Why did the U.S. military lose in the naval battle of Savo Island? A detailed introduction to the naval battle of Savo Island

In World War II, Japan did not dare to confront the United States head-on, so it used tactical attacks every time. The attack on Pearl Harbor was completely sudden and without warning, so the Japanese gained the upper hand for the time being. However, in the naval battle of Savo Island, the American army defeated the Japanese army. Why? After the war, the US military also acknowledged the Japanese tactical attack and caught them off guard. After all, both sides are alert this time. Let's talk about the process of the naval battle on Savo Island and the reasons for the failure of the US military. But in most cases, the US military will still have an absolute advantage over the Japanese army.

1942 in August, fierce war has been burning in the Pacific for 8 months. Strategically, the large-scale offensive of the Japanese Empire has stopped, and the two sides have begun to enter a stalemate stage. In this context, the US Navy began to try to launch the first strategic counterattack, that is, to launch the "_ Watchtower" operation centered on landing and seizing Guadalcanal Island. The strategic counterattack of the US military eventually led to a fierce battle between Japan and the United States for seven months, which continued until the Japanese army finally withdrew from Guadalcanal Island. During the seven-month-long war, there were seven fierce maritime confrontations between the United States and Japan, among which the battle of Savoy Island, which broke out on August 9 1942, was the most painful defeat of the US military since the Pearl Harbor incident. All four heavy cruisers were sunk by the Japanese onslaught. Fortunately, the transport fleet was not attacked by the Japanese fleet.

The most painful defeat: the naval battle of Savo Island.

After the Battle of Midway, the focus of the US-Japan struggle shifted to the South Pacific again. 1942, 13 In June, Japan decided to build an aviation base on Guadalcanal Island, a big island directly opposite tulagi, where a turbine base has been established. In mid-June and early July, two naval battalions arrived in Guadalcanal Island and began to build the airport.

Just when the Japanese army began to build the airport, the Americans decided to take measures: never let the airport be completed, at least let the airport be controlled by the Japanese. On June 24th, General King asked Nimitz to recapture Tulaji Island and its surrounding areas.

Although time was short and preparations were insufficient, Sheng was caught off guard by the Japanese army, so the allied forces landed successfully on August 7 1942. After a short and fierce battle, Tulaji Island was occupied by allied forces. Japan's resistance in Guadalcanal is negligible. On the afternoon of August 8, the airport under construction was also seized by the Allies.

In the Pacific War, the Japanese army responded quickly to the first counterattack of the United States. On August 7th and 8th, the 25th Japanese Air Force took off from rabaul and attacked the allied landing fleet. Due to the interception of allied carrier aircraft, these two days' air strikes ended with heavy losses of Japanese troops and little losses of allied landing operations, but it seriously delayed and delayed the unloading operation of allied transport fleet. After the air raid, the Japanese army fought back on a larger scale! On August 7th, Sanchuan Army led the Eighth Fleet of their lair, including five heavy patrols and two light patrols, and landed on the beach.

In the early morning of August 9, when the Japanese fleet approached the waters of Savo Island, two American destroyers equipped with warning radar were unaware of it. At that time, after Japanese watchers found the destroyer "Blue" about 9000 meters away, Sanchuan ordered the fleet to reduce its speed to 22 knots to reduce the wake at the stern and change its course to the north of Savo Island. Four minutes later, the Japanese lookout spotted the destroyer Ralph Talbert at16000m. This is another miracle in the history of human war. In the early days, "electronic power" lost to "vision", and the naked eyes of Japanese observers were obviously more effective than American electronic devices.

The three major fleets in Sichuan advance in a single file, with Bird Sea as the head, Julia, Kagu, Yidali, Gu Ying, Tianlong, Xizhang and Xichu as 1.200m, giving full play to the role of ships. In the Pacific War, a surface war won by the Japanese army will finally be staged.

Fighting in the south of savo island

At 0 1: 3 1 on August 9, Sanchuan issued an order: "All the troops raided!" A few minutes later, the Japanese lookout spotted the allied ships at port15000m. The destroyer Jarvis was badly damaged in the air raid the day before yesterday. At that time, it was preparing to leave Guadalcanal alone and return to Australia for inspection. "Gu Ying" immediately fired torpedoes at it, but all failed. However, on the same day, when the battleship column passed only 1 1 away from Jarvis, the latter did not respond, and the Japanese fleet won the key element of naval victory-a complete surprise attack!

0 1:36, the Japanese army _ looked out and found that the southern battle group of the allied forces was around12500m. Elliot, the burning transport ship, lit up the outline of the allied ships. At the same time, the _ lookout of "Bird Sea" mysteriously discovered the allied northern battle group 16000 meters away. The Japanese cruiser immediately turned to the port side, with the bow facing the newly discovered enemy situation, ready to attack the starboard allied southern battle group with naval guns. 1: 43, the lookout of the allied destroyer Patterson finally found the Japanese cruiser Li Yi 5000 meters away. "Patterson" immediately sent a signal: "Warning! Warning! Unknown ships are entering the port! " Then the ship sped up and fired flares at Japanese warships. At the same time, the captain ordered the torpedo to be fired, but his order was drowned in the sound of the destroyer and was not heard by the torpedo. Just then, the Japanese seaplane fell from the sky and dropped a flare, which lit up the ship shadow of the allied southern battle group. This is a signal that the Japanese army launched an all-out attack.

