Chapter 4: The October Crisis

In retrospect October was the crucial month in the Solomons. Though initially surprised, the Japanese had reacted vigorously to the American thrust. To begin with, off Savo Island their guns uncovered the Marine lodgments. Next, to exploit this advantage, they dispatched in late August a powerful task force which the

Navy turned back in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons. The Japanese gradually built up strength which they expended at Lunga Ridge in mid-September. October saw the near-triumph of their tactics; they all but broke the American forces on Guadalcanal.

On 26 September, when the correspondent Richard Tregaskis departed Guadalcanal, he first went north to Bougainville in an Army B-17. The plane probably belonged to Colonel Sunders' 11th Group, although a new squadron, the 72d of the 5th Group, had recently arrived in the area. Tregaskis furnished a good description of a routine B-17 search mission.

The Fort he was in left Guadalcanal towards dawn and headed over Tulagi Bay for the northwest. The navigator, explaining that no excitement was imminently likely, took off his shirt to acquire a tan. Not until the plane turned on a Bougainville bearing was the first enemy aircraft seen. Two Zeros made a tentative pass. Later an enemy cargo ship went into violent maneuvers as the Fort approached. A float Zero got too close and the .50-caliber sent her down for a dead-stick landing. Meanwhile, the navigator counted and identified the ships below and the bombardier decided that the flak which thwacked against the fuselage was from naval guns. Another Zero made a single frontal attack on the Fortress without either aircraft sustaining damage. The rest of the journey back to Espiritu Santo was without incident.

Throughout September and October, such missions were the principal occupation of Colonel Saunders' command, in order to keep COMSOPAC informed of enemy surface movements. Statistics of operations for those months reveal twice as many search as bombing sorties. From Espiritu Santo the sectors fanned northwesterly in narrow arcs of 6º each and extended approximately 800 miles with a 100-mile width at the extremity. The maximum coverage included Rekata Bay on Santa Isabel and Gizo Bay in the New Georgia group. When possible to stage through Henderson, the range increased--to the Buin-Shortland-Faisi area--where the bombers could keep an eye on freight moving down from Rabaul or the Mandates. These were long flights, averaging more than 1,500 miles--12 weary hours for the crews.

Occasionally, the Forts went even farther--to Kieta on Bougainville's eastern shore and then around to touch the Buka Passagee. On

such lengthy missions it was not always possible to carry bombs, but extra fuel and reduced bomb loads were the rule. Targets abounded--at Bougainville's lower tip, where the harbor of Tonolei and Buin settlement lay behind densely wooded Shortland Island, and in The Slot, funneling down to Guadalcanal between the New Georgia group and Santa Isabel and Choiseul to the east. Tonolei, protected by Kahili Field, received shipping from Rabaul, Palau, and Truk, while sightings in The Slot included every category in the Japanese Navy.

Destroyers Hard to Hit

Unfortunately, it was not easy to hit shipping. Destroyers were most numerous in The Slot, but they were extremely maneuverable and almost defied direct hits. The slower cargo vessels, offering easier targets, were nevertheless far from sitting ducks for a single search plane. Infrequently, a task force was sighted--battleships, cruisers, and escorts--and on 14 September, 250 miles north of the Santa Cruz group, seven B-17's uncovered such a force--three battleships, four heavy cruisers, and a number of lighter craft moving to the northwest. Through intense and accurate flak, two possible hits were claimed.

Weather remained a formidable enemy, aborting a strike on 11 September by seven Forts against a sizeable naval force at Tonolei and again turning back 15 B-17's tracking a carrier reported northeast of the Santa Cruz group. In this last search three Forts crash-landed at sea. Two of the crews reached the northern tip of New Caledonia and were later rescued. The third drifted 7 days at sea, lost two of its members to exposure, was finally rescued by the Navy.

By 20 September, the 11th Group had sighted 155 vessels of all types during 7 weeks of operation. It had bombed 19 and hit 4. Of these, 2 were sunk. The scale of attack was always light; 1 attack by 4 planes; 4 by 3; 4 by 2; and 10 by single search planes.

To increase the striking power of the B-17's, another squadron was dispatched from Hawaii in mid-September. Necessary maintenance personnel moved out of Oahu on the 21st in LB-30's--early versions of the Liberator. By 23 September the B-17E's of the 5th Group's 72d Squadron had arrived in Espiritu and on the 24th some of them

were already up over Shortland Island. In mid-October, two additional squadrons of the 5th Group were dispatched to the South Pacific. For all practical purposes, the 5th's squadrons operated as part of the 11th, an arrangement recognized in December by the establishment of a joint headquarters for the two groups.

