Guadalcanal Campaign - The Big Night Battle: Night 1 (IJN 3(?) : 2 USN)
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- Опубліковано 16 жов 2024
- Today we look at the first part of the fifth major battle of the Guadalcanal Campaign, the originally named Naval Battle of Guadalcanal.
Massive thanks to the fine gentlemen at The Operations Room for making the animations, check out their channel here! / @theoperationsroom
Sources:
www.amazon.co.uk/Neptunes-Inferno-U-S-Navy-Guadalcanal/dp/B004KSEYHI
www.amazon.co.uk/Battle-History-Imperial-Japenese-Navy/dp/1591142199
www.ibiblio.org...
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00TG24BC6/
Free naval photos and more - www.drachinifel.co.uk
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Pinned post for Q&A :) - Check out The Operations Room, they made the animations which really helped this video out! ua-cam.com/channels/nZJt7yQw5IztVwe-Dscd-Q.html
Drydock question for you: How would USS Midway have faired had she been ready for war in June 1944 assuming she’s outfitted as she was in September 1945?
Oh I'm a new subscriber! I don't know if anybody has asked this question before, but did the Dominion of India have a separate navy like other dominions such as Australia or Canada?
Is that metal of honor earned?
Is it true that Yamamoto, before the pacific war, opposed with the idea of construction of the Yamato class battleship? And why is it?
So here's a what-if scenario: For whatever reason, Scott is in overall command in this battle instead of Callaghan. What changes? Would Scott still have been on the Atlanta with her superior radar, and would that have resulted in a less confusing and costly engagement?
The Wildcat pilot wasn't trying to beat the Japanese down, he was trying to land on it and board it. Aerial piracy invented.
Holy fuck
"Fly me closer, I want to stab them with my Ka-Bar!"
Wildcat was running low on fuel and knew the bomber had extra stores, tried to dock for refueling😂😂😂
Probably a Marine, instinctively doing what Marines traditionally did: board and seize enemy ships. Old habits die hard.
"'Iron Bottom'??? I'LL give you 'Iron Bottom'! Taste *MY* Iron Bottom!!! You like that? And here's MORE of it! And MORE! Don't be shy, enjoy ANOTHER helping!
What? Leaving so soon?"
Enjoyed working with you, glad our Naval Battle of Guadalcanal video was of use :)
Hey your work is great. Love it.
I knew I recognized the animations! Good stuff!
This was the collaboration we'd all been waiting for.
Well done Gents.
Good show!
Thanks a lot! This battle is exceptionally confusing so the animations are very important.
Japanese bomber crew: Oh, you're approaching Mr. Wildcat? You have no ammunition!"
Cactus Air Force pilot: I can't beat you the shit out of you with my landing gear without getting closer.
Japanese bomber crew: Nani!?
Wildcat pilot: "you're talking an awful amount of stupid for someone within landing gear distance
That madlad deserves a medal
That one Japanese pilot who was always teased for bringing his officer's sword aloft with him: "Finally, a worthy opponent! Our battle shall be legendary!"
Sort of unrelated but I remember reading a "biography" of a fictional first world war fighter pilot. It was kind of a comedy and at one point he actually rams a German with his landing gear winning a dogfight. It removed his landing gear in addition to destroying the German plane so when he started seeing his own shadow on the ground sans landing gear he began to think he was being followed by some unknown aircraft.
@@lolroflroflcakes Bartholomew Brandy; Three Cheers for Me
Remember that the wildcat pilot had to wind down his landing gear using a hand crank 28 times before he could go in for the clubbing
That's called "Commitment".
You have to be decidedly pissed off to decide “Fuck it I’m going to stomp you to death!”
Just more time to get pissed off. By the time he got to the low 20s he was probably just breathing in and letting out one long continous stream of f-bombs.
@@TheBeomoose Wildcat pilot recites the sacred hym of four letter words, its super effective.
@@ivanthemadvandal8435 Mine Eyes Have Seen The Glory Of A F**KING P!SSED MARINE...!
"Fly me closer, I want to hit them with my landing gear!"
Ahhhhhh you beat me to it!
*freedom intensifies*
Good thing I checked if this comment was already there.
Dam* it! The airfield keeps moving around. Tell them to hold it still!
🥱😡🤬
Was waiting for a comment like this
The wildcat pilot who beat down a bomber with nothing but landing gear deserves his own video if there is enough info on his service, and it would also be awesome to know how many times he connected and what the important thing was that he broke. Kudos!
Probably broke the Japanese pilot's will to live.
I would assume he initiated fatigue cracks in something structurally critical, such as a wing spar. Japanese aircraft tended to be built a *lot* closer to their yield strength than most, probably to minimise weight and maximise fuel capacity.
Considering that Wildcats and other carrier aircraft have enormously strengthened landing gear to absorb the incredible abuse of a multi-ton aircraft landing repeatedly on a carrier in what is basically a controlled crash,
he was basically the Incredible Hulk jumping up and down on the bomber. Damd good thinking on his part. Plus he probably has the only Landing Gear kill of the war.
Definitely worth a story if sufficient details could be found. Americans...gotta love 'em.
I doubt he ever had to buy himself a drink the rest of his life.
Making said video sounds like a job for The History Guy!
The term "Aerial melee combat" was not something i ever considered until now
I remember once reading about an American fighter pilot whose guns were either jammed or out of ammo coming up behind a Japanese scout plane and chewing its tail off with his propeller, causing it to crash. He landed on his carrier with only a few inches of his propeller blades remaining.
AKA 'Furball' in modern parlance!
"Fly me closer, I want to hit him with my…" *checks notes* "…landing gear."
