The Battle of Cape Esperance, 1942: Heavy Cruiser Warfare - Animated

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In October 1942, the U.S. Navy confronted the Imperial Japanese Navy off Guadalcanal in the Battle of Cape Esperance. As darkness enveloped both fleets, neither knew exactly where the other was. The ensuing battle would dramatically influence the Pacific campaign's trajectory...
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🧾 Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
📚 Sources:
Written by House of History
🎵 Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound
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🖼 Photos, paintings and imagery: Public Domain, Wikicommons
🧾Machinima: Total War, Creative Assembly
#HouseofHistory #History

[@HoH]

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[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

You're amazing HoH! Love your content ❤❤❤

[@alexanderleach3365]

I like to see a video of the Battle of Santa Cruz

[@HoH]

@@alexanderleach3365 Coming soon!

[@null2933]

@@HoHbig fan of your work! Can you tell us what song starts around 2:35?

[@kipmax6556]

My former father-in-law was on the Furutaka that night. He was rescued by one of the IJN destroyers. This was his second sinking, having had to hit the water after Kako was hit by a US submarine earlier in August of that year. He survived the war, spending most of it on shore after that night. One of the kindest, most generous people I've ever met. He didn't talk much about the war but did mention that he was on both ships when they were sunk.

[@TheEDFLegacy]

Probably one of the luckiest IJN sailors of the war! Yes, being sunk twice is bad luck, but for most IJN sailors, their ships were sunk, and the sailors likely never survived.

[@jonathanpurba2374]

I like naval history, you have several times uploaded the history of the naval world war that took place in the Indonesian seas, which I myself, an Indonesian, never knew about it because the history teachers at school and Indonesian Muslims were afraid of the fact that the allies had defended Indonesia from Japanese attacks.

[@chrislong6541]

Intriguing

[@jghuf5674]

As an American, it is nice to hear from other nations’ citizens who are grateful for the sacrifices made by Americans overseas. One of my grandfathers was in the South Pacific during World War II, and the other fought in the Korean War.

[@jonathanpurba2374]

@@jghuf5674 thank you for the sacrifices of your country and family, Indonesian history is often covered up by Muslims, they like to make up fake history such as Imam Bonjol being made a national hero even though he massacred and enslaved Indonesian people but because he was a Muslim he was made a hero and that is disgusting. heroes, they hate the west and christianity. even though it was actually Islam that colonized Indonesia and made Indonesia weak

[@jonathanpurba2374]

@@chrislong6541 yes

[@jonathanpurba2374]

@@jghuf5674 thank you for the sacrifices of your country and family. here there is a lot of American sentiment and they are ungrateful

[@WalterWhiteFootballSharing]

Beginners always want to know about Battleships (because they're admittedly, awesome) but cruisers in WW2 were doing the job with guns that were still massive at 12 and 6 inch. The 16inch guns rarely got to fire at other ships, they were basically in coastal re-landscaping Pacific islands pre invasion and Normandy. The last naval battle of Guadalcanal had a couple battlewagons, nice way to finish off the campaign with a W.

[@billdemian1601]

Cruiser guns were not 12 inch size, but typically 8 inches on heavy cruisers and 6 inches on light cruisers.

[@klade5031]

​@@billdemian1601 He was referring to the Alaska class. One might argue that those are battleship guns but by the standards of the modern battleships of the period, those are already quite small. Remember that the sole reason that cruiser guns were limited to 8 inch caliber was because of the naval treaties. The bigger armament was a natural consequence in the cruiser arms race before the missile age.

[@bbmtge]

​@@klade5031Your post doesn't change the fact that 8 inch guns were the largest on cruisers. Also, try to avoid "educating" people with common knowledge. It makes you look foolish.

[@zacharyraut151]

@@bbmtgethe only person that looks foolish is you for being a jerk for no reason.

[@FactCheckerGuy]

@@klade5031 The Alaska class might best be considered battle cruisers. They were very unusual for cruisers. IIRC, they saw little action, only doing bombardment and carrier escort.

