Friday The 13th Afloat

FRI 13 NOV 1942
Pacific
Naval Battle of Guadalcanal continues: TG 67.4, comprising two heavy cruisers, three light cruisers, and eight destroyers (Rear Admiral Daniel J. Callaghan) encounters Japanese Bombardment Force (Rear Admiral Abe Hiroaki) that includes two battleships, steaming to bombard Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, shortly after midnight on 12 November; a savage nocturnal naval action ensues. Abe's force inflicts heavy damage on TG 67.4 before it retires northward; Rear Admirals Callaghan and Norman Scott are killed on board their respective flagships, heavy cruiser San Francisco(CA-38) and Atlanta (CL-51). Both Callaghan and Scott are awarded Medals of Honor (posthumously). On board San Francisco, Lieutenant Commanders Herbert E. Schonland and Bruce McCandless prove instrumental in saving their ship, and Boatswain's Mate First Class Reinhardt J. Keppler performs a succession of heroic acts in fighting fires and removing wounded during the thick of the battle. Those three men (Keppler posthumously) also earn the nation's highest award for bravery. TF 16 (Rear Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid), formed around carrier Enterprise (CV-6), the last operational fleet carrier in the Pacific, nears the battle area and launches air search and attacks against the enemy.

Light cruiser Atlanta (CL-51), irreparably damaged by Japanese naval gunfire and torpedo as well as by friendly fire from heavy cruiser San Francisco, is scuttled by demolition charges three miles off Lunga Point; light cruiser Juneau (CL-52), damaged by gunfire, is torpedoed and sunk by Japanese submarine I-26, 10°34'S, 161°44'E, as Juneau retires toward Espiritu Santo. Loss of life is heavy. Also sunk are destroyers Cushing (DD-376) and Monssen (DD-435) to gunfire, Laffey (DD-459) to gunfire and torpedo, and Barton (DD-599) to two torpedoes. Heavy cruiser Portland (CA-33) suffers torpedo damage; San Francisco, light cruiser Helena (CL-50), and destroyer Aaron Ward (DD-483) are damaged by gunfire; friendly fire damages destroyer O'Bannon (DD-450).

The Japanese, however, do not emerge from the brutal nocturnal slugfest unscathed: battleship Hiei, damaged by gunfire from heavy cruisers Portland and San Francisco and destroyers Cushing, Laffey, and O'Bannon, is sunk by TBFs (VT 8) from carrier Enterprise and USMC SBDs (VMSB 142) and TBFs (VMSB 131) from Henderson Field. Destroyer Akatsuki is sunk by San Francisco and Atlanta gunfire near Savo Island, 09°17'S, 159°56'E. Destroyer Yudachi, damaged by gunfire, is sunk by Portland southeast of Savo Island, 09°14'S, 159°52'E. Japanese destroyers Murasame, Ikazuchi,and Amatsukaze are damaged by gunfire; destroyer Yukikaze is damaged by aircraft, off Guadalcanal. Destroyer Michisio is also damaged by aircraft off Shortland Island, Solomons.

On the night of 13 November, heavy cruisers Suzuya and Maya approach Guadalcanal to shell Henderson Field, intending to render it inoperable the following morning.

Atlantic
Unarmed U.S. schooner Star of Scotland is shelled and sunk by German submarine U-159 while en route from Cape Town, South Africa, to Paranagua, Brazil, 26°30'S, 00°20'W; one sailor (of the 17-man crew) drowns when the ship is abandoned (see 1 December).

Indian Ocean
U.S. freighter Excello, proceeding independently from Port Said, Egypt, to Cape Town, South Africa, is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-181 at 32°23'S, 30°07'E; one Armed Guard sailor and one merchant seaman perish in the attack (see 14, 15, and 20 November).