USN Destroyer vs IJN Destroyer: The Pacific 1943 (Duel)
Mark Stille
Language: English
Pages: 80
ISBN: 1849086230
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
This book will cover the fierce night naval battles fought after Guadalcanal between the US Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy during late 1943 as the Allies advanced slowly up the Solomons Islands toward the major Japanese naval base at Rabaul. During this period, several vicious actions were fought around the American beachheads on the islands of New Georgia, Kolombangara and Vella Lavella in the central Solomons. These battles featured the most modern destroyers of both navies. Throughout most of 1942, the Imperial Navy had held a marked edge in night-fighting during the six-month long struggle for Guadalcanal. A key ingredient of these Japanese successes was their destroyer force which combined superior training and tactics with the most capable torpedo in the world, known to the Allies as the "Long Lance". Even into 1943, at the battles of Kula Gulf and Kolombangara, mixed Allied light cruiser/destroyer forces were roughly handled by Japanese destroyers. After these battles, the Americans decided to stop chasing Japanese destroyers with cruisers so the remainder of the battles in 1943 (with one exception) were classic destroyer duels. The Americans still enjoyed the technical edge provided to them by radar, and now added new, more aggressive tactics. After four more destroyer duels during the second half of 1943, the final result was the defeat of the Imperial Navy's finely trained destroyer force and the demonstration that the Japanese were unable to stop the Allies' advance.
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Units of the Fubuki class. Each destroyer squadron was assigned a light cruiser as its flagship and each division was supposed to have three or four ships. This was not the case by mid-1943 when attrition and the requirement for overhauls following incessant operations typically reduced a division to one or two ships. The IJN’s destroyer formations were being run into the ground. Throughout the campaign, the Japanese fed reinforcements into the struggle. In July, Destroyer Squadron 2 with a.
31/07/2012 10:42 TeChnICal sPeCIfICaTIons us nav y desTroyers The Americans entered World War II with a mix of “four-stacker” destroyers from World War I, two classes of destroyer leaders, and several classes of 1,500-ton ships. The epitome of American destroyer design, the Fletcher class, did not reach the Pacific theater until late in the Guadalcanal campaign. By the time of the destroyer clashes in 1943, this was the most numerous destroyer in the Pacific Fleet and was the American destroyer.
Four of the last five surface battles of the campaign, all fought at night, were contested solely between destroyers. These four destroyer battles are the subject of this book. Two of the four were clear American victories, one was a tactical Japanese victory, and the last a draw. A June 1942 view of Yugumoclass unit Naganami. The ship represented the epitome of Japanese destroyer design and presents a powerful, balanced appearance. (Yamato Museum) 7 © Osprey Publishing •.
Training to the fullest extent possible. The rigor of these exercises was such that Japanese officers described them as tougher than actual combat. During the height of the training season, the pace was relentless and reduced shore leave to two or three successive days each month. Another training edge enjoyed by the Japanese was the fact that after 1937 ships and crews were exposed to actual combat conditions off the Chinese coast. Destroyer crews were well drilled in battle tactics and.
Of the destroyers allowed them to approach the island, deliver troops and supplies, and leave the area – all during the hours of darkness thus avoiding air attack. On several During the early part of the Solomons campaign, Japanese destroyermen had a field day against American commanders who did not appreciate the power of the Type 93 torpedo and failed to maneuver their forces accordingly. At the battle of Tassafaronga on November 30, four American cruisers were hit by torpedoes. Minneapolis is.