"Eager" was the adjective for the pilots of the 11th, who showed a reckless tendency to use the big bombers as attack planes. The gunners were fond of strafing and the pilots obligingly took the B-17's down over the ground and dock installations at Gizo or over the float planes and flying boats at Rekata Bay. On 16 September, five separate strafing attacks were run over Rekata Bay and 3 days later the docks at Gizo were treated similarly. Such employment of heavy bombers disturbed General Harmon and he informed headquarters that he was putting a curb to such activities.

The over-all tactical situation at Guadalcanal determined, that is, limited, the effectiveness of General Harmon's heavy bombers. Although a Fort had come in to stay overnight as early as 25 August, Henderson Field was never stocked with enough fuel to permit continuous operations by B-17's. It was not stocked with fuel because the enemy controlled the waters of the Lower Solomon. The Tokyo Express ran often, fast, and in considerable strength. One way to hamper the Express was to hit hard at Tonolei and Buka, but the gas for these missions had to be picked up at Henderson, and Henderson ordinarily lacked it, until after the middle of November.

Moreover, the field, shelled almost nightly and bombed almost daily, was too exposed for heavy bombers and suffered as well from lack of service personnel. During the first 3 months of the campaign the Marines cheerfully took on a great part of the burden of servicing the B-17's which came in from time to time. By October Henderson had its Marston mat, but General Harmon doubted that the field could support heavy-bomber operations. Taxiways and hard standings were lacking, dispersion was poor, and rain was likely to bring operations to a soggy halt.

Nevertheless, in the first part of October, an attempt was made to restrict the use of Buka, which the Japanese employed as an advanced staging point for Rabaul-based bombers. As early as 2 September, 40 bombers and fighters had been reported on the field. On 4 October, only one B-17 could bore through the weather to drop a score

Brig. Gen. LaVerne G. Saunders, former commanding officer of the 11th Bombardment Group (H).

of 100-pounders on the strip and parkways. Eight days later, another mission hit the field more solidly; the bombs splashed along the runway and 10 parked aircraft were assessed as destroyed. Only two Zeros rose from the surprised airdrome and only one got back. On the 13th 6 more Forts repeated the mission, putting 6 tonson the Buka strip. The day when the Guadalcanal gas supply could back up a sustained offensive still lay in the future.

During late September and early October, the Japanese continued to run the Express, filtering reinforcements into Guadalcanal at a low but steady rate. Marine air at Henderson enjoyed only limited success in coping with it. The Express did not get within range until late afternoon; ordinarily only one strike could be accomplished before nightfall and weather often interfered, but whenever moon and clouds permitted, the dive and torpedo bombers roared out for night attacks. Back at Espiritu, Colonel Saunders found himself at a more serious disadvantage; by the time his B-17's could cover the distance to Guadalcanal, the Express would be out of range and dispersed up The Slot.

On 5 October, another method of derailing the Express was tried. The Hornet was dispatched to the north of the Solomons chain. Her aircraft struck at Kieta and depots in the Shortland area, and at Faisi hit hard at a naval force preparing for a southward voyage. Still that night the Express made its run, and on succeeding nights as well. But on 11 October it met disaster at the other end of the line.

Cape Esperance

Army reinforcements were moving up to Guadalcanal in the second week of October. Partly to cover the flank of this convoy, but expressly to seek battle with Japanese units on the Guadalcanal run, a task force under Rear Adm. Norman Scott went hunting in the Solomons. The eyes of this force were the B-17's covering Bougainville's southern tip.

Current search routine of the B-17's was roughly as follows. Four planes departed daily from Espiritu Santo and Henderson Field. Those from Espiritu took off at 0500, searched 1,000 miles between 294º and 324º, then landed at Henderson Field. Next morning, out of Guadalcanal, these same B-17s covered an arc 450 miles between 300º and 340º,

flying to within 50 miles of Rabaul. Weather permitting, this was efficient coverage. To hinder such activity, the Japanese brought a fresh and highly trained fighter unit into the Shortland area. On occasion, the B-17's went farther afield, on 2 October to Kapingamarangi (Greenwich) Island, where photos were taken and the area strafed.

