FORCES INVOLVED

Before the action there was no way of accurately gauging the naval strength which the enemy planned to unleash when "zero day" arrived. The event proved that his forces were more than impressive, comprising four carriers, four battleships, and an armada of lesser war vessels, in addition to transports and other auxiliaries. The carriers were the Shokaku, Zuikaku, Hayataka, and Zuiho. A fifth, the Hitaka, was

available in the Shortlands area until 21 October, when damage necessitated her departure for Truk.

Our own forces in the South Pacific area were weak in comparison. The Enterprise had been damaged in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons,² 23-25 August, and was undergoing repairs at Pearl Harbor. The Wasp had missed that engagement, but while supporting Guadalcanal on 15 September she was torpedoed and sunk by an enemy submarine. On the same day the new battleship North Carolina was torpedoed and forced to put in for repairs. The Saratoga, likewise, was out of action because of a torpedo hit received on 31 August.³

On the credit side of the picture was a task force built around the aircraft carrier Hornet and including the heavy cruisers Northampton and Pensacola, the antiaircraft light cruisers Juneau and San Diego, and a number of destroyers. Our only battleship in the South Pacific was the Washington, which had supported the movement of the Army convoy into Guadalcanal on 13 October.

With the exception of several destroyers engaged in protecting the supply ships running between Espiritu Santo and Guadalcanal, COMSOPAC had no other combat units available except the surviving ships of Task Force SUGAR, which the Battle of Cape Esperance had temporarily deprived of the Salt Lake City, Boise, and Farenholt, in addition to the Duncan, which was sunk.

One carrier, one battleship, and their attendant complement of cruisers and destroyers could hardly he expected to withstand the weight of the forces known to be available to the Japanese. Therefore, as the power of the enemy offensive became more and more evident, COMSOPAC began marshalling all possible resources. United States submarines were concentrated in the Bismarck islands. Air strength available to COMAIRSOPAC at Espiritu Santo was augmented to include about 85 patrol planes and heavy land-based bombers. By 26 October, 23 fighters, 16 dive bombers, and one torpedo plane were ready for action at Guadalcanal. Four PT boats moved into Tulagi Harbor at dawn on 25 October. Aircraft of the Southwest Pacific Command intensified their attacks on Rabaul and on airfields in the Bismarcks. On the 3 nights before the 26th, they reported hits on about 10 ships in Rabaul Harbor, including a cruiser and a destroyer.

Our most urgent need, however, was for fleet surface and air units with which to counter the enemy carrier and battleship forces. At Pearl Harbor was Task Force KING, under Rear Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid, built around the Enterprise and the new battleship South Dakota. Repairs to the damaged carrier were rushed to completion, and on 16 October she departed with her escort, including the South Dakota, under orders to proceed at high speed to the South Pacific and rendezvous with the Hornet group, commanded by Rear Admiral George D. Murray. Thereafter she was to operate under the command of Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr., Commander South Pacific. COMSOPAC, meanwhile, had decided to use the Washington force, reinforced by the remaining effective ships of Task Force SUGAR, as a striklng unit to interrupt Japanese surface forces supplying Guadalcanal. About midnight on 25 October, these ships made a sweep around Savo Island. They encountered no enemy vessels and retired southward before daylight, under the sporadic observation of Japanese planes.

At 1245⁴ on 24 October the Enterprise and Hornet Task Forces joined in latitude 14° 07' S., longitude 171° 37' E., northeast of the New Hebrides Islands. Admiral Kinkaid, acting under orders from COMSOPAC, assumed command of both groups, which will hereafter be identified as Task Force KING. The following ships were present:

Enterprise Group 1 carrier:
     Enterprise (F, Rear Admiral Kinkaid)--Capt. Osborne B. Hardison.

1 battleship:
     South Dakota--Capt. Thomas L. Gatch.

1 heavy cruiser:
     Portland (Capt. Mahlon S. Tisdale, Commander Cruisers)--Capt. Laurance T. DuBose.

1 antiaircraft light cruiser:
     San Juan--Capt. James E. Maher.

8 destroyers:
     Porter (Capt. Charles P. Cecil, Commander Destroyers)--Lt. Comdr. David G. Roberts.
     Mahan--Lt. Comdr. Rodger W. Simpson.
     Cushing--Lt. Comdr. Christopher Noble.
     Preston--Lt. Comdr. Max C. Stormes.
     Smith--Lt. Comdr. Hunter Wood, Jr.

     Maury--Lt. Comdr. Geizer L. Sims.
     Conyngham --Lt. Comdr. Henry C. Daniel.
     Shaw--Lt. Comdr. W. Glenn Jones.

Hornet Group 1 carrier:
     Hornet (F, Rear Admiral Murray)--Capt. Charles P. Mason.

2 heavy cruisers:
     Northampton (F, Rear Admiral Howard H. Good, Commander Cruisers)--Capt. Willard A. Kitts, III.
     Pensacola--Capt. Frank L. Lowe.

2 antiaircraft light cruisers:
     San Diego--Capt. Benjamin P. Perry
     Juneau--Capt. Lyman K. Swenson.

6 destroyers:
     Morris (Comdr. Arnold E. True, Commander Destroyers)--Lt. Comdr. Randolph B. Boyer.
     Anderson--Lt. Comdr. Richard A. Guthrie.
     Hughes--Lt. Comdr. Donald J. Ramsey.
     Mustin--Lt. Comdr. Wallis P. Petersen.
     Russell--Lt. Comdr. Glenn R. Hartwig.
     Barton--Lt. Comdr. Douglas H. Fox.

Footnotes

2 See Combat Narrative, "The Battle of the Eastern Solomons."

3 See Combat Narrative, "Miscellaneous Actions in the South Pacific."

4 All times in this Narrative are Zone minus 12.