Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

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The aircraft carrier Hornet under attack

Aircraft carrier USS Hornet under attack, 26 October 1942

Conflict

World War II, Pacific War

Date

October 25, 1942 – October 27, 1942

Place

Santa Cruz Islands, Solomon Islands

Result

Japanese victory

Combatants
United States	Japan
Commanders
William Halsey, Jr.	Isoroku Yamamoto
Strength
2 carriers, 1 battleship, 6 cruisers, 14 destroyers, 170 planes	4 carriers, 2 battleships, 10 cruisers, 22 destroyers, 200 planes
Casualties
1 carrier sunk, 1 carrier damaged, 1 battleship damaged, 81 planes destroyed	2 carriers badly damaged, 1 cruiser damaged, 91 planes destroyed

Solomon Islands campaign
Guadalcanal – Savo – Eastern Solomons – Cape Esperance – Santa Cruz – Naval Guadalcanal – Tassafaronga – Rennell – Blackett Strait – New Georgia – Kula – Kolombangara – Vella – Horaniu – Vella Lavella – Bougainville – Empress Augusta Bay – Cape St. George

The Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands was a naval battle of World War II, one of several episodes in the struggle for the Solomon Islands. Fought on 26 October 1942, the Japanese won a tactical victory by crippling the aircraft carrier USS Hornet and forcing the remaining US ships to retreat, but they did not achieve their strategic goal of dislodging the US Marines from Guadalcanal.

The Japanese, reluctant to risk their remaining carriers in a major engagement in the Solomons until they had a good land airfield, decided to seize Henderson Field on Guadalcanal. The land offensive commenced on 23 October 1942 but the Marines managed to repulse each assault. Vice Admiral Halsey, the Commander of the South Pacific Area, sent the Hornet and Enterprise to attack the Japanese fleet cruising northeast of the Solomons.

On 26 October both carrier forces launched their aircraft against each other in an exchange of strikes which damaged the Hornet and the Shokaku. In two subsequent attacks Enterprise was hit and damaged while Hornet was set ablaze, abandoned, and later sunk by Japanese destroyers. The Americans retreated eastwards to get air cover from the land bases in the New Hebrides but the Japanese, still cautious because of their defeat at Midway, failed to pursue the American fleet and lost the opportunity to sink or damage Enterprise.

References

Eric M. Hammel, Carrier Strike: The Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, October 1942 (Pacifica Press, 2000) ISBN 0935553371
Samuel Eliot Morison, History of United States Naval Operations in World War II

ja:南太平洋海戦pl:Bitwa koło wysp Santa Cruz