On 11 October, Admiral Scott's cruiser force, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Helena, and Boise, two heavies and two lights, with attendant destroyers, cruised off Rennell Island, out of range of Japanese air search but within 5 hours' steaming of Savo. At 1345, Henderson reported search planes had discovered two cruisers and six destroyers southbound down The Slot. Further information on Japanese naval movement was denied by intensive air raids on Henderson during the afternoon. Calculating that the enemy should be off Savo an hour before midnight, Admiral Scott bore north, expecting to meet only the force reported during the early afternoon. Although the enemy's armada proved considerably more substantial, that fact served only to increase Japanese losses in the night action which succeeded. The Battle of Cape Esperance cost the Imperial Navy two heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, five destroyers, and an auxiliary; another heavy cruiser and various destroyers were damaged. Our own losses were 175 killed and a number wounded. The destroyer Duncan was lost.

Cape Esperance not only failed to stop the Express; it hardly gave it pause. However, 4,000 U. S. Army troops of Maj. Gen. Alexander M. Patch's Americal Division were subsequently put ashore in time to face the Japanese fury, which thenceforth increased in scale and effectiveness. The enemy was working up to another big push. He began by virtually knocking out the Guadalcanal airdrome.

At Henderson, the 67th Fighter Squadron had been continuing its strafing and bombing. New pilots had arrived; most of the original group were dead or back in the rear areas. New planes--P-39D-1's and P-39K's--were coming in, being assembled, tested, and flown up to Guadalcanal--just as the old P-400's had made the journey in August.

The 9th of October was a routine day. The field was muddy. Six P-400's were scheduled for a mission against the Kokumbona area to the west. Taxiing in the mud, one P-400 broke off a nose wheel;

another sustained two flat tires; a third simply got stuck. Still another plane proved to have a rough engine. The remaining P-400's bombed and strafed for an hour near a bridge west of Kokumbona and at 1100 four pilots returned to bomb. The enemy air raid at Tojo Time failed to materialize. Earlier in the day, the new P-39's had made their debut up in the New Georgia area, accompanying SBD's in an attack on Japanese ships. Of the float planes sent up to interfere, the P-39's shot down one certain and two probables without loss to themselves. Late in the afternoon, the P-39's, using 100-pound incendiaries and demolition bombs, worked over the Marovovo district beyond Cape Esperance.

In the succeeding 3 days the pattern was largely repeated. On the 10th, the P-39's went twice up to the New Georgia area as escort for SBD's on ship strikes. On the 11th, the 67th lost one pilot and was credited with 1 bomber in a scrap with 30 bombers and 20 Zeros carrying out the usual noon-hour raid. On the 12th, ground troops were again harassed; the P-39's flew top cover for TBF's and SBD's which went up after 3 destroyers in The Slot; and 2 P-39's cracked up in take-offs from the muddy field. On this day, however, a new note was added: a Japanese field piece began dropping shells in the dispersal area.

Henderson Field Knocked Out

Admiral Scott had chastened the Express on the night of the 11th. Colonel Saunders' B-17's, returning from Buka on 13 October, stopped over at Tonolei long enough to score a direct hit on a transport and shoot down 6 of 26 attacking fighters. The Americal Division's 164th Infantry was disembarking at Lunga Point

The morning of the 13th the 67th attacked landing barges which the enemy had beached during the night at the western end of Guadalcanal. At noon the air raid came. The Bettys were scarcely intercepted. The P-400's watched the show above from 12,000 feet; the P-39's struggled to 27,000 feet and still were 3,000 feet low; and insufficient warning prevented the F4F's from making contact in force. At 1400, while the fighters sat being refueled and rearmed, another wave of Japanese bombers made an appearance and was able to bomb at will, damaging aircraft at Henderson Field and causing casualties among the 164th Infantry, still moving ashore.

More serious, the Japanese field piece had again begun to lob shells--this time into the area around the end of the runway. The Seabees of the 6th Battalion had been racing up and down the strip with pre-cut Marston mat and preloaded dump trucks prepared for the expected craters, but their efforts had barely kept the field in operation. Pilots and mechanics were crawling from their foxholes to ready the P-400's for another mission--to track down "Pistol Pete," as the gun had already been named. Suddenly the mission was called off--no gas!

