, 1943, 25. “Purchased one night’s respite”: Frank, Guadalcanal, 461. “The key to Allied success”: Lundstrom, The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign, 523. “We have come to expect”: COMINCH, “Battle Experience: November 1942,” 27–15. “Training, TRAINING and M-O-R-E T-R-A-I-N-I-N-G”: Nimitz to King, “Solomons Island Campaign, 5th Battle of Savo,” 16. Issuance of Current Tactical Orders and Doctrine: Hone, “U.S. Navy Surface Battle Doctrine,” 72. Robert Graff quotations and trip to Solomons: Graff interview and Graff, “My Statement,” Graff Papers.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Key
NARA: National Archives and Records Administration (Archives II), College Park, Maryland
NHC: Naval Historical Center, Washington Navy Yard, Washington, DC
NMPW: National Museum of the Pacific War, Admiral Nimitz Foundation, Fredericksburg, Texas
NWC: Naval War College, Cushing Library, Newport, Rhode Island
USNI: United States Naval Institute, Annapolis, Maryland
Official Documents
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Bureau of Naval Personnel, Navy Department. Information Bulletin, 1942. NARA.
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———. (compiled by Lt. D. C. Rudd, Flag Plot, ComSoPac staff). “Operational History of the South Pacific,” undated (compiled in 1945), WWII Command File, Box 288. NARA.
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———. War Diary, July–August 1942. NARA.
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———. “Explanatory Memorandum.” No serial, February 21, 1943. Hepburn Report Annex.
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———. “Memorandum Number Two.” Serial 0013, October 10, 1942. NARA.
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Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet (COMINCH) (King). Chart Room Collection of Dispatches and Related Records, South Pacific Action Dispatches, June 30–December 31, 1942. NARA, Records of the Chief of Naval Operations, RG 38, Entry NHC-53, Boxes 114–115.
———. “Battle Experience: Solomon Islands Actions, August and September 1942” (Secret Information Bulletin No. 2), March 1, 1943. WWII Command File, Box 260, Operational Archives, NHC.
———. “Battle Experience: Solomon Islands Actions, October 1942” (Secret Information Bulletin No. 3), March 15, 1943. WWII Command File, Box 260, Operational Archives, NHC.
———. “Battle Experience: Solomon Islands Actions, November 1942” (Secret Information Bulletin No. 4), March 25, 1943, written by R. S. Edwards, COMINCH chief of staff. WWII Command File, Boxes 260–261, Operational Archives, NHC.
———. “Memorandum for Admiral,” July 31, 1943. NARA.
———. “Investigation of the Loss of the USS Vincennes, USS Quincy, USS Astoria, and HMAS Canberra.” No serial, September 14, 1943, NARA.
———. First Official Report to the Secretary of the Navy, March 1, 1944. Norwalk, Conn.: Easton Press, 2006.
———. “Comments by Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King, USN, on Chapter VI: Supporting the Guadalcanal Campaign,” undated. NWC.
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———. “Gunnery Bulletin No. 2–42,” June 6, 1942. NARA.
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———. “Future Operations in the Solomons Sea Area.” Serial 0259, December 8, 1942.
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———. “Solomon Islands Campaign from Fourth Battle of Savo, 30 November, 1942, to Munda Bombardment, 4–5 January, 1943.” Serial 00599, March 9, 1943. NARA.
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———. “Report of
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———. “Recommendations Regarding Night Action of November 1213, 1942.” Serial 007, December 30, 1942. NARA.
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