"Canberra" was the first heavy patrol ship hit by a Japanese cruiser. Although the Australian warship successfully evaded the torpedo aimed at it and tried to fight back, the 203mm shell fired by Bird Sea 4 100 meters away had already hit the face. The Canberra Bridge was accurately hit by artillery shells, the machine gunner was martyred on the spot, and the captain was fatally injured. The shell hit the engine compartment, making the ship unable to sail. In addition, three Japanese cruisers immediately fired at Canberra with 203mm naval guns, and * * * hit 24 shells of the ship, tilting its starboard side by 5~ 10 degrees, igniting a fire and burning into a pile of wreckage.

At the same time, the destroyer "bagley" was blindly torpedoing, but it may have accidentally hit the starboard side of the "Canberra", and then the ship escaped to the northeast. The "Patterson" exchanged fire with the Japanese in a hurry, and may have hit the "Yi Li", but it was quickly hit hard by shells. The ship retreated to the southeast.

The cruiser "Chicago" is the last warship in the southern battle group to engage with the Japanese. The ship found itself illuminated by an airdropped flare. The Canberra in front suddenly turned around, causing an alarm immediately and waking the sleeping captain. Captain Bird ordered a 5-inch gun to fire flares at Japanese warships, but the flares failed. Since then, a Japanese shell hit the main mast of the ship, killing two people. At the same time, several torpedoes flew in. At 0 1: 47, a torpedo launched by "Jiagu" hit the bow of "Chicago" obliquely, and the powerful shock wave damaged the fire control commander of the main gun. Another torpedo hit the back cabin directly, but fortunately it didn't explode. In order to support the Patterson, the Chicago abandoned its transport fleet and sailed west. After the Japanese warship might hit the Dragon, it returned fire with auxiliary guns.

Captain Byrd is the temporary commander of the southern battle group, and he performed very badly in the whole battle. Before the war, he didn't inform the other ships of the Allied Southern Battle Group in time. He is the acting commander. More importantly, he didn't try to warn other ships or personnel on Guadalcanal, and his ship gradually got out of the battle because of injury.

Fighting in northern savo island

After quickly getting rid of the southern battle group, Sanchuan decided to continue to push northeast and attack the allied fleet discovered earlier. Prior to this, at 0 1:44, the Sanchuan fleet began to divide into two teams when it pointed in the direction of the allied northern battle group: Tianlong, Xizhang and Gu Ying left the fleet and circled westward. In this way, the allied northern battle group will inevitably be circuitous and attacked.

When the Japanese attacked the Allied South Battle Group, the captains of three Allied cruisers in the Northern Battle Group were still asleep, each cruising at a speed of 10 knots. Although the crew of No.3 observed the flashing lights and guns in the south of Savo Island and received the warning from the "Patterson", the time left for them to react was too short. In addition, they failed to detect the size and location of the approaching Sanchuan fleet.

At 0 1:50, the Sanchuan fleet launched a surprise attack on the northern battle group, and the battle immediately became hot. Japanese ships quickly found their target through searchlights. Bird Sea illuminates astoria at a distance of 7,000 meters, Julia also finds Quincy at a distance of 8,400 meters, and Gagu's searchlight locks Vinson at a distance of 9,600 meters. This is another complete surprise attack. Julia and Jia Gu are shooting in the third row, and Bird Sea is shooting in the fifth row. The indiscriminate bombing of the Japanese army immediately caused great damage and soon achieved results. The Japanese crew wrote in "Memories of Fighting": "At a distance of 7,000 meters, the first round of shooting speed was amazing. Every volley can hit the enemy ship and blow the other side into a sea of fire. It is hard to imagine that the main turret of the enemy ship has been kept in a safe state for several minutes during training, which surprised us again and made us even more glad that the enemy would not aim at us. The trajectory of a string of cannon shuttled between enemy ships and us, but this insignificant counterattack had no effect on us, only showing a gorgeous battle spectacle. As time goes by, the distance between the two sides is getting closer and closer. Now we can even clearly identify the outline of the sailors who were quickly evacuated on the deck of the enemy ship. The battle lasted about a quarter of an hour. "

Under the sudden attack of Japanese ships, astoria's reaction also generally reflected the chaotic state of the whole northern battle group at that time. At 0 1: 49, the ship saw a flare in the south of savo island and immediately called the bridge crew to be on duty. 0 1: 52, when the astoria was illuminated by the Japanese searchlight, the gunner noticed that the Japanese cruiser "Bird Sea" began to volley and quickly ordered its 8-inch naval gun to fight back. However, Captain Grimman, who had just been woken up, came to the bridge blankly and immediately ordered the gunner to cancel the shooting order of Xiaolangdi Forum: "Who gave the alarm? Who ordered the fire? I think we are shooting at a friendly ship! We can't get too excited and act rashly! Cease fire! "

