Battle of the Solomons Timeline

The American invasion of Guadalcanal by US Marine forces was beginning of a long and arduous campaign to be fought on land, sea and air in the Pacific Theater. While a bold and bloody move, the threat was verifiable enough to the Japanese that resupply forces were ordered to the island to alleviate the pressure by the Americans. As the strength of the Japanese war machine lay soundly in their Imperial Navy, victory was all but a certainty against the untested American forces.

During night fighting off the cost of Savo Island, an American cruiser contingent was all but destroyed by a force of IJN vessels. This lent to the belief that the American sea-going force could be defeated within time. However, the presence of the American carrier groups quickly sent the Japanese cruisers out of the region and opened the IJN to weakness.

By this time, the area near the Solomon Islands was under mixed control. The USN maintained a heavy airborne presence during the daylight hours where her aircrews would attack any moving vessel seeking passage between the Eastern and Western islands. However, the IJN maintained an advantage in the night time hours and proceeded through the area when the USN aircraft were not in the sky. As these Japanese convoys forwarded through this gap at speed in an effort to resupply their land forces at Guadalcanal, the gap became known as the "Tokyo Express". To combat the American carrier presence, attempts were made to bring the group within range of a combined IJN force and wipe them out once and for all.

The Battle of the Solomons began with the Battle of the Eastern Solomons. This engagement spanned three days - August 22nd through August 25th - and resulted in the IJN losing their light carrier, the IJN Ryujo. The carrier USS Enterprise was damaged enough to be pulled out of further action. The carrier USS Saratoga soon followed after catching enemy torpedoes. On September 14th, the carrier USS Wasp was caught by the IJN submarine I-19 and torpedoed.

Imperial Japanese Army forces on Guadalcanal were proving to be a well dug-in and determined foe. However, their food and ammunition supplies were down to critical and starvation was rampant. The IJN sought to resupply their soldiers in due time by forcing their convoys through the American defensive presence. The night time Battle of Cape Esperance (October 11th - October 12th) was an American Navy warship attack against one such IJN convoy. Despite maintaining an element of surprise, the American warships successfully engaged IJN warships though the protected IJN convoy managed to slip by.

A few days later, IJN battleships Hiei and Kirishima opened fire against US Marine positions onshore. The shelling was intense and little response was managed by the USN to quell the attacks as support in the area was lacking. The following night, heavy cruisers of the IJN continued attacks up and down the coast, sending over 750 shells against suspected enemy positions.

An American carrier group led by Vice Admiral William Halsey in the South West Pacific went into action to support the Marines. As the Japanese encouraged participation from the American carriers, this move was welcomed, forcing the IJN to commit her own carriers to battle.

On October 25th, US spotter planes located at least three of the IJN carriers with a fourth one en route. Fighting ensued that left the carriers Zuiho and Zuikaku damaged. USS Hornet was torpedoed and, ultimately abandoned, left to sink by Japanese torpedoes where she stood. The USS Enterprise was damaged but fixed enough to be brought back to battle - the Japanese believing her to be out of the fight for good.

Regardless of the losses incurred by the USN, the Americans managed a final push and took Guadalcanal. Through this action, the forces of the USN delayed the resupply actions of the IJN just enough that America could claim its first major land grab in the mighty Pacific Theater of War. The Japanese could claim nothing more than a tactical victory, damaging or sinking several key USN carriers, battleships and lesser vessels, but the damage against the Japanese Empire in the region had been done.