The 8th Fleet was established on 14 July 1942 and was given the operational title of Outer South Seas Force, which reflected its mission of guarding conquests in the South Pacific. In this respect, it essentially replaced the 4th Fleet, which was then given the operational title of Inner South Seas Force, and was primarily tasked with defending the Mandates. Vice AdmiralGunichi Mikawa was appointed as the first commander of the 8th Fleet.[1][2][3]
On 25 July, Vice Admiral Mikawa led the fleet to Truk in Caroline Islands. From there he then moved to Rabaul on New Britain and arrived on 30 July, where he established his headquarters. He detached CruDiv6 under Rear Admiral Gotō to Kavieng on New Ireland, in order to move them out of the range of Allied aircraft.[1][2][7] When the news of Allied landings on Guadalcanal and Tulagi reached the 8th Fleet headquarters on August 7, Mikawa promptly decided to make a night-time counter-attack with his available surface naval forces, despite the presence of American carriers. He ordered CruDiv6 to leave Kavieng to meet his flagship Chōkai. Initially, Mikawa did not want to take the two available old light cruisers from CruDiv18 (Tenryū and Yūbari), since he deemed them as a liability due to their age and lack of crew training. Nevertheless, a stubborn staff officer of CruDiv18 managed to convince Mikawa to take them along. Only one destroyer (Yūnagi) was available at the time to escort the striking force. After assembling the warships, Mikawa sailed toward Guadalcanal. Furthermore, He sent four submarines of SubDiv7 ahead of his surface striking force.[7]
8th Fleet warships led by Vice Admiral Mikawa dealt a major defeat to Allied naval forces at the Battle of Savo Island on 9 August 1942 by sinking four heavy cruisers.
In the ensuing Battle of Savo Island in the early morning of 9 August, Admiral Mikawa's 8th Fleet defeated a numerically superior Allied Task Force 62.2, composed primarily of United States Navy vessels, but with a substantial Royal Australian Navy component, all under the command of British Rear Admiral Victor Crutchley. The striking force of the 8th Fleet sank four Allied heavy cruisers and additionally damaged one more heavy cruiser and two destroyers, in exchange for a relativity minor damage to two heavy cruisers and one destroyer. Nevertheless, they failed to follow through and destroy the lightly protected American transports that were in the process of landing critical supplies for the Allied troops on the ground. While CruDiv6 was returning to Kavieng on 10 August, heavy cruiser Kako was torpedoed and sunk by US submarine S-44.[8][9]
During the Guadalcanal Campaign, the 8th Fleet was responsible for bringing reinforcements and supplies to the island. For this purpose Reinforcement Unit was formed, which was centered around Destroyer Squadron 2 led by Rear Admiral Raizō Tanaka. On 31 August, Tanaka was temporarily replaced in this role by Rear Admiral Shintarō Hashimoto and his Destroyer Squadron 3.[10] On 28 August 1942, the 8th Fleet also created the R-Area Air Force, which exclusively operated seaplanes in order to compensate for the lack of land bases in the Solomon Islands area. The unit's primary mission was to protect resupply convoys headed for Guadalcanal and to conduct aerial reconnaissance.[5][11]
Seaplane tender Nisshin was used by the 8th Fleet's Reinforcement Unit as a high-speed transport to resupply Guadalcanal in October 1942.