I recall one instance of a Japanese zero pilot attempting to ram a helldiver out of desperation. They eventually hit one another more or less head on, wing on wing. That is to say, the helldiver tried to twist out of the oncoming ram at the last moment, but the leading edges of the zero's right wing and the helldiver's left wing hit one another.
Unfortunately for the zero pilot, he had failed to calculate into his plan the fact that the zero is a light, agile air superiority fighter and the SBD is, well, a dive bomber, and built to withstand all the stresses and forces that imparts on a plane. The end result was a battered, unhappy, and distinctly in need of repair Helldiver...aaaannnd a zero that was now missing about 70% of its right wing several thousand meters above the Pacific Ocean...
@@andrewgause6971 You know what they say, there are old pilots and bold pilots. And there is a reason why you aren't seeing many that are both.
I imagine the Wildcat pilot writing an angry letter to the Admiralty complaining about the lack of chainsaw bayonets on the plane.
"...So in closing, thank you kind sirs for your consideration of my suggested modifications. I apologize for my coarse language, and wish you and yours all the best. Sincerely,
Your pen-pal,
airman C. Norris.
XOXO"
A survivor of USS Atlanta used to hang out at the big model of the ship in the Atlanta History Center on Memorial Day. He was fascinating to talk with and always blamed USS San Francisco for shooting his ship. After making it to shore, he became a PT boat crewman.
I can't say that I blame him. After all, I still use the word *murder* to describe the death of my former platoon sergeant at the hands of the USAF on 14 April 1994.
I mean it was murder in the classic sense. Callaghan's incompetence and ineptitude got everybody so panicked that they were firing at shadows.
Let's be real, Atlanta's final target on her gun director was only 450 yards away. when your small arms in the lockers can be used effectively in a naval engagement something has gone horribly wrong.
It's very true however it's also to a degree inevitable, you can do lots of stuff to try and mitigate it but a degree of "friendly fire" (terrible term but the one in use) especially in a battle where you're essentially at point blank range and the one message Scott, this and previous actions at Guadacanal had shown was that the ships that fire first usually was the one to survive - It wasn't Panic it was a rational decision. Add in that nobody had designed Atlanta or Jeneau with the idea that they'd be in a ship to ship action and it's loss was kind of inevitable. US PT boats came very close to torping the 2 battleships the next day. I don't think you can really call Callaghan incompetent - you can say that he didn't appreciate how much radar had changed war at sea but this would not have been unusual at the time (the same could be said for all of the Japanese admirals), had they engaged at longer ranges as well the cruiser fire on the Japanese Battleships would have been considerably less effective and the battleships fire (once AP loaded) considerably more effective).
I grew up down the street from a man who served on the bridge of USS Portland throughout the war. He firmly believed that Portland hit Atlanta at least once.
@@tomriley5790 I think you can
Little known fact: if you rearrange the letters in ''Battle of Guadalcanal", remove a few ones and add a couple others, you get ''Complete clusterfuck''. Funny how things work out sometimes.
You're right! It actually works out.
How about that!
soooooooo stupid
Charlie definitely felt the foxtrot a time or two over the course of the Guadalcanal campaign :D
Important lesson for the US Navy to learn: Just because someone is the ranking officer does not mean that he should be put in charge over a more experienced officer.
A lesson for MANY navies to learn!
To quote the Mighty Jingles: "At this stage of the war, the US Navy was still, to use gamer terminology, gittin' gud. The US navy would of course go on to git very gud, but an awful lot of sailors were gonna have to die at Guadalcanal before that became the case"
Callaghan was possibly the most idiotic and incompetent commander we could've sent. he was Ghormley's chief of staff and seemed to have taken up his CO's doom and gloom approach. He kept asking what USS Cushing saw while Gil Hoover on the Helena was basically begging to be listened too, for he had the IJN on radar.
Bureaucracies abhor meritocracies
Once again, experience triumphs over IQ, or something like that.
I visited Ironbottom Sound during my ship's deployment in 1986. We performed a wreath-laying at night, fired a bunch of 5" starshells, and the Captain and the Chaplain read history and scripture during the ceremony. Quite a memory for me.
that is badass dude. what ship if you dont mind me asking?...just curious is all. i had a couple of friends in the Navy, one served as a nuclear electrician on board the Carl Vinson and another buddy is a sonar tech on a sub, cant remember the ship though but he still serves. Ive never seen anything like naval guns firing. most ive ever seen is some awesome pyrotechnics...i used to do fireworks for the KC Royals and other evens here in Kansas. even did a show for Alice Cooper. we did shoot a 12 inch shell once. it is a 1/4 mile diameter in the sky...we had to bury the mortar like 8-10 feet in the ground, lower it down in the tube with a rope, man was that scary. We routinely did 6, 8 and even a few 10 inch shells once in a while. if i remember right the 3 inch salutes( the ones that just go bang) have about the same explosive equivalent as a hand grenade. Fun times!
@@justindearmond1 The USS Long Beach. The ship had two 5"/38 mounts on the 01 Level amidships that were served by the Marines in our MARDET.
Best description I ever heard of this battle was a bar room brawl after the lights had been shot out or the fiercest surface action since the age of sail.
I also like 'The Battle of Friday the 13th'.
It's both the date of the engagement and an apt description of how messed up it was for pretty much everyone involved.
I think I once read the description 'Knife fight in a telephone booth' pretty sure it was this fight.
@@noncynic1 Yeah, I could see that too.
Pier 6 knife fight in a toilet stall
You know a battle has gone way south when someone is trying to fight off a battlecruiser with a pistol. Yes, this actually happened (one of Laffey’s officers vs. Hiei).
