New Posts
  • Hi there guest! Welcome to PoliticalJack.com. Register for free to join our community?

Bloody Santa Cruz... Jap's revenge of Midway

Days

Commentator
Japanese big new carriers in WWII were the Zuikaku and Shokaku. American Enterprise, Hornet, and Yorktown were there to counter. The Akagi and Kaga were actually older carriers, as was the Saratoga for the US. The big Japanese advantage was in light carriers; the Junyo, Zuiho, Hiryu, and Soryu were all new light carriers, they added the extra punch for the Japanese fleet. At the battle of Coral Sea, the Yorktown was bombed and the Saratoga was sunk. But it was a tactical victory for the US because the two new big Jap carriers Zuikaku and Shokaku were both bombed and returned to port in the Japanese mainland... they sat out Midway. Midway was a trap for the American carriers, the Japanese put a submarine net in place on the 4th of June, halfway between Pearl Harbor and Midway; the japanese plan was to take Midway island (easy) and then ambush the American carriers when they sailed northwest from Pearl. Practically the entire Japanese fleet was sailed into the Midway waters, with the Akagi, Kaga, Hiryu and Soryu carriers, the Junyo and Zuiho were sent to the Alaskan Aleutian islands as a diversion. The diversion managed to invade and control a tiny fracton of American soil; the only time in WWII our nation was invaded. Luckily, we broke the Jap code and sailed our carriers north into position north and east of Midway, the Enterprise and Hornet crossed the Jap sub ambush waters on the first of June and the Yorktown crossed undetected on the 3rd of June. The japs set up on the 4th of June to be in place already as they attacked Midway. Nimitz actually ambushed the Jap carriers as they went about ambushing his carriers. The Yorktown should have been in port for repairs like the Zuikaku and Shokaku, but was sent out with a repair crew onboard still making repairs; this came in handy as they actually repaired the flight deck after the first bomber strike, attracting all the jap efforts on the 4th of June.

The one big advantage the American Navy had over the japanese navy in WWII was amphibious landing capabilities. The Japanese were not facing any resistance from the nations they took after the pearl Harbor attack; their whole strategy was to keep the US at bay while they walked their Army units onto the resources they needed all over the western Pacific. Key to the Japanese operations was Truk in Rabaul; a kind of fleet center, same as pearl was for the US. In order to stretch their influence down to New Zealand and cut off Australian allied operations, the japanese built an airstrip on the island of Guadalcanal in the Solomon islands. Immediately after Midway, while Zuikaku and Shokaku were still in port, US carriers sailed to Guadalcanal and took it from the japanese and renamed the newly finished airstrip "Henderson field". We then landed a whole division of marines to hold the airstrip. Japanese navy came roaring back and took full control of the waters, but was unable to land enough troops to take back their airstrip; the marines at Guadalcanal held on, very much behind enemy lines.

The battle of Santa Cruz islands was an even larger carrier battle then Coral Sea or Midway. In it, we drew first blood when a couple of Dauntless dive bombers from the Enterprise out on patrol happened upon the Jap fleet; as luck would have it, they were perfectly alligned for a drop on the Zuiho when they dropped below cloud level for a look around, so they continued dropping and bombed it, both getting hits on the flight deck... without a single shot being fired at them, until they pulled out, anyway. When the Jap first wave came upon the Hornet and the Enterprise, the Enterprise pulled into a squall and vanished from sight; this was actually fortunate for the Japanese strike because they concentrated all of it on the Hornet, which was the only carrier sunk at Santa Cruz. The 2nd jap strike wave found the Enterprise and bombed it also, but some nice steering by the captain avoided some six torpedos that were on target; the Enterprise escaped badly damaged, but they patched her up and used her to ferry planes into Henderson field to defend against the jap amphibious assault ships when they finally arrived. Eventually, our new battleship, the Washington, entered the battle in Iron Bottom sound and sank a japanese battleship; and we took over the waters. Midway was a big victory for the carriers, but that was avenged at Santa Cruz, the bigger picture was the depletion of japanese veteran pilots; that's what happened at Santa Cruz; Santa Cruz saw massive pilot losses for both sides, but America had a massive training program for new pilots that the japanese system didn't employ. So, while Midway was a victory for America, it didn't turn the tide of war, because it didn't take out japanese pilots, they survived on the other ships and fought again.... and Santa Cruz was a victory for the japanese, but it turned the tide of the war against them, because they lost the bulk of their veteran pilots.

Here is a Japanese CGI video that re-enacts the battle of Santa Cruz. They did an excellent job of giving you a feel exactly what it felt like for the carriers and pilots in that battle...

Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands (CG Documentary)
Published on Jun 25, 2016
 
Last edited:

bdtex

Administrator
Staff member
My recollection is that Coral Sea was the first of many naval surface engagements in WW2 where the opposing fleets never saw each other.
 
Top