But the Japanese ship won't be polite, and the shells continue to rain around the astoria. A minute later, the awakened captain ordered to fire back again, but the "Bird Sea" had finished ranging and the shells began to hit the target accurately. 02:00-02: 15, Julia, a younger brother, and Oracle Bone Inscriptions also joined the fray. The ship concentrated its fire and fired at least 34-63 8-inch shells, which destroyed two main turrets in astoria, blew up the engine room and prevented the ship from burning. At this time, "astoria" also began to fight back with the last main turret. 02: 16, 1, the searchlight Yi Li fired, deflected and accidentally hit the main turret in front of Bird Sea, injuring Bird Sea. However, this last turret, only hit 12 row, was silent. "astoria" only fired 53 8-inch shells in the whole battle, and lost its combat effectiveness. The ship sank on 12 in15,216, and people were killed.

Quincy, the northern battle group, also saw the faint flash of the southern fleet before and received an alarm from Patterson. As soon as the fighter plane was in position, the ship was illuminated by the searchlights of Japanese warships. The captain immediately ordered the fire, and before the machine gunner was ready, the volley of the Japanese ship had arrived. Julia's first volley hit Quincy's seaplane and caused a fire. Quincy was opened fire by Japanese cruisers Julia, Gu Ying and Tianlong before he could fight back. Within a few minutes, the hail of three Japanese ships has completely covered it. Quincy's captain ordered the Japanese warship to turn east to attack Julia, but it was hit by two torpedoes fired by Tianlong. "Quincy" only had time to play three rounds of volley, and was hit hard by the enemy ship and lost its combat effectiveness. 02: 10, a Japanese artillery shell hit the bridge, killing almost all the bridge personnel, including the captain. 02: 16, a torpedo launched by Julia hit Quincy again, and the remaining naval guns of the whole ship fell silent. When the second gunner went to the bridge for instructions, he described the scene at that time: "When I arrived at the bridge platform, I found it was a bloody hell, full of bodies, and only three or four people could stand. In the cockpit, only the signalman stood by the steering wheel, vainly controlling the direction of the warship, trying to turn from starboard to port. After questioning the signalman, I found the captain. At that time, he was lying near the steering wheel, guiding the signalman to Savo Island Shoal, about 4 miles from the stern of the port ship, ready to run the warship aground. I went to the port side of the cockpit and tried to search for the outline of Savo Island, but I noticed that the warship was rapidly leaning to the port side and the bow had not yet entered the sea. At this moment, the captain suddenly stood up, but then fell down silently, obviously dying of anger. "

Julia and Tianlong hit Quincy's three torpedoes and 54 shells with different calibers. Quincy was completely destroyed and sank at 02:38, killing 370 people. The substantial damage caused by Quincy's counterattack in the whole battle was that it hit two 8-inch shells in the chart room of Sanchuan's flagship "Bird Sea", causing 36 casualties. It is only 6 meters away from Sanchuan's inner room, and it almost wiped out Sanchuan and his staff.

Like Quincy and astoria, Vincens has seen flares in the south before, and even observed flares from gunfire. At 0 150, when the ship was illuminated by the searchlight Gagu, it was thought to be the light of a friendly ship. While hesitating whether to fire, Gagu's naval gun has already fired. At 0 1:53, Vincens began to fight back with an 8-inch naval gun, and the speed was increased to 25 knots. After several rounds of volley, a shell damaged the steering gear of the Li Yi. Yarra, seeing this, quickly hit the middle of Vincens, destroying the seaplane of the American ship and causing a fire. 0 1: 55, two torpedoes launched by Bird Sea also hit the target, causing heavy losses to Vincens. From 02:03, the torpedo launched by "Xizhang" caused the third fatal blow to "Vincens". In the naval battle, the Vincens was hit at least 74 times, and its boiler room was completely destroyed, so it stopped sailing. The whole ship caught fire and rolled to the port side. 16 at 2 o'clock, the captain ordered to abandon the ship. At 02: 50, the "Vincent" disappeared in the blue waves with 332 crew members.

Two destroyers of the Northern Battle Group, Helm and Wilson, are also trying to find Japanese ships. The two ships briefly fired at the Japanese cruiser, but they didn't get any results and suffered any damage.

The last battle of the night took place in the northern part of Savo Island. 02: 16, the Japanese fleet moved forward according to the set course. After exceeding the range, it stopped shooting at the allied northern battle group and headed north of Savo Island. At this time, Gu Ying, Tianlong and Xizhang met the allied destroyer Ralph Talbot. Ralph Talbert was still patrolling the northern part of Savo Island when the ship passed by. Japanese ships turned on searchlights and made a brief shelling. Before the Allied destroyers fled into the storm area, they were severely damaged by the 5.5-inch naval guns lightly patrolled by the Japanese army. The Japanese ship left immediately.