My grandfather was in this naval battle, he told me about iron bottom sound at Guadalcanal. He served on the USS O Bannon.
Mine was on the Aaron Ward.
I salute your grandfathers. Thanks.
God bless them and thanks for a job well done.
My grandfather was also in the Guadalcanal campaign....he served on the USS Washington. Look forward to the next video of this series, when the Washington pounds the Kirishima.
I grew up down the street from a man who served on Portland in the engagement. He was a signalman or something, because he had a great view of the action and in earshot of Portland’s captain.
Drach: "airel melee combat broke out"
Me: "what's the big deal? Fighter dogfights/melees occur all the time"
Drach "...with landing gear as the weapon"
Me: 🙀
Yeah. I said that too.
Pilot must have been from TX!
This battle could be summed up by "so I started blasting".
It's kind of like the shootout at the end of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
I dont see so good, so I missed
USS Atlanta: *exists*
Entire IJN Fleet: "So I took that personally."
Followed by clubbing
"Rolled better on her perception check" - Wonderful mental image of Drach having a guest appearance on Critical Role.
Next week, Drach's 5 minute guide to the Ball Eater
What is the effective firing range on a dragon turtle? With or without spell sniper? Have you taken into account competency of crazed adventurers into deck gun accuracy and rate of fire? Have you...
IJN Kirishima ; "I have taken almost no damage!"
USS Washington ; "Greetings from the Pacific northwest!"
More like "Hold my beer."
@@rcgunner7086 Even more like "Hold these 16" shells."
The part I've been REALLY looking forward to!
Kirishima:OH, SO YOUR APPROACHING ME? INSTEAD OF RUNNING AWAY YOUR COMING STRAIGHT AT ME?
Washington: I can't beat the shit out of you without coming closer.
@@battleshipfan3435 needs more landing gear strikes :P
I loved reading Neptune's Inferno, such a great book!
Two things from that book about this specific battle I remember and cough my eye when reading it are:
*When the Japanese warships illuminate the US ships (**12:34**)*
"'There was a shocking moment when staring into that light all seemed completely silent. Everything around us was quiet and black, and here we were standing out for all to see. [...]There was a feeling, one that you knew was without logic, that there was protection in getting out of the direct glare of that light. Everyone I could see crouched into a shadow.'
It was while squatting into that undignified position, stooping behind the 4 inch high side of Helena's open bridge that Rodman Smith decided he had enough, and hustled over to his skipper. 'Permission to open fire, captain?'
Hoover, docking out of the light himself, shouted back to his gunnery officer, 'Open Fire!'.
The Atlanta was swinging through her own turn to avoid a collision with the van when the searchlight, probably from the destroyer Akatsuki, lit upon her from abaft the port beam. Captain Jerkins reacted as commanders had been trained in peacetime: 'Counter-Illuminate!', he shouted. His gunnery officer, Lieutenant Commander William R. D. Nickelson JR. preferred to respond with other hardware. At once he shouted into his headset mike: 'F*ck that! Open fire!'"
*When Helena spots a mysterious ship (San Francisco), and aims her guns at the approaching vessel (**27:43**)*
"Finally, a lookout announced the sighting of yet another unidentified ship on the port bow. The Helena's killing train was set quickly rolling. Hoover ordered, 'Shift target!' and Rodman Smith, the gunnery officer, coached his turrets on the new bearing. This ship, spectral and suspicious, had been shattered. Not a pane of glass remained in her. Fires glowed in several places on deck.
The officer of the deck of the damaged mystery ship was studying the Helena through his binoculars as she overtook him to starboard. From about two thousand yards away, he could make out her twin stacks and five sleek turrets - all trained right at him. Then the Helena's superstructure, a light signalled the letters 'H-I-S H-I-S.' An encoded challenge signal required a prompt reply, but neither of the two officers up forward on the battered vessel's navigation bridge, Bruce McCandless nor John Bennett, knew what reply to give to this challenge. The dispatch containing the reply codes assigned for use that day had been lost in the fires. Though the codes had also been scrawled with chalk on the bulkhead of the flag bridge, the metal where they had been recorded was thoroughly punctured and scorched. Any attempt to memorize the codes had been 'driven from my mind by the events of the last hour', McCandless wrote. 'In seconds, unless the correct reply was given, fifteen six inch and four five inch would fire on us.' Virtually all of the principal means of communication - TBS radio, searchlight, signal flags and halyards were inoperable. The steam line to the flagship's siren and whistle had been punctured by splinters. The signalmen had a blinker light, but they hesitated to respond because they knew something their officers didn't: the three letter reply code specified for that day was
'J-A-P'"
That was almost as bad a choice of code as "...the world wonders" meaningless phrase tacked on to the message asking where Halsey had gotten himself to at Leyte Gulf.
"Even ships fire to starboard, odd ships to port" has to be among the most confusing orders ever given. Classic disastrous mistake.
Callaghan was given the Medal of Honor for that action. I never understood that. I served on USS Callaghan - DDG 994.
@lornfant My uncle was aboard that ship through the late 80s and early 90s afaik
@@lornfant So, stupid AND well-connected?
@@lornfantProbably because he was killed in action if he survived he probably would of got a court martial.
The Wildcat taking out a bomber by beating on it with his landing gear IS the most unusual air-to-air victory I've ever heard of.
I'm sure this has been mentioned before, but another casualty of the jeuneau was the five Sullivan brothers.
You beat me to mentioning this. It was wrong to ever allow them to serve on the same ship. May they rest in peace.
Yeah...
