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 Tassafaronga, sometimes referred to as the Fourth Battle of Savo Island or in Japanese sources as the Battle of Lunga Point, was a nighttime naval battle that took place on 30 November 1942 between United States Navy and Imperial Japanese Navy warships during the Guadalcanal campaign. The battle took place in Ironbottom Sound near Tassafaronga Point on Guadalcanal.
"Ironbottom Sound" is the name given by Allied sailors to the stretch of water at the southern end of The Slot between Guadalcanal, Savo Island, and Florida Island of the Solomon Islands, because of the dozens of ships and planes that sank there during the naval actions comprising the Battle of Guadalcanal during 1942–1943. Before the war, it was called Savo Sound. Every year on the battle's anniversary, a US ship cruises into the waters and drops a wreath to commemorate the men who lost their lives. For many Navy sailors, and those who served in the area during that time, the waters in this area are considered sacred, and strict silence is observed as ships cruise through.
USS Northampton (CL/CA-26) was the lead Northampton-class cruiser in service with the United States Navy. She was commissioned in 1930, originally classified a light cruiser because of her thin armor but later reclassified a heavy cruiser because of her 8-inch guns. During World War II she served in the Pacific and was sunk by Japanese torpedoes during the Battle of Tassafaronga on 30 November 1942. She was named after the city of Northampton, Massachusetts, the home of former President Calvin Coolidge.
USS Aaron Ward (DD-483) was a Gleaves-class destroyer in the service of the United States Navy. She was the second Navy ship named in honor of Rear Admiral Aaron Ward. She sank on 7 April 1943 in a shoal near Tinete Point of Nggela Sule, Solomon Islands during Operation I-Go. Her wreck was discovered on 4 September 1994.
Raizō Tanaka was a rear admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during most of World War II. A specialist in the heavy torpedoes that were carried by all the destroyers and cruisers of the IJN, Tanaka mainly commanded destroyer squadrons, with a cruiser or two attached, and he was the primary leader of the "Tokyo Express" reinforcement and resupply shipments during the long campaign for the island of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands of the South Pacific Ocean. From the Americans, Tanaka acquired the nickname of "Tenacious Tanaka" for his stalwart opposition.
USS Gwin (DD-433), a Gleaves-class destroyer, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for Lieutenant Commander William Gwin, an American Civil War officer who commanded river boats against Confederate forces in Alabama.
I-26 was an Imperial Japanese Navy B1 type submarine commissioned in 1941. She saw service in the Pacific War theatre of World War II, patrolling off the West Coast of Canada and the United States, the east coast of Australia, and Fiji and in the Indian Ocean and taking part in Operation K, preparatory operations for the Aleutian Islands campaign, and the Guadalcanal campaign, the Marianas campaign, and the Battle of Leyte Gulf. She was the first Japanese submarine to sink an American merchant ship in the war, sank the first ship lost off the coast of State of Washington during the war, damaged the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga (CV-3), sank the light cruiser USS Juneau (CLAA-52), and was the third-highest-scoring Japanese submarine of World War II in terms of shipping tonnage sunk. Her bombardment of Vancouver Island in 1942 was the first foreign attack on Canadian soil since 1870. In 1944, I-26′s crew committed war crimes in attacking the survivors of a ship she sank. She was sunk in November 1944 during her ninth war patrol.
USS Sterett (DD-407) was a Benham-class destroyer in the United States Navy. She was the second Navy ship named for Andrew Sterett.
Tameichi Hara was an Imperial Japanese naval commander during the Pacific War and the author of the IJN manual on torpedo attack techniques, notable for his skill in torpedo warfare and night fighting. Hara was the only IJN destroyer captain at the start of World War II to survive the entire war and his memoirs serve as an important source for historians.
Teruzuki was the second of 13 Akizuki-class destroyers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the 1940s. The Akizuki-class ships were given a heavy armament of eight dual-purpose guns to fulfill their designed role as aircraft carrier escorts, although the design was modified with additional weapons to improve their flexibility. Completed in mid-1942, Teruzuki played a minor role in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands in October. The following month she participated in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, crippling several American warships, without taking any damage herself. The ship was sunk in December by American patrol torpedo boats as she escorted a convoy delivering supplies to the Japanese troops on Guadalcanal.
Arashi(嵐, "Storm") was a Kagerō-class destroyer of the Imperial Japanese Navy.
Kawakaze was the ninth of ten Shiratsuyu-class destroyers, and the third to be built for the Imperial Japanese Navy under the Circle Two Program. Completed in April of 1937, Kawakaze took part in the battle of the Java Sea, where she assisted in sinking the destroyer HMS Encounter and escorted carriers at the battles of the Eastern Solomons and Santa Cruz. During the Guadalcanal campaign, Kawakaze torpedoed and sank the destroyer USS Blue and after bombarding Henderson Field she took part in the battle of Tassafaronga, where she probably torpedoed and sank the heavy cruiser USS Northampton.
USS Navajo (AT-64) was an oceangoing tugboat in the United States Navy, and the lead ship of her class. She was named for the Navajo people. Originally called the Navajo-class of fleet tugs, they were later renamed the Cherokee-class after loss of the first two ships of the class.
The Yūgumo-class destroyers were a group of 19 destroyers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. The IJN called them Destroyer Type-A from their plan name. No ships of the class survived the war.
USS Sheehan (DE-541) was a United States Navy John C. Butler-class destroyer escort launched during World War II but never completed.
USS Jamestown (PG-55) was a patrol gunboat and after 13 January 1943 a Jamestown-class motor torpedo boat tender acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War II. Her task in her final classification was to provide a "home base" for torpedo boats in remote parts of the ocean during the war, and to provide them with necessary services, such as fuel, food, and repairs.
The seventh USS Niagara (CMc-2/PG-52/AGP-1) was an auxiliary ship of the United States Navy during World War II.
Ro-103 was an Imperial Japanese Navy Ro-100-class submarine. Completed and commissioned in October 1942, she served in World War II, operating in the Solomon Islands, Rabaul, and New Guinea areas and sinking two cargo ships. She disappeared in July 1943 during her fifth war patrol.
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