First Sub From Makin & Battle Of The Eastern Solomons

USS Nautilus (SS-168) Returns From Makin Raid, 24 AUG 1942

MON 24 AUG 1942
Pacific
Battle of the Eastern Solomons occurs as TF 61 (Vice Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher), supported by USMC and USAAF planes from Henderson Field, turns back major Japanese attempt to recapture Guadalcanal and Tulagi. Carrier Enterprise (CV-6) is damaged by dive bomber (08°38'S, 163°30'E) and destroyer Grayson (DD-435) is damaged by strafing and near-miss, but SBDs and TBFs (VB 3, VS 3, VT 8) from Saratoga (CV-3) sink carrier Ryujo (06°10'S, 160°50'E) and damage seaplane carrier Chitose. SBD (VMSB 232) damages light cruiser Jintsu north of Malaita Island, Solomons.

Submarine Saury (SS-189) torpedoes Japanese army transport Otowasan Maru west of Luzon, 14°15'N, 120°19'E.

Submarine Guardfish (SS-217) torpedoes and sinks Japanese merchant passenger-cargo ship Seikai Maru off entrance to Sendai harbor, on northeast coast of Honshu, 38°12'N, 141°30'E.

Japanese transport Cuba Maru, stranded south of Sakhalin Island, Kurils, sinks, 48°00'N, 142°30'E.

History adds:

On this day in 1942, U.S. forces continue to deliver crushing blows to the Japanese, sinking the aircraft carrier Ryuho in the Battle of the East Solomon Islands. Key to the Americans’ success in this battle was the work of coastwatchers, a group of volunteers whose job it is to report on Japanese ship and aircraft movement.

The Marines had landed on Guadalcanal, on the Solomon Islands, on August 7. This was the first American offensive maneuver of the war and would deliver the first real defeat to the Japanese. On August 23, coastwatchers, comprised mostly of Australian and New Zealander volunteers, hidden throughout the Solomon and Bismarck islands and protected by anti-Japanese natives, spotted heavy Japanese reinforcements headed for Guadalcanal. The coastwatchers alerted three U.S. carriers that were within 100 miles of Guadalcanal, which then raced to the scene to intercept the Japanese.

By the time the Battle of the Eastern Solomons was over, the Japanese lost a light carrier, a destroyer, and a submarine and the Ryuho. The Americans suffered damage to the USS Enterprise, the most decorated carrier of the war; the Enterprise would see action again, though, in the American landings on Okinawa in 1945.

As for the coastwatchers, Vice Adm. William F. Halsey said, “The coastwatchers saved Guadalcanal, and Guadalcanal saved the Pacific.”

Footnote: It was a coastwatcher who arranged for the deliverance and safe return of John F. Kennedy and his crew when they were stranded in the Solomons in 1943.