Just before midnight came the main event. First the noise of a small plane overhead. Then three flares, a red one for the west end of the runway, green for the east, and white in the center. The men were scarcely in the foxholes when bedlam broke loose. Off Guadalcanal stood an Express consisting of 2 battleships, 1 light cruiser, and 8 destroyers. For over 2 hours the bombardment continued. Runway and dispersal area were brought under fire; after a thorough pattern shelling, the enemy shifted to the camp sites in the palm grove. Gasoline and ammunition dumps took hits and all over the field aircraft went up in smoke and flame. For whole minutes the area was bright as day from the flares.

The Japanese let up long enough to cool their guns, then it began again. At 0315, the Express stood for home. Three bombers came overhead and dropped their sticks; then three more; and so on until dawn.

The morning of the 14th lit up a shambles. Tents were collapsed or shrapnel-riddled. The aerial defenses were seriously reduced; in all, 57 aircraft had been destroyed or damaged. To meet the Express, four SBD's remained, but no TBF's; to meet the Tojo Time raid, only a few Wildcats. The 67th had been fortunate--two P-39's damaged and none of the P-400's even hit. A few barrels of aviation gas remained. On the 13th Colonel Saunders' B-17's had been bombing over Buka and Tonolei, had returned to Henderson, where two of the B-17s were so sieved that night by shrapnel that they had to be abandoned.

In the midst of the post-raid rubble and confusion, Colonel Saunders led out his remaining B-17's. Less than 2,000 feet of Henderson's runway was usable, but the bombers took off for Espiritu Santo in 1,800 feet, drawing 70 inches of pressure without a cylinder blowing out.

On instructions from Marine headquarters, officers of the 67th went through the two derelict B-17's, destroying radios, maps, charts, and confidential papers, and hiding the Norden bombsights. For the time Henderson was useless as a heavy bombardment base.

In fact, Henderson was very nearly useless for any type of aircraft. Pistol Pete--actually a number of guns--went into action again. His range, short at first, improved with practice, most of the shells landing in the area where the 67th's planes were parked. They came irregularly, about two every quarter-hour. As fast as the Seabees tackled 1 crater, another shell would whine over and dig at the same spot, scattering men and equipment. Still the Seabees tamped, filled, and laid mat, and for a time kept part of the field in operation. Providentially, back in September, they had laid out a grass strip 2,000 yards distant from and parallel with Henderson; although rough and short, this strip supported the light planes during the critical mid-October days.

In an effort to silence Pete, four P-400's were hung with 100-pound bombs. The pilots, parachutes strapped on, crouched in nearby foxholes. One at a time, between the bursts, they ran for their planes. Drunkenly, they taxied out, careened down the runway with new craters pocking the surface behind them. All got off but failed to silence Pistol Pete, who was numerous, concealed, and frequently moved. Lack of fuel precluded further raids against him; every drop was saved for fighter defense.

Enemy pressure was relentless. At 1154 and again at 1303, enemy bombers and fighters struck, without warning or interception. Bomb craters could be filled, but the Seabees fell behind in their race with Pete. By afternoon of 14 October Henderson Field was knocked out. Down from headquarters, shortly after 1200, came a Marine colonel. His words were reminiscent of the Philippines:

We don't know whether we'll be able to hold the field or not. There's a Japanese task force of destroyers, cruisers, and troop transports headed our way. We have enough gas left for one mission against them. Load your airplanes with bombs and go out with the dive bombers and hit them. After the gas is gone we'll have to let the ground troops take over. Then your officers and men will attach yourselves to some infantry outfit. Good luck and good-bye.

At 1425, then, 4 P-39's, each with a 300-pound bomb, and 3 old P-400's with 100-pounders took off with the 4 SBD's. Henderson had few teeth left to show the Express. One hundred and fifty miles

Map 2: The "Slot"

of precious fuel was burned before the planes sighted the Japanese task force off the coast of Santa Isabel--6 transports in line astern, well screened by 8 destroyers and cruisers, 4 on each flank. The armada maneuvered violently, threw up heavy flak. The composite attack group pushed over and went down. No planes were los--but no hits were seen.

Someone recalled the abandoned B-17's. The gas siphoned out of their tanks proved enough for one more strike, and for this one old P-400, saddled with 500-pound bombs, barely wobbled off the runway. This time the SBD's scored two hits on the Japanese force, by now at the near tip of Santa Isabel. The 67th lost one plane over the target, and another to a night-landing crash back at Henderson.

It was a glum prospect as darkness set in over the Marine beachhead. Another shelling was a certainty. The enemy ships were anchored between Kokumbona and Tassafaronga, only 10 miles down the channel, busily unloading troops and supplies--a prime target for an air strike, but no gas. However, the shelling which started at 0100, though heavy, lasted but a short time, newly arrived PT boats out in "Sleepless Lagoon" contributing to the premature withdrawal of the Express.And gasoline was on the way.