The Sullivan brothers were another legend reinvented by the Navy to preserve and enhance morale at home. The true story of them serving together puts a bit of tarnish on their reputation and their loss pretty much destroyed their family as well, if the accounts I've read are true.
@@therealuncleowen2588 IIRC, the oldest George and the second oldest had already served an enlisted term in the Navy but re-enlisted after Pearl. The brothers (at George's urging) INSISTED on serving together. Someone at Personel had grave misgivings but thanks to the popularity of the story (and rising enlistments) he was over ruled by command. Of the 5 brothers, George was the last to perish - a lonely death in the shark infested waters at Torpedo Junction after being adrift for days, still looking for his brothers. Mrs. Sullivan put on a brave front but at the christening/launching of the The Sullivans, couldn't bear any more and collapsed into a puddle of sobs.
Made a great film, Saving Private Ryan
In the car with my wife, the “low fuel” light came on. “I hope we can make it back to the Carrier,” I said.
“You watch too many of those (Drach) videos,” she said.
Omg…..lol
LOL!😂
thats too funny lmao
Do not for a nanosecond take that woman for granted.
@@CrystalKingdomGeneral4942 agreed
'Death by Landing Gear,' holy shit. Now I've officially heard everything.
Later (1944, early 1945?) an out of ammo corsair used it's propeller to chew off the tail control surfaces (canvas over wood) of a kamikaze bomber. The bomber went down with no functional rudder or elevation control.
@@francoistombe I believe there were one or two instances in WW1 of an aircraft using its landing gear to tear off the upper wing of an enemy biplane. Of course planes were much more lightly built back then.
@@francoistombe 15th September 1940 Flt Sergeant Ray Holmes attacked 3 Do 17 bombers over London, his attack on the first left him with oil on his windscreen, the second with a German airman attached by parachute to his starboard wing, he managed to shake the chap off. He ran out of ammunition while attacking the third one so he rammed it using his port wing, taking it's tail off. As he could then no longer control his damaged Hurricane he bailed out.
A part of the damaged bridge of the San Francisco is preserved as a memorial near the Golden Gate Bridge. It also features a compass pointed to Guadalcanal showing the miles to the island. Very moving.
I'm surprised it hasn't been removed yet by the woke protesters.
My uncle’s name is on the plaque.
In case anyone is wondering which of the many Portlands there are in the United States that CA-33 was named for, it is Portland, Maine. The ship's main mast and bridge shield today reside in a park in that city.
This guy beat a bomber to death with his landing gear! What a LEGEND! Why don't we know this mans name?!
Arguably the closest we ever got to an actual game of World of Warships IRL
Having recently got the Atlanta and Akatsuki. I’m already having PTSD.
Jingles: In a real naval battle, you don't get battleships charging off alone and getting into knife fights with destroyers.
Me Usually. It does happen somdtimes
@@moritamikamikara3879 It happened a few times, weirdly. Scharnhorst got into a point-blank fight with an insane Norweigan destroyer at North Cape, Warspite obliterated a German destroyer in Norway, it happened at Guadacanal, and obviously it happened quite spectacularly at Leyte Gulf. That’s just off the top of my head. A British destroyer actually got so close that it collided with a German battleship at Jutland, both ships surviving the encounter, with the destroyer getting away with some of the battleship’s armour plate as a souvenir.
@@Cailus3542 Knowing the British DD, it's because they had a group of seamen with crowbars anticipating the opportunity and went..."Oh look souvenirs!"
@@Cailus3542 didn’t Warspite act as a massive decoy during the Battle of Jutland after its rudder was jammed?
Hope that wildcat pilot got a medal... and leave asap. Lest he really snaped.
Hope they gave him all the medals 😂
Hell, I bet he was attached to the Soviets. That's a warrior.
If it was a Marine pilot bet he had his KA-BAR in his teeth. Just in case...
PTSD wasn't recognized then
I’m surprised that the Wildcat was able to fly with the massive balls of the pilot.
"Sir, I have news about your boys."
"Which one?"
"I'm sorry sir. All five."
Yep, military policy changed after that. R.I.P.
Its.... heartbreaking to hear that one has lost one child... but to lose them in one go... I... I don't know how I could face that...
They lived close to where my father grew up. There is a memorial to them a town over from where they lived.
Fuuuuck
Ooof... and with that... I’m gonna go give my boys a hug.
That pilot gave a whole new meaning to “ landing a punch”
Kind of interested to hear you talk about Yukikaze, as that ship had been present in nearly every major Japanese engagement, even Ten-Go, and survived.
The front guardrail of the observation deck in front of the bridge of USS San Francisco , still with all of it’s battle damage, is a memorial in the City of San Fransisco, along with a bronze plaque that has an excerpt from FDR’s praise of the ship’s actions during the fight, although no mention of it shooting up Atlanta
My grandfather was the highest ranking survivor of the Laffey, apparently he told my uncles that they were so close to the Hiei that they could have thrown hand grenades if they had any.
I believe some of your grandfather’s fellow crew fired pistols at Hiei’s crew, who were doing the same (firing back)
There was an action between a destroyer escort and a Japanese submarine, where they were so close the usn sailors were throwing potatoes at the Japanese on their submarine. In the complete confusion of the moment the Japanese were running around and throwing them overboard thinking they were hand grenades!
The work from the Operations Room helps greatly to show what was going on I hope to see both of you working together again in the near future. :)
Or they could go back and redo or update a few episodes
And we’re SURE that ‘Wildcat’ wasn’t actually a time-displaced Ork Fightah? Just making sure.
"Oy, looks like youz needs a good krumpin', ya git."
"No, you can't just go into melee with a modern combat aircraft."