[@patrickmccrann991]

Picture of Norman Scott at beginning is wrong. That is the picture of Rear Admiral Daniel Callaghan when he was the Captain of USS San Francisco. Both he and Norman Scott were killed on November 13, 1942, during the opening engagement of The Battle of Guadalcanal.

[@HoH]

Thanks for pointing it out, my mistake!

[@TheLancerLife]

Correct!

[@darrenmaw3830]

@@HoHeasy done

[@alexanderrahl482]

​@@HoHTighten up homie. The last two videos I've hit by chance both required corrections in the comments.

[@HoH]

@@alexanderrahl482 It happens. It's just me working on these videos - sometimes you create blind spots when working on videos for 50-60 hours.

[@WildBill-kf2pc]

This series keeps me on the edge of my seat. Please continue. Many thanks

[@HoH]

Thank you! Will do.

[@mainiacjoe]

@20:17 Farenholt hit by a US torpedo "that miraculously didn't explode" Well nothing miraculous about THAT

[@kenle2]

Yeah, at this point in the war it was probably less than a 50/50 chance any U.S. torpedo would hit or explode.

[@Todd-z8d]

Yeah, our torpedoes rarely detonated, they were crap, like the Navy's leadership during the war!!!

[@lachlancannard]

US torpedoes were pretty decent at sinking Australian cruisers.

[@chadrowe8452]

One American sub sank itself with its own torpedo after it drove around behind them

[@stephenhoffman1813]

@@kenle2❤

[@shootfirst2097]

I can't believe someone hasn't done an animated video of the Task Force 17 air raid on Tulagi right before the battle of the Coral Sea in the style of the History Channel's "Battle 360" series.

[@HoH]

Good suggestion!

[@marckyle5895]

Seeing the video of the courses and changes in speed and direction after contact helps me understand what happened so much better than the text with an occasional map did when I read about this in a naval history. It was a knife fight in an elevator.

[@KHK001]

Great video as always HOH!

[@jamesfagan9818]

At 3:25 you show a picture of RADM Daniel Callahan and call him Scott

[@tacticalcalebgaming7264]

In this battle Boise and her sister Helena were nicknamed Machine guns because of the press because they can fire 10 rounds per barrel which is impressive and it turned the tables in that fight.

[@jerryalbus1492]

10 rounds per minute is insane...

[@tacticalcalebgaming7264]

@@jerryalbus1492 oh yea because they can let it rip with the radar stuff like that

[@-ZM_Gaming-]

6 second reload be damn quick for a heavy cruiser

[@tacticalcalebgaming7264]

@@-ZM_Gaming- sure is but if you look up U.S.S Helena Fire every direction video you get the picture And it’s an light cruiser because heavy cruiser normally carries 8” guns but we us Americans tried that as an light cruiser because London Naval treaty put an restriction what gun size so we made an 15 6” gun in triple turrets all 5 of them and they kinda looks like takao class heavy cruiser gun layout but with an triple turrets and it has no torpedoes and we tested it rate of firepower it can fire up to 150 rounds an minute. This design became known as Brooklyn class light cruisers. Only downside is similar to takao class cruisers because by the broadside is limited on the third turret. But they are the good ship we had here.

[@brokenbridge6316]

A confusing n chaotic battle for sure. Great video.

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

Thanks For yet another amazing work! Love these naval battles

[@kappazo2268]

2:52 Mikawa was a vice admiral (and the photo shows him with vice admiral rank) not a rear admiral at this point in the war. He was promoted to VADM in 1940.

[@wolfu597]

After the battle of Savo Island, the Japanese were so confident in their dominance of the sea at night, that admiral Goto ordered his cruisers to load their main armament with high explosive shells in advance, since they didn't think that the Americans had the capabilities to engage them in a night battle. They Japanese had no idea that the Americans were there. Until Helena opened up.

[@franksposato6072]

There is a new article by Robert Lundgren about the Nov 13th battle you should look at for making that video. Very new information that is pretty incredible.

[@scottl9660]

Damn fine article…the IJN really ran circles around the USN here. It’s hard to truly understand the chaos and fog of war that leads to 9-10 friendly fire incidents included several torpedo strikes.

