The Battle of

Santa Cruz Islands

26 October 1942

 

 

NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY
WASHINGTON
1994

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Poor, Henry V.
[Battle of Cape Esperance]
The battles of Cape Esperance, 11 October 1942 and Santa Cruz Islands, 26 October 1942.
p. cm.
Henry V. Poor authored the account of the Battle of Cape Esperance while the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands was written by Henry V. Poor, Henry A. Mustin, and Colin G. Jameson; both were published together without attribution by the Office of Naval Intelligence in 1943.
Originally published: Washington, D.C. : Publications Branch, Office of Naval Intelligence, United States Navy, 1943. (Combat narratives. Solomon Islands campaign ; 4-5)
ISBN 0-945274-21-1
1. Guadalcanal Island (Solomon Islands), Battle of; 1942-1943.
2. World War, l939-l945--Campaigns--Solomon Islands--Esperance, Cape.
3. Esperance, Cape (Solomon Islands)--History, Military.
I. Poor, Henry V. Battle of Santa Cruz Islands. 1993.
II. Mustin, Henry A. Battle of Santa Cruz Islands. 1993.
III. Jameson, Colin G. Battle of Santa Cruz Islands. 1993.
IV Series: Combat narratives. Solomon Islands campaign ; 4-5.
D767.98.P66 1993
940.54'26-dc20

93-37892
CIP

The paper used in this publication meets the requirements for permanence established by the American National Standard for Information Sciences "Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials" (ANSI Z39.4-1984).

 

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CONTENTS

Foreword			iii
Introduction			29
Forces involved			30
The approach			33
Action on Guadalcanal			34
Results of Enterprise air search			35
	Carrier Zuiho damaged		42
Our Air Groups attack			44
	First Hornet wave		45
		Shokaku hit	46
		Nachi cruiser hit	47
	The Enterprise wave		47
		Kongo-class battleship hit	48
	Second Hornet wave		53
		Chikuma hit	53
		Another Tone-class cruiser hit, as well as CL or DD	54
Summary of damage inflicted on enemy ships			55
Enemy attacks on the Hornet group			55
Enemy attacks on the Enterprise group			62
Summary of damage suffered by Task Force KING			67
Conclusions			68
Appendix A: Torpedoing of the Hornet by our destroyers			73
Appendix B: Lieut. Stanley W. Vejtasa downs seven enemy planes			75
Appendix C: Designations of United States naval ships and aircraft			77
Charts and Illustrations
Illustration:		Tone-class cruiser in Battle of Santa Cruz	27
Chart:		Battle of Santa Cruz Islands	28
Illustrations:		Damage to Hornet by suicide bomber	37
		Burning bomber dives on Hornet	38
		Plane crashes into stack	39
		Fighting resulting fires	40
		Destroyer removing wounded personnel	49
		Hornet under tow by Northampton	50
		Enemy plane drops torpedo	51
		Abandoning Hornet	52
		Torpedo plane under fire by South Dakota	69
		Enterprise turning to avoid bomb	70
		The maneuver succeeds	70
		Enterprise on reverse course	71
		She sustains a hit	71
		Enemy plane crashes into Smith	72
		Smith, after fires have been put out	72