"Haha, wheel thing go stompin'."
"This is madness!"
"Madness? Dis is...
*WAAAAAAGHHHH!*
Probably "just" a Marine. Though I do understand how you'd get them confused.
Definitely not Tau.
@@dropdead234 I've seen 40kfans joke about Americans being like Orks due to all things dakka-related. Apparently this comparison is more accurate than most people realize.
@@internetzenmaster8952 Oddly enough, the Godless Heathens of the North have few guns and are uncivilized backstabbing monsters, while we in the South have plenty of guns and are quite civil and well-intentioned. I wonder if there's a correlation?
This battle sounds more like an age of sail close in knife fight than a ww2 era long range battle.
"Night Fighting in The Slot" 😉
And it just gets worse when Kirishima gets in close and unplugs South Dakota's fire control and power before Washington gets in even closer and systematically butchers Kirishima.
Cactus air force F4F pilot: "Ammo? We don't need no stinking ammo"
That Wildcat pilot, a legend! What a warrior. Bravo Zulu.
Thanks, Drach, this is one crazy battle... very much like a bar fight instead of a coordinated battle between fleets.
The Captain's of these ships must have been reeling with the information storming in on them - Hearts of Oak.
Like Nelson's order - put yourself aside an enemy and engage - I paraphrase, of course, but the sentiment is the same. L'audace, L'audace toujours L'audace!
When I heard Drac say "Air-to-Air melee combat" my brain immediately said "WTF?!?!"
It happened from time to time. Usually it involved planes trying to use their props to chop off an enemy's tail, though - "bludgeoning with landing gear" is unique to this incident AFAIK.
DRIVE ME CLOSER, I WANT TO HIT IT WITH MY SWORD!
Man this is favorite so far. He has a great way of telling a story. So many people are all numbers and names and I get lost.
I've read 3-5 several good books detailing the action much further than any video can but, I enjoyed watching it as well
Finally, more of the Guadalcanal Campaign, now featuring The Operations Room
For God's sake I see you everywhere? From WoWs to Sabaton and (unsurprisingly) what if the God Emperor had a Podcast ( As a fragment of said God Emperor, what do you think about it?)
@@road-eo6911 it's lit
@@Big_E_Soul_Fragment typical
Profile picture is Genshin?
@@nathan5o479 Azur Lane
Woke up this morning thinking “hmm, it’s about time for another Guadalcanal video” and was not disappointed
ah yes... iron bottom sound..
the clusterfuck of a yasen rumble.
It must be quite jarring when the enemy searchlights snap on and you realize you’re steaming straight into a battlecruiser’s broadside at point-blank range, and that’s before you remember you’re in a light cruiser
8x citadels, 60,000 damage, one enemy unit destroyed!
@@williamgandarillas2185 Jingles voice: "We've sunk an enemy carrier"
thats why World of Warships needs night battles. ive been saying that for years based on this battle.
@@MrChickennugget360 They'd still allow carriers to participate which would ruin any and all attempts to make it as chaotic as it should be.
They should have added night battles and workable searchlights to both World Of Warships and War Thunder.
My Dad was a Signalman aboard the USS SAN FRANCISCO, one of the few that survived. When I was young he wouldn’t talk about his experiences in the Navy. In later years he did talk some. He said the night was so black the only illumination they had was from the guns and the fires. He was always upset that the officers were not better trained to understand the radar. He lost a lot of friends that night and carried scars the rest of his life. “A barroom brawl with the lights shot out”
My uncle, Nicholas “Nick” Janosco, KIA, remains not recovered, was one of your Dad’s shipmates.
I agree with your dad regarding radar. God bless him
@@photonotavailable7936my your uncle rest in peace.
@@JohnRodriguesPhotographer Thank you. Appreciate it. My dad never got over the loss of his younger brother.
A lot of people really don't comprehend how confusing the night surface battles were around Guadalcanal. Drac does an excellent job of painting the confused picture that everyone there had to deal with.
I have to imagine Admiral Scott was damn near pulling his hair out over Callahan's orders (or lack of them) before he was killed. sm
Say! Who's ship killed Admiral Scott?
@@scottgiles7546 It pretty likely was friendly fire by San Francisco. So Scott was killed by his own boss.
perhaps so, perhaps not. Calahan may deserve much more credit for his judgement and bravery than many give him. He chose to close the range to make his 8" guns more effective against Hei
@@69Applekrate If that was true, there was still no reason not to order the destroyers to launch torps
@@69Applekrate Bravery does not make up for bad judgment and not using the advantages his ships possessed. The US had a major advantage because of the new radars and he failed to use it. sm
Out of ammo? Nonsense! I have landing gear!
Attached to a multi-ton sledgehammer, as it turned out. That Japanese crew must have been out of their minds with an American bouncing his fighter off the top of the fuselage. Can't shoot him, he's too close. Can't out-maneuver him, it's a fighter. What a fate.
You sure don't learn that move in the Imperial Japanese Air Force.
Or the U.S. Naval Aviation School either. This guy was definitely Spec Ops material.
Great comment sir!
@@deltavee2 you don’t learn that manoeuvre anywhere my friend, it’s called raw courage. He was trying to save his friends on the ships no doubt 👍 legend for sure! I hope someone somewhere knows how courageous he was and how many lives he most likely saved while risking his own!
(Edited for punctuation)
@@deltavee2 I was simply agreeing with you but sure if that’s the sort of person you are....
@@Morris2182
Thought your 1st comment was for the OP. Your 2nd post that had my name on it was of course what I reacted to. Screw it. I just deleted it.
Good idea to identify who you're responding to.
Have a good one.
