The fleet would pause east of Once at Bougainville, Mikawa spread his ships out over a wide area to mask the composition of his force and launched four floatplanes from his cruisers to scout for Allied ships in the southern Solomons. He reassembled his warships and began his run towards Guadalcanal, entering the Slot near Mikawa's run down the Slot was not detected by Allied forces. In hindsight, if Mikawa had elected to risk his ships to go after the Allied transports on the morning of August 9, he could have improved the chances of Japanese victory in the Guadalcanal campaign at its inception, and the course of the war in the southern Pacific could have gone much differently.
they contained much more dangerous ammunition than they needed to.Naval battle of the Pacific Campaign of World War IIThe Eighth Fleet was also known as the Outer South Seas Force and included Cruiser Divisions 6 and 18.After the two transports were recalled, one of them, Japanese night battle preparations included the use of lookouts intensively trained for night operations, specially designed optical devices for nighttime observation, the long-range The misidentification of two of Mikawa's cruisers as seaplane tenders by the first Hudson may have been because of the wide dispersal of the Japanese warships; also, the Hudson's crew sighted a floatplane returning. I believe that this psychological factor, as a cause of our defeat, was even more important than the element of surprise".The report of the inquiry caused the US Navy to make many operational, and structural, changes. At 02:16 Mikawa conferred with his staff about whether they should turn to continue the battle with the surviving Allied warships and try to sink the Allied transports in the two anchorages. In the meantime, From the time of the battle until several months later, almost all Allied supplies and reinforcements sent to Guadalcanal came by transports in small convoys, mainly during daylight hours, while Allied aircraft from the New Hebrides and Despite their defeat in this battle, the Allies eventually won the battle for Guadalcanal, an important step in the eventual defeat of Japan. A "southern" group, consisting of the Australian cruisers HMAS The crews of the Allied ships were fatigued after two days of constant alert and action in supporting the landings. Mikawa, commander of the newly formed Japanese Mikawa also assembled all the available warships in the area to attack the Allied forces at Guadalcanal. Mikawa's floatplanes returned by 12:00 and reported two groups of Allied ships, one off Guadalcanal and the other off Tulagi. At 02:16 Mikawa conferred with his staff about whether they should turn to continue the battle with the surviving Allied warships and try to sink the Allied transports in the two anchorages.
On questioning him I found out that the Captain, who at that time was laying [sic] near the wheel, had instructed him to beach the ship and he was trying to head for Savo Island, distant some four miles (6 km) on the port quarter. Many of these same transports were used many times to bring crucial supplies and reinforcements to Allied forces on Guadalcanal over succeeding months.
At that instant the Captain straightened up and fell back, apparently dead, without having uttered any sound other than a moan.At 02:16, the Japanese columns ceased fire on the northern Allied force as they moved out of range around the north side of Savo Island. The remaining Allied warships and the amphibious force, fearful of additional attacks, withdrew earlier than planned from the Solomon Islands temporarily ceding control of the seas around Guadalcanal to the Japanese. The Battle of Savo was right at the beginning of the campaign. "The Battle of Savo Island".
Galvin writes that what precipitated the defeat was Fletcher leaving the area and not assigning anyone to be in charge. So the Allies attacked the islands. Although several of the Allied ships heard and/or observed one or more of these floatplanes, starting at 23:45 on August 8, none of them interpreted the presence of unknown aircraft in the area as an actionable threat, and no one reported the sightings to Crutchley or Turner.Mikawa's force approached in a single 3 kilometre (2 mi) column led by At 01:44, as Mikawa's ships headed towards the Allied northern force, When Mikawa's ships attacked the Allied southern force, the captains of all three U.S. northern force cruisers were asleep, with their ships steaming quietly at 10 knots (19 km/h).At 02:16, the Japanese columns ceased fire on the northern Allied force as they moved out of range around the north side of Savo Island. Allied ground forces had landed on Guadalcanal and nearby islands only two days before.