By mid-morning it began to arrive, ferried in by the work-horse Douglas C-47's. For over a week Henderson was to depend on the fuel brought in by this service, maintained by two Marine transport squadrons and the AAF's 13th Troop Carrier Squadron. All day long on 15 October the transports came in from Espiritu Santo, each with about 12 drums--enough to keep 12 planes in the air for 1 hour. They braked to a skidding stop, the drums were rolled out, and the planes took off before Pistol Pete could lob a shell.

Henderson Field Strikes Back

With gas on band, Henderson Field prepared to hit back. Battered planes were patched, pilots belted their own ammunition, armament crews shouldered the formidable task of bombing up the planes without bomb carts. Ten men hoisted a 500-pound bomb on a truck bed. Hauled to the vicinity of the plane, then rolled through the mud, the bombs were lifted and fitted into the racks by as many men as could crowd under the aircraft's belly. All this on empty stomachs--with

the cooks in the foxholes, it had been hardtack and cold hash since the 13th.

Down the beach were numerous targets. Between Kokumbona and Doma Reef, five transports and eight destroyers were pouring ashore upwards of 10,000 troops. No infiltration this, but invasion in force, with a constant patrol of Zeros over the ships. All day on 15th, the Henderson aircraft smashed at the convoy.

No sooner were the planes airborne than objectives were visible, and waiting Zeros swept down on the Army and Marine planes starting their dives. The destroyers contributed heavy flak. In this situation, the technique of the P-39's and P-400's shaped up somewhat as follows: they tried to disregard enemy fighters, dived, released when the ship was dead center in the gun sight, pulled out over the mast, and zigzagged out of the ack-ack. Then to Henderson for another load.

Results were encouraging. One of the 67ths pilots got a probable, two other scored hits which damaged two transports; still another dropped on a transport which caught fire, exploded, and sank. The air score was even-one Zero for one pilot of the 67th. Altogether the fighter squadron sent three missions up the beach on the 15th, and in addition weathered the usual high-level Tojo Time raid.

The Forts also had a hand in the battle. On the 14th, six had come up from Espiritu to pound the Express, but lost it in the darkness of Indispensable Strait. On the 15th, 11 of them, now back, possibly damaged a transport and fired what was thought to be a light cruiser. Of the 20 Zeros covering the landing operation, the bombers knocked down nearly half, and though many sustained major damage, all the Forts made the 640 miles back to Espiritu Santo.

The night of the 15th Henderson Field absorbed a shelling by a cruiser, but in the morning the enemy task force had left. Three of its transports lay blazing hulks on the beach, but troops, armament, and supplies had gone ashore. Harassment of these reinforcements became a principal mission of the Henderson-based aircraft. As often as they could be refueled and rearmed, P-39's, P-400's, and SBD's went down to Kokumbona. The F4F-4's made the daily Japanese raids a costly business; on the 23rd, for instance, 24 Grummans, intercepting 16 bombers and 25 fighters, shot down 20 Zeros and 2 bombers with no losses.

These days, prelude to a big enemy push, were utter weariness to the 67th. Repeated missions multiplied the work of men forced by repeated bombings and shellings to spend most of their time in foxholes. Sleep and sufficient food were always lacking. Planes were wearing out. One day, four P-400's took the air. The first had a bomb, but only one .30-caliber machine gun functioning; number two had a bomb and no functioning armament, numbers three and four had most of their guns in commission, but no bombs. Personnel cracked under the strain. On the 18th, officers and men, affected by repeated bombings, were evacuated to New Caledonia.

Apparently the Japanese were sanguine of the outcome; their German allies announced that two important airfields had been captured from U.S. forces in the Solomons. In Washington, Secretary Knox hinted at the seriousness of the situation. The main strip at Henderson Field was only recurrently in operation despite prodigious efforts to erase the pockmarks. Up in the northern Solomons the Japanese marshaled cargo and warships and the Express ran on the nights of the 16th, 18th, and 20th--destroyers and cruisers feeding the units ashore with foreboding regularity. The new COMSOPAC, Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr., soberly prepared to counter a thrust by sea.