Drach, your vivid story-telling style really brings the engagements to life. In my mind's eye I can clearly see the guys on deck blazing away with their personal weapons. Crazy stuff!!
It's often difficult to accurately envision the battles based solely on still photos and your narration. The inclusion of the animated maps, (showing the ship's formations and locations), are a very welcome addition to your already outstanding warship videos Drach! (Thank you.)
Yep...According to naval historians this was the action known as The Barroom Brawl. Watching those old-time western movies where a massive fight breaks out in a saloon; now imagine it all taking place in a swimming pool...
With live sharks.
5:20 look at those Betties skimming the water!! That’s impressive flying.
The one in the center of the image looks like it's about 3ft off the water. Good thing for the high wing mount for the engines, else the props might start chopping water.
That is a good picture though. Must congratulate the cameraman! 😉👍
I never thought much of taking a G4M down that low for torpedo runs. They're better off at altitude, dropping bombs from above. More planes survive the AAA to return for more bombs that way, especially for the Japanese who couldn't replace their losses as easily. 🤷
Edit: ...and G4M's are expensive in comparison with a Nakajima B5N "Kate" 🙄
Yeah, and I thought the Swordfish were impressive.
It was very costly, too.
I’m really looking forward to the next episode: Washington vs. Kirishima.
@Edgar Miller lol
@@stevepuls8532 if you Google “Kirishima Damage Analysis” there are two pretty good papers on it. The original is based off a preliminary survey along with logs and crew interviews; the second is an update following a more extensive survey by Paul Allen’s boat. TL/DR: Washington curb-stomped Kirishima.
@@jeffandjoannbauer9567 thank you for the info, much appreciated
Kirishima pummels SoDak.
Washington: Hold my beer.
@@jeffandjoannbauer9567 I've read it! The detailed analysis is fascinating!
My Grandfathers half brother died at his post on the Cushing DD-376. Our only family loss throughout WW1-WW2 despite numerous service.
Callahan was such a fool... Interestingly the ship named after him was the last ship sunk by kamikaze. That says it all in My opinion...
I've read several books on the subject. some think like you do, others do not and think he did the correct thing.
@@admiraltiberius1989 No that was Scott who was lucky, Callahan was on the staff of the area commander Ghormley until taking a sea command basically for this action.
@@noncynic1 your right, I shot from the hip and lost.
I'll delete my comment, thanks for the correction.
You have to remember that radio communication in this area, at this time, was miserable. And it was all Morse, and coded. Callahan didn't know much about radar, and didn't take it into account. Just like Scott hadn't in his first command here.
@@lamwen03 They had TBS (Talk Between Ships) during this engagement. Callaghan was shouting his orders over this during the battle.
The Guadalcanal campaign is my favorite of the whole war, the number of ships and the amount of chaos that unfolded there just amazes me. Also my favorite ship sadly sank in this video, USS Atlanta, chose to write a term paper about her, only term paper that I enjoyed working on lol.
The Arctic convoys to the USSR are up there. Good game potential too!
If you can find the legacy game fighting steel, you might have some fun. One of the scenarios that I figured out how to win was the first battle of savo Island. My solution had the benefit of being unique.
@@JohnRodriguesPhotographer - The Naval Campaigns Guadalcanal from John Tiller (Wargame Design Studio) features all the naval battles of the campaign. Rather old school PC wargame but it runs just fine and still gets occasional updates. Fairly easy to control battlegroups, CVs, Flights, etc, en masse. At least until you have a bunch of individual vessels drop out of the battle line with too much damage, but still not bad.
@@NefariousKoel steel thunder reduced your Fleet until you detached your damaged unit. It was pretty cool I won the first Battle of savo Island by doing something totally different. Instead of trying to lay back and rely on my gallery at long range our charge down between the two columns of Japanese ships basically point blank range. Launch torpedoes firing guns the Japanese all were hit and sunk in about a third of my ship sank. I had damage to the rest but the Japanese were done. In one of the harpoon scenarios that I would entertain myself with, the guiak gap, I found that Russian missiles outnumbered my missiles in the standard circular formation. So I rearranged my formation I put all my escorts in a line of breast in front of my two battleships. The only escort that was near the battleships was the ticonderogas. I was able to stop the missile attack pretty much the escort ships taking all the hits. And then I was able to harpoon Kirov and get into guns range. The Russian ships didn't like those 16-in rounds too much! A few times I got my Los Angeles under their formation and decimated it that's an interesting little scenario with a lot of potential outcomes.
Drach thank you for your tireless work, it is priceless to me. Any time I have spare time I play one of your videos. There is no re runs because I learn something new even in videos that I’ve watched several times already. Truly, I am grateful.
This quite literally sounds like a good old pub-brawl. Just with much more people and a considerable amount of steel and explodey bits involved.
It is so sad, that Scott didn't overrule command, So strict chain of command and a lesser admiral are not a good excuse for such a loss of live. :(
Unfortunately this is not how military works....and for every disaster that happened due to this there is also a disaster avoided because of following the chain of command.
And they both got the Medal of Honor. Insulting
Not a great idea to have subordinates who think they know better attempt to take command.
The same thing occurred in the battle of the Java sea. The ABDA task force that was decimated by the IJN was Commanded by the Dutch Admiral Dorman. I don't think he had the right kind of experience to be commanding that group of ships. If you look at the size of the Dutch Navy in the interwar years leading up to that moment, how could he? He was in command because he was a senior in rank not because he was qualified. This is not to say that I have something against him as an evil officer I just question his suitability for that command.