[@franksposato6072]

@@scottl9660 thank you for reading the article. There is also an interview with the author on Drachinifel channel that helps fill in some more information too

[@chadrowe8452]

Guadalcanal the navy died to save the marines. And when you look at the casualties Guadalcanal broke japans back, not midway. Midway was just the best single day or two but Guadalcanal was daily attrition

[@bbmtge]

A very idiotic post. Congrats to you.

[@chadrowe8452]

Thanks for playing 😂 ​@@bbmtge

[@maryoung33]

thank you for your videos

[@sav2236]

Thank you for your work.

[@Akren905]

Love your videos keep them up!

[@koyyoung8673]

I've always been intrigued with naval warfare. I can not fathom the terror that occurs in battles like this one.

[@lightravenn]

Its what you trained your life for.. just to be at your post and as a whole, the crew takes a vessel and makes it alive and capable of engaging any foe. Everyone who perished, did it with the certainty of being in the right side.(Even Nippon IJN).. When you are at your post you just focus on making the best at it for the ship to work, and forget about human things, this was not the first engagement in the sea for them, they knew at any moment anything could explode, a torpedo, a flash fire, even an incoming round. What I just find terrifying is the fog of war, one thing is watching a recreation of it with what we know.. but being at that moment, knowing you have to do your duty to your country but how can you give your best is frightening. Im sure battles as this one were used for many years to learn from the mistakes of the fog of war, the communications and when to follow orders are really important. In this battle the commander of a ship knew more (or thought he knew more from his ship) and didnt follow the direct orders, and I dont think thats a bad officer, he just made a decision with what info he had at hand, understanding that if right about the targets having the suprise attack will help a lot in the upcoming battle. Sadly he was part of a broken formation.

[@kappazo2268]

3:07 VADM Robert Ghormley was COMSOPAC and was the immediate superior to Scott in command of TF-64 (and VADM Mikawa's counterpart for the campaign). His Staff would have issued the orders to TF-64, not CINCPACFLT.

[@daniellucas1494]

Always enjoy a well researched and presented posting. Nicely done sir - as usual.

[@HoH]

Thanks again!

[@williamjenkins9]

I love history, but particularly this theatre of WWll where my father served in the US Navy, ending in 1945…. Thank you for your presentstion

[@Warmaker01]

These early Pacific Theater surface engagements found the US Navy wanting. Savo Island and these early fights at Guadalcanal were real bad showings for the USN, who had to do some harsh self assessment and change how they fought at night. There were problems also with Destroyers being restrained heavily. I think it would be sometime in 1943 when American Destroyers were more free to act on their own. They performed better. USN learned to leverage its Radar in better ways and have command in control with ships having the better radar equipment, etc. The changes were gradual but eventually this helped in the USN taking away the IJN's mastery in night combat against them. If I remember right, of the major navies at the start of WWII, there only two of them with actually working, decent night combat doctrines. The Japanese and British navies. The US Navy may have had Radar sets and all that at the war's start, but their command and control was godawful for night combat.

[@bbmtge]

It never ceases to amaze me how people get a little bit of information and post such common, very basic knowledge as if they are teaching something in a vain attempt to appear smart.

[@CharlesThomas-wg8nd]

Excellent commentary

[@HoH]

Thank you kindly!

[@akumaking1]

Please do a collab with Drachinifel sometime

[@HeedTheLorax]

No please don't, leave Drach out of this guys train wreck please.

[@adamkerman475]

@@HeedTheLoraxMay I ask why you’d say such a thing? I like both KZbinrs and I don’t see what’s wrong with this one?

[@KalebLoshbough-eh6tm]

I love HOH from the great smoky mountains in east Tennessee go vols

[@briannelson4493]

I have the book Neptunes Inferno it gives great accounting of all the sea battles for Guadalcanal .

[@robjohnson1197]

Awsome stuff. I'd like to see Jutland

[@richardcleveland8549]

Sounds like the classic fustercluck . . . amazing that the US came out of it as well as they did.