Since regular resupply runs by destroyers only could not deliver heavy equipment (such as artillery) to the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) on Guadalcanal, the 8th Fleet's Reinforcement Unit started using seaplane tenders Chitose and Nisshin as high-speed transports. To cover the unloading of supplies by the convoy on 11 October, the 8th Fleet assigned CruDiv6 with heavy cruisers Aoba, Kinugasa and Furutaka and two destroyers under Rear Admiral Gotō to bombard the Allied position on Guadalcanal. On the night of 11/12 October they were ambushed by two heavy cruisers, two light cruisers and five destroyers under Rear Admiral Norman Scott, which resulted in the Battle of Cape Esperance. The battle accounted for the loss of Furutaka and one Japanese destroyer, in exchange for the loss of one US destroyer. Furthermore, Rear Admiral Gotō was also mortally wounded in the battle. Nevertheless, the convoy managed to successfully unload the supplies and equipment on Guadalcanal. Two of its destroyers, while retreating from Guadalcanal, were sunk by air attacks the following day. [12][13] Another major resupply run was conducted on the night of 14/15 October by Nisshin, while Vice Admiral Mikawa with Chōkai and Kinugasa shelled Allied position on Guadalcanal to cover the cargo unloading process.[14][15]
The 8th Fleet was also involved in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, where Vice Admiral Mikawa led a naval force that consisted of heavy cruisers Chōkai, Kinugasa, Maya, Suzuya, light cruisers Isuzu and Tenryū, and four destroyers. In the early morning of November 14, Maya and Suzuya were detached under Rear Admiral Shōji Nishimura to conduct a bombardment of the Allied position on Guadalcanal, before rendezvousing with Mikawa and the rest of the force after sunrise south of New Georgia. After that, they were repeatedly attacked by Allied aircraft throughout the morning, which sank Kinugasa and damaged Chōkai, Maya and Isuzu.[16][17]
The 8th Fleet suffered a major blow from Allied air power at the Battle of the Bismarck Sea in March 1943.
On 24 December 1942 the 8th Fleet came under the operational authority of the Southeast Area Fleet.[18][19] The 8th Fleet subsequently played a major role in Operation KE, the successful withdrawal of army forces from Guadalcanal during the first week of February 1943.[20] Between 2–4 March eight destroyers from 8th Fleet under Rear Admiral Masatomi Kimura escorted a major reinforcement convoy from Rabaul to Lae on New Guinea. In the ensuing Battle of the Bismarck Sea the Japanese suffered a major defeat when Allied aircraft sank four destroyers and all eight transports.[21] Shortly after this debacle, Vice Admiral Mikawa was relieved of the 8th Fleet command and replaced by Vice Admiral Tomoshige Samejima.[22]
The Guadalcanal campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by American forces, was a military campaign fought between 7 August 1942 and 9 February 1943 on and around the island of Guadalcanal in the Pacific theater of World War II. It was the first major land offensive by Allied forces against the Empire of Japan.
The Battle of the Coral Sea, from 4 to 8 May 1942, was a major naval battle between the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and naval and air forces of the United States and Australia. Taking place in the Pacific Theatre of World War II, the battle was the first naval action in which the opposing fleets neither sighted nor fired upon one another, attacking over the horizon from aircraft carriers instead.
The naval Battle of the Eastern Solomons took place on 24–25 August 1942 and was the third carrier battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II and the second major engagement fought between the United States Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the Guadalcanal campaign. As at the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway, the ships of the two adversaries were never within sight of each other. Instead, all attacks were carried out by carrier-based or land-based aircraft.
The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, sometimes referred to as the Third and Fourth Battles of Savo Island, the Battle of the Solomons, TheBattle of Friday the 13th, The Night of the Big Guns, or, in Japanese sources, the Third Battle of the Solomon Sea, took place from 12 to 15 November 1942 and was the decisive engagement in a series of naval battles between Allied and Imperial Japanese forces during the months-long Guadalcanal campaign in the Solomon Islands during World War II. The action consisted of combined air and sea engagements over four days, most near Guadalcanal and all related to a Japanese effort to reinforce land forces on the island. The only two U.S. Navy admirals to be killed in a surface engagement in the war were lost in this battle.
The Battle of Savo Island, also known as the First Battle of Savo Island and in Japanese sources as the First Battle of the Solomon Sea, and colloquially among Allied Guadalcanal veterans as the Battle of the Five Sitting Ducks, was a naval battle of the Solomon Islands campaign of the Pacific War of World War II between the Imperial Japanese Navy and Allied naval forces. The battle took place on 8–9 August 1942 and was the first major naval engagement of the Guadalcanal campaign and the first of several naval battles in the straits later named Ironbottom Sound, near the island of Guadalcanal.
Gunichi Mikawa was a vice-admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II. Mikawa was the commander of a heavy cruiser force that defeated the U.S. Navy and the Royal Australian Navy at the Battle of Savo Island in Ironbottom Sound on the night of 8–9 August 1942.
