The Second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal

Ultradog MN

Well-known Member
Location
Twin Cities
Should have been posted a couple of days ago.
Happened 70 years ago this week.
This is the second battle in so many nights when the Japanese lose the battleships Hiei and Kirishima.
Where USS South Dakota gets hammered cause her electrics fail.
But the USS Washington, like Mike Tyson in one of his famous first round KOs
sinks the contender Kirishima in 7 minutes.
One of the last battleship vs battleship confrontations in history.
Follow the link for a great read.
70 years ago this week.
Click Here
 
That was very good being a Navy man who stood many watches during cold dark nights. One time I was going back to after steering and as I approach engine room hatch all of sudden I had hands a d at s all around me. Then the guy said OH! It's you Davie.
I was glad to here that human voice as it was so dark that I couldn't see him right in front of me. You learn to walk the dock wall in the dark when steaming under blackout conditions.
Walt
 
Walt I never stood watch on a ship. In the early 60's I sure stood a lot of midnight to four in the morning watches around our planes in North Island, San Diego Ca. In the winter it sure was cold. The good old days. Stan
 
That is a great read! Thanks for sharing it.

If you are interested, there is a book "The Lost Ships of Guadalcanal" by Robery Ballard, 1993, ISBN 0-446-51636-8. Chapter 6 "Night of the Big Guns" covers this second battle. The night before, November 13, the Juneau was sunk with the five Sullivan brothers. Ballard is the guy who took submarines down to photograph the Bismark and the Titanic. In this book he photographs 12 US, Australian, and Japanese ships that were sunk in Iron Bottom Sound, and describes the naval battles that took place at Guadalcanel.

The battleship Kirishima rests upside-down on the ocean floor.

Thanks again.
 
Interesting read. I have always thought that i was born 20 years too late. I served in the Navy 1960-64, first on destroyers then on submarines. In that time period the US Navy consisted mainly of ships that had survived WWII. Many of the old Fletcher class Destroyers still had warped decks from enemy bombing and shellfire. I felt honored and humbled to stand the same watches and sleep in the same racks that WWII sailors did. I have been a student of WWII, particularly the Pacific Theatre ever since.
 

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