[@mainer1755]

I would like a video of the Taffy division at Leyte Gulf. I forget the exact designator, but it was the battle with a destroyer escort and a destroyer, against truly insurmountable odds. The Yamato was there. The American forces paled in comparison to what they faced. Thanks.

[@69Applekrate]

3mins into- video states "Nimitz assigned Adm Scott....". hmm, seems strange that cincpac would bypass the area commander doesn't it? Wasn't Adm Gormley in charge of the area at this time? no mention of him giving orders to Adm Scott. anyone?

[@a6mzeke1]

It's kinda amusing that for the Japanese casualty list, Space Battleship Yamato is the inline that was selected.

[@OrbitFallenAngel]

First off, let me tell you this. Your videos are amazing and very informative. Plus you definitely give alot of pertinent details. About this particular Battle...I just want to say this... Rear Admiral Norman Scott was an absolute moron and ignorant fool!! He had zero inkling about what was about to transpire during the Battle... Instead of using USS Helena's far superior SC Radar which clearly detected the Japanese Naval ships... Instead Scott chose to use USS San Francisco (which lacked the newer SC Radar) And from the very beginning of the upcoming Battle he was already handicapped.... Idk why BOTH of the Rear Admirals Callaghan and Scott chose flagships and selected a lead van destroyer without Radar Capabilities...!! And then we learn that Rear Admiral Scott had ordered the SC Radars of his force to remain inoperative at Cape Esperance.... And only because Scott had learned that the Japanese had Radar recieving equipment which approximated the frequency band of SC Radar, and the Japanese could plausibly detect or even track the US Navy's own forces by the emanations from SC Radar.. Of course Scott's complete and utter disregard for the SC Radar led to the utter lack of effective placement and use of SC Radar at the naval Battle of Guadalcanal, while not a "magic box", would almost certainly have changed the outcome of the action. Quite literally both Callaghan and Scott had something that they could have very easily used to ensure that the Battle played out in a way that was better for the US Navy then the actual UNBELIEVABLE CLUSTERFUCK, that instead happened...!! And IF USS Cushing and USS San Francisco had SC Radar capability and used it productively, the column could have initiated a well coordinated surprise torpedo attack and, "Would not have been obligated to wait", for visual confirmation. It's hilarious that there are people out there who actually believe that Scott & Callaghan actually did something good and that they did everything they could to destroy the Japanese Navy! When infact they both only succeeded in making themselves look rather dumb and ignorant. And they needlessly got men killed because they didn't fully comprehend the full range of SC Radar...Nor did they know how to use the Cruisers that had it!! These two bumbling idiot's succeeded in getting the USS Juneau and USS Laffey and USS Atlanta to be torpedoed and sunk causing the deaths of over 1400 US Navy Sailors!! In my opinion those two despicable Rear Admirals are nothing but inept and rather foolish men who had no clue what they were facing and they should never ever have been in charge of any Naval Force!! And especially NOT at night!!

[@matthewwagner47]

On the old maps the actual island is called guadal island, henderson field was on gudal island. This was the first major victory the US had after almost 2 years of fighting the imperial japanese . The naval battle was called the battle of "the slot". Please advise

[@robbabcock_]

Terrific video!

[@manuelacosta9463]

This was a messy mis mash of a battle. At least some lessons where learned, a far cry from Savo Island.

[@briankorbelik2873]

Scott did well in this battle, but then in the 'First Naval Battle of Guadalcanal", he unfortunately was paired with Admiral Callaghan, Scott's superior. Callaghan honked it up so badly that it turned into "The barroom brawl". Which killed both admirals and Callaghan had San Francisco firing and hitting Atlanta. He was too old fashioned to trust radar and we got hit heavy, with thousands of sailors paying for Callahan's mistrust.

[@tobiaszczarnota7879]

Gyatt Dayum! Those cruiser models are THICC!!! 😁🤪

[@MinhNguyen-cn8kx]

Fantastico esperence . Respect from Vietnam.. Allahu akhbar

[@adamcheong4742]

Chaos at sea.

[@stephenmcguire7801]

"...torpedo [U.S.] launched, but miraculously did not explode." Rather common occurence at that stage in the war.