The Japs' Grand Assault

Decision, however, was reached on land. The Japanese plan envisaged simultaneous attacks, eastward across the Matanikau and from a point south of the airfield. D-day was 23 October; for days before, patrols probed the American lines. But the grand assault, from the Japanese point of view, was bungled; the attacks were delivered separately, and separately they were beaten back.

The Matanikau River action proceeded on schedule, if not according to plan. Ten tanks and thousands of fresh troops, with ample artillery support, were thrown against the defenders. Four times on the 23rd the enemy lashed at positions held by the 1st and 2d Battalions of the 5th Marines. American half-tracks mounting 75's knocked out the tanks one by one as they attempted to cross the Matanikau, and the Marines picked off about 2,000 Japanese troops. Undaunted, the enemy repeated the effort at dawn of 24 October. The P-400's went

over, bombing and strafing the enemy lines, and all through the day recurrent attacks were checked, although heavy afternoon rains grounded the planes at Henderson Field.

At 0800 hours on the 25th, the men on Henderson Field were surprised to find five Zeros circling above their strip, making no effort to strafe. Soon this number swelled to 14 and a medium bomber, all awaiting the signal to land, apparently under the impression that the field was in Japanese hands. No signal came, and as soon as the mud had dried sufficiently, eight Grummans left the field and shot down the whole force.

The Express had put in an appearance during the early morning. One heavy cruiser, one light cruiser, and four destroyers landed troops and supplies and began to support with shellfire enemy attacks on the embattled beachhead. The SBD's and the 67th went after this force, making four separate attacks. At 1420, Lieutenants Dinn, Purnell, and Jacobsen in P-39's caught the ships northeast of Florida Island, barely missing them with 500-pound bombs. Two hours later, these three and Captain Mitchell attacked once more, Lieutenant Jacobsen putting his bomb squarely on the heavy cruiser. Near misses on the light cruiser were obtained and the warships, trailing oil slicks, moved slowly off.

On the 25th the enemy staged his attack from the south, striking along Lunga Ridge. Although the Marines and the 164th Infantry piled the attackers six deep, a night assault broke through until some enemy elements stood close to the south side of Henderson. The morning of the 26th a desperate American counterattack cleared the field. Three of the old P-400's and two P-39's did their bit, bombing and strafing the area south of the grass fighter strip. The counterattack of the morning of the 26th, as it turned out, ended the Japanese threat by land, but a major sea action was brewing.

In the Japanese plans, possession of Henderson Field was apparently a prerequisite to a grand assault on Guadalcanal. With the strip harboring friendly carrier planes instead of the redoubtable Grummans, SBD's, P-39's, and P-400's, additional troops could be safely brought in for a mop-up. The Japanese fleet, meanwhile, could be expected to see that the American Navy did not interfere. Appreciation of the

enemy intentions clarifies the role of the carrier action of 26 October, known as the Battle of Santa Cruz Islands.

Enemy Confident

The success of their land drive on 25 October must have made the capture of Henderson Field seem only a matter of hours to the Japanese, and down from the Mandates moved a force formidable enough to clinch the argument. Admiral Halsey had scraped his Pacific resources to meet it. The Enterprise and the new South Dakota were rushed down from Pearl Harbor, where the former had been recovering from wounds received in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons. With the Hornet, these two composed the nucleus of the force with which Rear Adm. Thomas C. Kinkaid was skirting the Santa Cruz Islands on 26 October, ready to intercept whatever enemy forces the Mandates might offer.

On that day the search planes--B-17's and PBY's--were out from Espiritu. East of Malaita, Lt. Mario Sesso of the 5th Group located one section of the Japanese force--which mustered four carriers and four battleships, with a wealth of escort, transports, and auxiliaries. During a half-hour's observation Lieutenant Sesso developed his report until it included a battleship, several cruisers, destroyers, and a possible carrier. Seven carrier-borne Nagoya Zeros attempted to interfere. Two fell away smoking and one disintegrated in a frontal attack. The Fortress suffered failure of the lower turret and loss of one gun in the tail, another in the upper turret. The Zeros killed the bombardier, but the Fort came back and the report got through to the fleet.

In the Santa Cruz action, the Japanese, by destroying Hornet, reduced the American carriers in the South Pacific to the again damaged Enterprise. They had sustained damage to two carriers themselves, as well as to a Kongo class battleship, but it is unlikely that this punishment prompted their withdrawal. The American troops on Guadalcanal stood fast; Henderson's aircraft could still hit at an occupation force. The Japanese, consistently enough, withdrew. The beachhead actually had saved itself.

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