@@JohnRodriguesPhotographer well, Dorman was actually decent, his subs were sinking Japanese vessels at an unheard of rate at the time. He had few modern vessels and resources when it came down to it. He was brave and not incompetent, but like all Allies in the East Indies, they were mostly without enough resources and got poor intelligence from their commands. I’m sure you can think of many worse than him.
The challenge between the Helena and the other cruiser was even more intense and bizarre then can be imagined
The code book found after what can only be thought of a desperate search yielded the proper counter sign of get this “JAP”
The signalman said flatly “nothing doing” and wisely signaled the CAs number
Drach, I absolutely love the moving pictures showing the battle lines. It portrays what is going on much better and is more interactive than pictures of ships. I love the pictures and I can imagine the animations take more time. If possible, please include more animations showing battle lines for this and your regular videos. If you don't I completely understand and wouldn't blame you. Love your work.
25:44. I believe this quote from Prince Zuko sums up the following.
“You rise with the moon. I rise with the sun.”
Yes I do know the irony given the Japanese flag is the rising sun.
Honestly, the irony makes it even better.
And a perfectly-fitting Avatar quote is always awesome!
Imagine being on the island and sitting there and watching this battle through the treelines. I'm sure there were many instances of japanese and american soldiers grouping up to watch the mighty steel beast slug it out.
I highly doubt that...
Watch hbo the pacific
You mean grouping up separately, for sure.
@@The_Modeling_Underdog would be rather funny though, a group of American marines sitting on the beach, eating rations and watching the slaughter, a group of Japanese soldiers walks up and sits next to them, someone breaks out some spare rations, and the Japanese officer brings out some Sake....
The Japanese would never have been willing to be near an American soldier without trying to kill him, unfortunately.
Thanks for continuing this series.
You and Dr Alexander Clarke have made navel history really interesting to me.
Goddamn I love this series. The Pacific was just unimaginable brutality on all fronts. Some of the most unimaginable, chaos-filled things that seem impossible become the norm when so much carnage is happening.. it's like reality breaks down when there's violence of that scale. Love this shit so much. Look forward to to the next video whenever, and hope you can do more series like this!
11:10 It's Akatsuki, not Atatsuki. Case of fat fingers?
Really enjoy these new animations!
My bad!
The animation are from the operation room channel who answer above me. Highly recommend checking it out it has high quality historical content
a cat suki.
attack suki.
...go for the eyes suki!!
@@TheOperationsRoom It's okay, we'll forgive you.... this one time and only this time! 😅
San Francisco turned pink. Talk about foreshadowing
impressive that a ship without torpedoes goes pink
The most in detail analysis I've been fortunate to follow, those in the highest position make the lowest of errors,hindsight is so ahead of foresight.
a much kinder (and based on the captain of the Helena's service record believable theory) is that he decided it wasn't worth the risk. He had ships that were not able to fight sailing within reach of the Japanese and a known submarine threat so he decided to basically leave the dead where they lie and save who he knew were still alive.
Awesome ! Another installment in this great Campaign. :) Perfect can listen to this now, and then re-listen to the whole Campaign tonight on the road at work. :)
That illustration at 18:09 is just insane
My father helped build the USS Atlanta and USS Juneau. When he began working at the Federal Shipyard in Kearny, NJ just before the start of the war, he was classified as a first-class armorplate welder. He built the turrets and barbettes of the Juneau. The entire shipyard crew was very proud of these ships as they were beautiful and sleek machines of war; my father was there to see Juneau launched, as did many of the shipyard workers even if they had the day off. My father saw her sail away for the Brooklyn Naval Shipyard, with many of the men climbing on any structure to get a better view and cheer the ship on. When the news hit of the Juneau's sinking with the loss of most of the crew and the five Sullivan brothers, my father said many of them men laid down their tools for a moment and began crying. My father said he was bawling along with the others.
Maybe at the end of the battle, you should have a graphic of some kind, showing losses of both sides, or showing all of the ships and then crosses out those that didn't make it. Its somewhat hard to keep track of when they're just listed.
"Rolled better on her perception check." Nice touch and it gave me a good chuckle along with the wildcat story. So far I have thoroughly enjoyed this series. Thank you for the effort and time put into them.
San Francisco: I'm okaiaiaiaiyy *walks into a door frame*
Melee fights in a Naval battle ! I like it !!
Great video done here, thank you very much for this incredible series of videos, much appreciated !
This is old school naval combat, ships so close the crews can see each others' faces and exchanging fire with rifles and pistols. Brutal.
Get a bit closer and they could start boarding each other's ships.
@@OrdinaryEXP Where were the Marines when the Navy needed them, eh? 😄
@@tyree9055 Just give sailors cutlasses/katana, muskets, grappling hooks and BAM instant Marines.
What a crazy brawl! Thank you for the top-down graphics. Even with that aid, it was difficult to tell who was who, which for those who were there, must have been a nightmare to try to work out themselves.
My father was one of the few survivors who made it off of the sunken USS Barton DD 599 alive that night. He was a BM. The ship was broken in two by torpedoes. To make matters worse for these survivers was as the aft end of the ship went
to the bottom her depth charges exploded below the men trying to stay afloat in the water above. My father said he was in the shark infested waters for hours before being rescued by higgens boats from Guadalcanal. A very harrowing ordeal.
Jeezus…
Another amazing video. This is my favorite series on the channel. Thanks for all the great work.
"Rolled better on her perception check" Almost spit out my coffee laughing.
Wow. Thanks Drach. The animations were welcomed too!