[@angusdeadman6425]

Just a small critique is alot of the ships look a little fat in this video but not the others

[@scottl9660]

The USN was already running resupply and reinforcement runs to Guadalcanal by mid August not early October. In October the USN was delivering the first of then US Army units, the 168th I think, someone can correct me if I got that number wrong.

[@owensthilaire8189]

Nice work. Have you done any videos on the early war Mediterranean sea battles?

[@HoH]

I have done quite a few, yes!

[@owensthilaire8189]

@@HoH I will certainly look them up

[@HoH]

@@owensthilaire8189 I haven't organised them in a playlist yet, but they're about the Night Raid on Taranto, HMS Ajax' rampage on an Italian convoy, and some destroyer battles of the Italian navy. Enjoy!

[@MrShoki44]

Artillery odds of the battle: USN 19-8", 30-6", 20-5" vs NTK 18-8", 12-5" (main batteries only)

[@scarletcrusade77]

Battle of tassaforenga soon?

[@wilsontheconqueror8101]

The Naval fog of war!

[@Peorhum]

hahaha, star blazers... Yeah, I noticed.

[@gm-lq6xq]

Battle of empress Augusta bay

[@natheriver8910]

Very nice

[@ocsplc]

How an officer of flag rank wouldn’t know whether other major allied surface vessels were in the area just before a major combat operation is beggars belief. The degree of hesitation and inertia often led to disaster. The US took many hard losses because the Japanese were much more aggressive

[@kenle2]

It wasn't that he didn't know whether there were U.S. ships "in the area"; he thought that his reports might be misidentifying his OWN ships as the enemy. That's the "Fog of War".

[@ocsplc]

@@kenle2 isn’t that the same point though? I understand the concept of fog or war, or “friction.” Even in ground combat knowledge of the presence of friendlies in the area is a postulate. I wasn’t trained in SW with naval capital or other ships, but the issue becomes more critical then. Radar was in its infancy then and wasn’t altogether reliable and some skippers didn’t put faith in it. But one sees in these early Solomons campaigns much less “fog of war” on the Japanese side. While there were some rare incidents of collisions, especially in convoys under submarine attack, the Japanese always seemed to move columns with alacrity and decisiveness. Not so much on the US side at first,

[@MrCoolguy425]

​@@ocsplc The Japanese solely had to deal with internal communications within the IJN. The U.S. had to coordinate with 5+ separate navys which, especially early in the war, had many issues with command hierarchies blocking communications between nations quite regularly. It was these communication issues that plagued the allies and resulted in caution among naval commanders. Here, the "hostile" formation could be Australian, English, indian, or even dutch vessels moving into the region from the flag officers point of view.

[@kirishima638]

What a messy engagement

[@HoH]

Very.

[@jimmyhaley727]

victory?? we could not hit sheet

[@dronicstwentytwelve7073]

Remember to follow light discipline at night, everyone! Can't wait for the following night battles all through the Solomon Islands campaigns...

[@kkupsky6321]

Like bringing a gun to a night fight… wait. Drach?!?!? Get me Drachifinel. He’s got photos prolly and some sarcastic wit…

[@bigbubba4314]

The new moon hid behind clouds”? New moon = no moon.

[@stekarknugen9258]

In hindsight it seems ridiculously hopeless to engage in night attacks without radar against an enemy who has it

[@Todd-z8d]

As usual, the Navy screws the pooch!!!!

[@mohammedsaysrashid3587]

Another wonderful historical coverage video was shared by an amazing ( house of history) channel... video about naval strokes between allies' task forces and Japanese express operators... nearby Guadalcanal island ...thanks for sharing....

[@bobsylvester88]

Japan: sends 10,000 troops. USA: sends infantry regiment 3500 troops. USA was still struggling at this time. This battle had a major effect on the campaign and the whole war.

[@kenle2]

ThecU.S. already had a large part of a Marine Division on the island and air support from the "Cactus Air Force". Plus they were dug in and had more heavy weapons. It wasn't as one-sided as those numbers suggest.

