Eastern Solomons order of battle

The Battle of the Eastern Solomons was fought August 23–25, 1942 in the waters east and northeast of the Solomon Islands by forces of the Imperial Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet and the US Navy's Pacific Fleet. The battle resulted from a major effort by the Japanese to reinforce their troop strength on the island of Guadalcanal. The Japanese high command had realized this reinforcement was necessary following the annihilation of the Ichiki Detachment by the 1st Marines a few days earlier.

IJ Combined Fleet and US Pacific Fleet Commanders
Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto (HQ at Tokyo)
Adm. Chester W. Nimitz (HQ at Pearl Harbor)

The battle can be counted both a tactical and strategic American victory: greater ship losses were inflicted on the Japanese, and the transports were turned back from their mission of landing reinforcements.

Forces deployed

Japanese forces

  • Combat ships: 2 fleet carriers, 1 light carrier, 3 old battleships, 12 heavy cruisers, 3 light cruisers, 30 destroyers, 2 1st-class submarines, 1 2nd-class submarine
  • Aircraft: 69 fighters, 41 dive bombers, 57 torpedo bombers

American forces:

  • Combat ships: 3 fleet carriers, 1 fast battleship, 5 heavy cruisers, 2 anti-aircraft light cruisers, 18 destroyers
  • Aircraft: 100 fighters, 54 dive bombers, 54 scout bombers, 45 torpedo bombers

Ship losses

IJN: 1 light carrier, 1 destroyer, 1 1st-class submarine
USN: none

Japanese order of battle

Guadalcanal Supporting Forces
Vice Adm. Nobutake Kondo
Vice Adm. Chuichi Nagumo
Mitsubishi A6M "Zeke" fighter
Aichi D3A "Val" dive bomber
Nakajima B5N "Kate" torpedo bomber
Light carrier Ryūjō
Battleship Hiei

Vice Admiral Nobutake Kondo[1]

Advanced Force

Vice Admiral Kondo

Main Body

Support Group

Striking Force

Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo

Carrier Group (Vice Admiral Nagumo)

Vanguard Group (Rear Admiral Hiroaki Abe)

Diversionary Group (Rear Admiral Chūichi Hara)

Southeast Area Forces
Vice Adm. Gunichi Mikawa
Rear Adm. Raizo Tanaka
Heavy cruiser Furutaka
Light cruiser Jintsu

Vice Admiral Nishizo Tsukahara

Outer South Seas Force

Vice Admiral Gunichi Mikawa

Reinforcement Group (Rear Admiral Raizo Tanaka)

Covering Group (Vice Admiral Mikawa)

Submarine Group

  • 2 1st-class submarines
    • I-121, I-123 (sunk)
  • 1 2nd-class submarine
    • Ro-34

American order of battle

Task Force 61
Vice Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher
Rear Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid
Grumman F4F Wildcat fighter
Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bomber
Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bomber

Vice Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher in Saratoga[2]

Task Force 11

Vice Admiral Fletcher

1 fleet carrier:

Cruisers (Rear Admiral Carleton H. Wright):

Screen (Capt. Samuel B. Brewer):

Task Force 16

Rear Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid in Enterprise

1 fleet carrier:

Battleship and Cruisers (Rear Admiral Mahlon S. Tisdale):

Screen (Capt. Edward P. Sauer):

  • 6 destroyers
    • 1 Porter class (8 x 5-in. main battery): Balch
    • 2 Gleaves class (5 x 5-in. main battery): Grayson, Monssen
    • 1 Gridley class (4 x 5-in. main battery): Maury
    • 2 Benham class (4 x 5-in. main battery): Benham, Ellet

Task Force 18

Rear Admiral Leigh Noyes in Wasp

1 fleet carrier:

Cruisers (Rear Admiral Norman Scott):

Screen (Captain Robert G. Tobin):

Notes
  1. These cruisers were intended as destroyer leaders when designed. After the first two to be used in this role, Atlanta and Juneau, were lost at the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, this mission was abandoneded and the anti-aircraft mission adopted.[3]
  2. These cruisers were intended as destroyer leaders when designed. After the first two to be used in this role, Atlanta and Juneau, were lost at the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, this mission was abandoneded and the anti-aircraft mission adopted.[4]

References
  1. Morison, pp. 84-85
  2. Morison, pp. 86-87
  3. Stille 2016, p. 7.
  4. Stille 2016, p. 7.

Bibliography
  • Morison, Samuel Eliot (1948). The Struggle for Guadalcanal, August 1942 – February 1943: Volume V of History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. Boston: Little, Brown and Co. ISBN 0-7858-1306-3.
  • Stille, Mark (2016). US Navy Light Cruisers, 1941-45. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 978-1-4728-1140-0.
  • Lundstrom, John B. (2005). First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign: Naval Fighter Combat from August to November 1942 (New ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-472-8.
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