HAVE AT YE FOULD FIEND *lowers landing gear on wildcat by rapidly cranking the unpowered landing gear crank 30 times with EXTREME prejudice*
If you put the Wildcat in a slight dive and released the chock on the landing gear brake, the gear would go down, provided you kept your arm out of the way. Saved on the cranking. Strictly against regs, I hear.
been listening to your videos for a long time.
and your delivery on certain crazy, strange, and double take events makes me personified these planes and ships thanks to anime damn it.
I mean three tiny destroyers pelting a battlecursier and a wildcat bodyslaming a Betty with a landing wheel gear.
love your show.
Drachinifel, will you take a look at the rivalry between the IJN and the IJA and how it interfered with the Japanese war effort.
He did in one of the last drydocks.
Basically the japaneese navy had to fight 2 enemies - the japaneese army and the Americans.
They refused to help each other, give warnings for bombers or the navy deployed only a small percentence of the supply they were supposed to deliver to the troops.
If the emperor had fired a bunch of people early, the war would have been going on for another 2 jears.
@@molybdaen11 do you happen to know which one?
@@molybdaen11 IJA even built their own submarines lol.
@@OrdinaryEXP and CVs I think
Always makes my day when Drach uploads. Especially when it's a video of the Guadalcanal Campaign!
Those Kongo-Class Battleships/Cruisers look really good, probably among my alltime favorite warships ;)
Years ago I read a book about the USS Washington. Ever since that time I've waited to see it visualized somewhere. Thank you again Drach, and thank you to the Operations Room. Love ALL of your work!!!
Ya know, one of the ways I know I've passed into geezerhood is when half the comments about the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal refer to a video game, some kind of anime, movies, and weird Japanese comic books, none of which I know anything about. I guess it happens to us all.
Actually, I take it as a good thing. Kids are taught history in different ways. With games, history has become interactive. Although in life, there is no reset button or difficulty setting.
Back in the day I used to play GNB2 (Great Naval Battles 2) PC game.
It revolved around the Guadalcanal campaign, were you could play as American or Japanese in some historic battle scenarios, the full campaign or a more condensed campaign beginning october 1942.
This in turn inspired me to get a collection of 1/700 scale model warships from that time period.
Then a few years ago I tried WoW, played it for a weekend and then uninstalled it, as it was not at all historical enough for my taste, it was too much WoT'ish for me.
But hey, if that's what get kids inspired to learn more about WW2, well then its better than nothing. 🤔
@@kimleechristensen2679 I agree. As long as they get a grounding in the actual history of an event, any kind of multimedia thing will help kids (and a lot of adults) learn, or want to to learn, even more about it. The folks I have problems with are the ones that tell me things like they managed to sail the Bismarck out of danger in WoW so the real life captain should have been able to do the same.
As I hit 50 next Month, I feel your pain.....
That was amazing!! The story telling was great!! 2 of my favorite ships were there, hiai and Helena. Thanks
I'd argue that the USN actually won this one. Battleships are far harder to replace than destroyers or cruisers, and Japan could ill-afford to lose any of its most useful and fuel-efficient class of battleships. The USN could afford to lose several destroyers and a couple of cruisers--the IJN could NOT afford to lose a fast battleship (losing a destroyer also hurt them too--Japan needed every ASW asset it could get, and USN subs were actually targeting the Japanse merchant marine, unlike their counterparts).
While the IJN had lost one of its two critical capital ships in this engagement, the USN had not lost any (nor had any been damaged). This meant that while the USN's destroyer and cruiser complement was depleted in the follow-up engagement, it still had a stronger capital ship force than Japan did in the next engagement, and the result was telling: the IJN lost its other battleship, while the USN lost neither of its battleships, with only one suffering significant damage (and even then, the damage was mainly to the superstructure and non-critical parts of the ship).
The USN could afford serious ship losses and was determined to hold onto Guadalcanal if at all possible, whereas the IJN could not afford serious ship losses and was hesitant to commit any more of its precious battleships when it had already lost two. Hell, even if it hadn't lost two, every sortie of its capital ships cost precious fuel at the end of a long supply chain. Every time the USN prevented the IJN's battleships from shelling Henderson Field, it made the IJN more hesitant to keep trying. Even if Hiei hadn't been sunk, taking such a severe beating would have made the prospect of committing more battleships to night engagements in which they could be sunk less appealing. By taking Hiei out of the equation even in the short-term, it meant that the two US battleships would be fighting on relatively even terms at worst.
Ultimately, it's worth remembering that the IJN went into this battle with two fast battleships, while the USN went into it with no battleships at all. And the IJN had drilled extensively in night battles, while the USN had not. The fact that the USN had driven the IJN away from Guadalcanal for another night was impressive; the fact that they'd severely damaged a battleship and thrown the IJN fleet into such disarray that it retreated even when they basically had taken the field was one hell of an upset, proving to be a preview of sorts for the Battle of Samar.
Battles have ripples beyond the initial fight. The outcome of this engagement killed the convoy bringing reinforcements and critical supplies the next day. The failure of this convoy meant the failure of the campaign. The rest of your analysis is spot on.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. Love my daily run ration. Keep up the good work!! Nobody summarizes a battle with more detail and cutting insight than you!
5:23 Now, THAT is flying on the deck!
Highly recommend both videos. Hope to see more collabs in the future. The detail & presentation is fantastic.
Not all Captains Promoted to Admiral are worth their water.
I wonder how many air combat kills are from hostile Landing Gear
Uncle Drach is a great storyteller...You can hear his passion, even glee, as he describes one of the most important battles he has yet to cover.
Oh my god! Why have I never heard that story about the F4F pilot before? Talk about Yankee ingenuity!
Dude I'm so excited for the next episode of the Guadalcanal series. I find myself getting more excited about your videos coming out than I am of any given TV show these days!