Wednesday 10th October

62 days to go.

Just work today. I will attempt to explain the 2nd of the 7 Naval battles of Guadalcanal. A recap, No. 1 was the Battle of Savo Island. No. 2 is the Battle of the Eastern Solomons. 24 – 25 August 1942.
The Japanese planned to bring down reinforcements for the troops under attack on Guadalcanal. They had 2 other forces with the transports. One was to create a diversion by attacking the US Fleet while the other was to launch a more deadly attack on the US Fleet while they were attacking the diversionary attack.
It did not work out as the Japanese expected. They lost a light Aircraft Carrier in their diversion fleet on the 24th. On the 25th aircraft from Henderson Field attacked the landing craft and sunk several and prevented them from reaching shore. Also on the 25th an American bomber sank a Japanese Destroyer.
The USS Enterprise was badly damaged and had to return to Pearl Harbour for repairs. The most important thing was that the Japanese had to use warships to get the reinforcements onto Guadalcanal as they did not have enough landing craft left. This meant they could carry less, but more importantly were withdrawn from fighting until they transported the troops.