Tokyo Express

Tokyo Express
Japanese troops load onto a warship in preparation for a "Tokyo Express" run sometime in 1942.
Active	August 1942 – November 1943
Country	Empire of Japan
Allegiance	Imperial Japanese Armed Forces
Branch	Imperial Japanese Navy
Type	Ad hoc military logistics organization
Role	Supply and reinforcement to Japanese Army and Navy units located in the Solomon Islands and New Guinea
Size	Varied
Garrison/HQ	Rabaul, New Britain Shortland Islands and Buin, Solomon Islands
Nickname(s)	Cactus Express "Rat" or "ant" transportation (Japanese names)
Engagements	Battle of Cape Esperance Battle of Tassafaronga Operation Ke Battle of Blackett Strait Battle of Kula Gulf Battle of Kolombangara Battle of Vella Gulf Battle off Horaniu Naval Battle of Vella Lavella Battle of Cape St. George
Commanders
Notable commanders	Gunichi Mikawa Raizo Tanaka Shintarō Hashimoto[1] Matsuji Ijuin

Coordinates: 9°00′S 159°45′E / 9.000°S 159.750°E / -9.000; 159.750 The Tokyo Express was the name given by Allied forces to the use of Imperial Japanese Navy ships at night to deliver personnel, supplies, and equipment to Japanese forces operating in and around New Guinea and the Solomon Islands during the Pacific campaign of World War II. The operation involved loading personnel or supplies aboard fast warships (mainly destroyers), later submarines, and using the warships' speed to deliver the personnel or supplies to the desired location and return to the originating base all within one night so Allied aircraft could not intercept them by day.

Name

The original name of the resupply missions was "The Cactus Express", coined by Allied forces on Guadalcanal, using the codename for the island. After the U.S. press began referring to it as the "Tokyo Express," apparently in order to preserve operational security for the codeword "Cactus," Allied forces also began to use the phrase. The Japanese called the night resupply missions Rat Transportation (鼠輸送, nezumi yusō), because they took place at night.

Organization and history

Night transportation was necessary for Japanese forces due to Allied air superiority in the South Pacific, established soon after the Allied landings on Guadalcanal and Henderson Field began serving as a base for the "Cactus Air Force" in August 1942. Delivery of troops and material by slow transport ships to Japanese forces on Guadalcanal and New Guinea soon proved too vulnerable to daytime air attack. Thus, Japanese Combined Fleet commander, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, authorized the use of faster warships at night to make the deliveries when the threat of detection was much less and aerial attack minimal.^[2]

The Tokyo Express began soon after the Battle of Savo Island in August 1942 and continued until late in the Solomon Islands campaign when one of the last, large Express runs was interdicted and almost completely destroyed in the Battle of Cape St. George on November 26, 1943. Because the fast destroyers typically used were not configured for cargo handling, many supplies were simply pushed into the water, inside sealed steel drums lashed together; the drums floated ashore or were picked up by barge. A typical night in December resulted in 1500 drums being rolled into the sea, with only 300 recovered.^[3]

Most of the warships used for Tokyo Express missions came from the Eighth Fleet, based at Rabaul and Bougainville, although ships from Combined Fleet units based at Truk were often temporarily attached for use in Express missions. The warship formations assigned to Express missions were often formally designated as the Reinforcement Unit, but the size and composition of this unit varied from mission to mission.^[4]

Strategic Error

The Tokyo Express ended up being a costly strategic error by Admiral Yamamoto, in that so many destroyers were lost during the 15 months of the Tokyo Express, for no gain. These ships could not be replaced by the stressed Japanese shipyards, and were already in short supply. And they were desperately needed for convoy duty to protect Japanese shipping supplying the home islands from the depredations of American submarines.^[5]

John F. Kennedy and PT-109

John F. Kennedy's PT-109 was lost on a "poorly planned and uncoordinated" attack on the Tokyo Express.^[6] 15 PT boats with 60 torpedoes did not register a single hit, let alone sink any enemy ships. The PT-109 was struck by the destroyer Amagiri returning from her supply run, estimated to be traveling in excess of 30 knots with no running lights.

The end

To signify final victory over the Japanese on Guadalcanal, General Alexander Patch, commander of the land forces on the island, messaged his superior, Admiral William F. Halsey, "Tokyo Express no longer has terminus on Guadalcanal."^[7]

References

Books

• Brown, David (1990). Warship Losses of World War Two. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-914-X.
• Coombe, Jack D. (1991). Derailing the Tokyo Express. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole. ISBN 0-8117-3030-1.
• Crenshaw, Russell Sydnor (1998). South Pacific Destroyer: The Battle for the Solomons from Savo Island to Vella Gulf. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-136-X.
• D'Albas, Andrieu (1965). Death of a Navy: Japanese Naval Action in World War II. Devin-Adair Pub. ISBN 0-8159-5302-X.
• Dull, Paul S. (1978). A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1941-1945. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-097-1.
• Evans, David C. (1986). "The Struggle for Guadalcanal". The Japanese Navy in World War II: In the Words of Former Japanese Naval Officers (2nd ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-316-4.
• Frank, Richard (1990). Guadalcanal: The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-394-58875-4.
• Griffith, Brig. Gen. Samuel B (USMC) (1974). "Part 96: Battle For the Solomons". History of the Second World War. Hicksville, NY, USA: BPC Publishing.
• Parillo, Mark (2006). "Japanese Merchant Marine in World War II". In Higham, Robin; Harris, Stephen. Why Air Forces Fail: the Anatomy of Defeat. The University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0-8131-2374-5.

• Hara, Tameichi (1961). Japanese Destroyer Captain. New York & Toronto: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-27894-1.
• Kilpatrick, C. W. (1987). Naval Night Battles of the Solomons. Exposition Press. ISBN 0-682-40333-4.
• Lord, Walter (2006) [1977]. Lonely Vigil; Coastwatchers of the Solomons. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-466-3.
• Lundstrom, John B. (2005). The First Team And the Guadalcanal Campaign: Naval Fighter Combat from August to November 1942 (New ed.). Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-472-8.
• McGee, William L. (2002). The Solomons Campaigns, 1942-1943: From Guadalcanal to Bougainville--Pacific War Turning Point, Volume 2 (Amphibious Operations in the South Pacific in WWII). BMC Publications. ISBN 0-9701678-7-3.
• Miller, Thomas G. (1969). Cactus Air Force. Admiral Nimitz Foundation. ISBN 0-934841-17-9.
• Morison, Samuel Eliot (1958). The Struggle for Guadalcanal, August 1942 – February 1943, vol. 5 of History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 0-316-58305-7. Online views of selections of the book:
• Morison, Samuel Eliot (1958). Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier, vol. 6 of History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. Castle Books. ISBN 0-7858-1307-1.
• Potter, E. B. (2005). Admiral Arleigh Burke. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-692-5.
• Roscoe, Theodore (1953). United States Destroyer Operations in World War Two. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-726-7.
• Rottman, Gordon L. (2005). Duncan Anderson, ed. Japanese Army in World War II: The South Pacific and New Guinea, 1942-43. Oxford and New York: Osprey. ISBN 1-84176-870-7.

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