Chōkai (鳥海) was a Takao-class heavy cruiser, armed with ten 20 cm (8 in) guns, four 12 cm (5 in) guns, eight tubes for the Type 93 torpedo, and assorted anti-aircraft guns. Named for Mount Chōkai, Chōkai was designed with the Imperial Japanese Navy strategy of the great "Decisive Battle" in mind, and built in 1932 by Mitsubishi's shipyard in Nagasaki.
The Battle of Cape Esperance, also known as the Second Battle of Savo Island and in Japanese sources as the Sea Battle of Savo Island (サボ島沖海戦), took place on 11–12 October 1942, in the Pacific campaign of World War II between the Imperial Japanese Navy and United States Navy. The naval battle was the second of four major surface engagements during the Guadalcanal campaign and took place at the entrance to the strait between Savo Island and Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. Cape Esperance (9°15′S159°42′E) is the northernmost point on Guadalcanal, and the battle took its name from this point.
Furutaka was the lead ship in the two-vessel Furutaka-class of heavy cruisers in the Imperial Japanese Navy. The ship was named after Mount Furutaka, located on Etajima, Hiroshima immediately behind the Imperial Japanese Navy Academy. She was commissioned in 1926 and was sunk 12 October 1942 by USS Salt Lake City and USS Buchanan at the Battle of Cape Esperance.
Tenryū was the lead ship in the two-ship Tenryū class of light cruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Tenryū was named after the Tenryū River in Nagano and Shizuoka prefectures.
Suzuya (鈴谷) was the third of four vessels in the Mogami class of heavy cruisers in the Imperial Japanese Navy. She was named after the Suzuya River on Karafuto.
Kinugasa (衣笠) was the second vessel in the two-vessel Aoba class of heavy cruisers in the Imperial Japanese Navy. The ship was named after Mount Kinugasa, located in Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan.
Kako (加古) was the second vessel in the two-vessel Furutaka class of heavy cruisers in the Imperial Japanese Navy. The ship was named after the Kako River in Hyogo prefecture, Japan.
Operation Mo or the Port Moresby Operation was a Japanese plan to take control of the Australian Territory of New Guinea during World War II as well as other locations in the South Pacific. The goal was to isolate Australia and New Zealand from the Allied United States.
Aritomo Gotō was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II.
Aoba (青葉) was the lead ship in the two-vessel Aoba class of heavy cruisers in the Imperial Japanese Navy. Launched in 1926 and heavily modernized in 1938-40, Aoba initially served as a patrol craft, largely along the China coast, and saw extensive service during World War II. Repeatedly heavily damaged and repaired, she was finally crippled by bombing and settled on the bottom of shallow Kure harbor in April 1945; two raids in late July reduced her to an unsalvageable hulk. During the attack on 24 July 1945, future Vice admiral Dick H. Guinn dropped the 2,000 lb (910 kg) bomb which contributed to the sinking of that vessel.
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.
The R-Area Air Force was a unit of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJNAS) during the Pacific War that was involved in the Guadalcanal Campaign and Solomon Islands Campaign. The unit operated seaplanes with a primary mission to protect resupply convoys headed for Guadalcanal and to conduct aerial reconnaissance.
The Battle of Savo Island was part of Guadalcanal Campaign and was fought on 9 August 1942 in the waters around Savo Island by forces of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and Allies' Guadalcanal—Tulagi invasion force composed of ships from the United States Navy (USN) and Royal Australian Navy (RAN). The battle resulted in a major Allied defeat, losing four heavy cruisers. The Japanese lost no ships but failed to capitalize on the temporary strategic advantage gained from the battle, leaving the unprotected Allied transports unharmed.
The 6th Cruiser Division (CruDiv6) was a cruiser division of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) that played a prominent role during the early stages of the Pacific War. The unit operated the four oldest heavy cruisers of IJN: two Furutaka-class and two Aoba-class.
Evans, David C. (1986). "The Struggle for Guadalcanal". The Japanese Navy in World War II: In the Words of Former Japanese Naval Officers (2nded.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN0-87021-316-4.
Hata, Ikuhiko; Izawa, Yasuho; Shores, Christopher (2011). Japanese Naval Air Force Fighter Units and their aces, 1932-1945. London, UK: Grub Street. ISBN9781906502843.
Lundstrom, John B. (2005b). First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign: Naval Fighter Combat from August to November 1942 (Newed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN1-59114-472-8.
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