[@bobsylvester88]

@@kenle2 I’m talking only about the re-enforcements mentioned in the video. This battle was up for grabs to whomever could supply and reenforce their side the best. Japan was winning that contest at this time.

[@chrisa8799]

Operation Nordwind, in detail, please

[@null2933]

What’s the song at 2:35 ?

[@williamcarter1993]

Boise and Salt Lake City weren't fuckin around

[@christosvoskresye]

A "new moon" is too close to the sun to be visible. In fact, the moon was young, not new: it was a waxing crescent. The moon was not hidden by clouds; it had set not long after the sun had. You seem to get your astronomy from "The Walrus and the Carpenter": "The sun was shining on the sea, Shining with all his might: He did his very best to make The billows smooth and bright - And this was odd, because it was The middle of the night." Yeah, I know this sounds harsh, but this is very basic stuff. Sorry, but if you don't understand that a crescent moon will not be "hidden behind clouds" at around midnight, it is very unlikely that you are sufficiently aware of the world you live in to KNOW that the earth is not flat; you have only been taught to say that it is not flat. Most people, sadly, are probably in the same group as you; they know what the USA looks like from the moon, though they have never been to the moon, but they do not know what the moon looks like from the USA, even if they live in the USA. That's why pictures of the moon on TV shows or in movies are often mirror reversed, views only visible from space, or just random dark blobs on a white circle. This predates the Internet; my guess is that it is a product of urbanization and electric lights.

[@bigsarge2085]

👍👍

[@JoeBurns1957]

Hmmm.... DEI LOTR??

[@Scott-ph2yk]

Good job, not You name Admiral Scott, yet show this against a picture of Admiral Callahan. Proof check your work.

[@kevindavis7407]

"The new moon hid behind clouds." Uh, hello! A 'new moon' is the opposite of a full moon. In other words, you can't see it! No clouds necessary for the night to be black. Who writes this stuff?

[@Edwards777]

USS Boise taking big hits and losing many men but still fighting hard, retreating with near empty magazine🦾

[@eazygamer8974]

What ever happened to the original host of this channel?

[@HoH]

Still here! Just not on video with my face anymore - I received so many comments from people saying they preferred map animation to me presenting, that I decided to not record segments anymore... I enjoyed presenting but at a certain point the negative comments outweighed the positive. Perhaps I will return again but you are one of the first people to ask "where" I am, and I haven't been on camera for a year now..

[@eazygamer8974]

I enjoyed the videos the other way but you can't please everyone so do what's best for your channel! They were probably just jealous of ypur strapping good looks hahaha!

[@arturohernandez4853]

Luna nueva ...? detras de las nubes...😂

[@samryan180]

First comment!

[@DimitryDonskoy777]

Lol Burgerheads fire torpedo at their own ships😂

[@jamesscully7108]

👀🇮🇪👍⚓

[@ocsplc]

Oiy

[@roberturlaub8526]

Yeye war is war and i war the most disgusting shit can happen but bombing the ships that try to rescue sailers? Thats just insane. One of the most cowardly things you can do in naval combat... What a shame

[@HoH]

Watch my video about the Battle of the Bismarck Sea and be even more perplexed at what you're describing...

[@roberturlaub8526]

@@HoH do you mean the end of bismarck when the brits high on fish and chips saw a submarine that wasnt there and then left the german sailors to drown because they feared that a sub would attack them while they recover? Lütjens and langsdorff are perfect examples that the kriegsmarine played by the old honorable rules of the sea. The brits were just a bunch of cowards and losers

[@kenle2]

If the ship is a combat capable vessel and not marked as a medical or hospital ship, then it's still a valid military target. You don't let a valuable enemy asset like a warship hang around in range of your forces, no matter what it might currently be doing. You sink it. That's war.

[@swderforest]

Why these ships are so fat?😂

[@sonnyjim5268]

Jeez, what a slug fest.

[@jonerlandson1956]

freedom is in segregation...

[@garyculver4345]

Too much repetition

[@HeedTheLorax]

These maps are a suck fest

[@janlindtner305]

👍👍👍