The Most Devastating Confrontation in US Navy History - Battle of Savo Island

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The eerie silence inside the Japanese headquarters was broken by an urgent transmission that spurred every man into a frenzy; the Allies had initiated a full-scale invasion of the Solomon Islands and the crucial Guadalcanal Island in the South Pacific. The long-awaited escalation of the war in the Pacific Theater had begun.
The news jolted the Imperial Japanese Navy into action. They were determined not to lose territory and promptly mobilized their finest, Vice Admiral Gunichi Mikawa, and his formidable fleet. Their mission was crystal clear: to intercept and obstruct the Allied landing efforts before they could establish a secure foothold on the islands.
With their hearts aflame, Mikawa’s fleet ripped through the endless waters of the Pacific in a high-stakes race against time. Departing from Rabaul, they executed a daring sprint toward the Solomon Islands.
The warships zigzagged, maneuvering around possible Allied reconnaissance aircraft. Unseen, they arrived at their objective on August 8, 1942, setting the stage for an insidious ambush.
The Vice Admiral, a master tactician, planned to strike under the veiling darkness, leveraging his sailors’ unsurpassed prowess in nocturnal combat and exploiting the US Navy’s inexperience in it. The imminent attack was shrouded in the blackest of nights, with no warning lights to signal the approach.
The Allied northern force was suddenly intercepted, the searing brightness of Japanese searchlights blinding them and sowing chaos across their ranks as shells began to rip through their ship’s decks.
It was a scene from a nightmare: the certainty of an invisible enemy, the sharp realization of their own blindness, and the cold sound of bullets hitting the metal hull. As the reality of the onslaught finally crashed over the Allied sailors, their fight shifted into one for survival...

[@dougriech6561]

Outstanding, having been a radar man in the navy, it's inconceivable, among all the mistakes, that they DIDN'T REPORT THE CONTACT to fleet.

[@magpie59]

I would not want to be in their shoes.

[@jacksprat9172]

Yeah, that was probably the worst mistake among many. The captain of the Chicago shot himself before his court martial. Although his ship had taken minor damage, all his guns were working and nothing wrong with his engines or radio. Why he didn't warn the Northern Force defies explanation. A lot of hard lessons were learnt at Savo Island and its a tragedy that it cost so many American sailors, their lives.

[@alanclague2333]

That was also a problem with the British at Jutland.

[@johnmcmickle5685]

Remember Ship identification was an art in those days the observer had to be able to recognize a ship at night.

[@JohnRodriguesPhotographer]

How about captain Bodo's presumption that radar could be seen. He allowed one sweep per hour because of this. For this and other things, he was court marshaled. Ultimately he committed suicide before a verdict had been reached.

[@andrewstackpool4911]

Facts straight, please. HMAS CANBERRA was His Majesty's Australian Ship, NOT a United States vessel.

[@stephenanthony6508]

HMAS Canberra was a proud Royal Australian Navy vessel, not a US navy vessel. The USA honoured the Canberra and her crew by naming a ship in the US navy USS Canberra, the 3rd US ship to bare that name has just entered service with the US navy.

[@35806willnala]

@35806willnala 1 second ago CA-70/CAG-2 The USS Canberra a guided missile cruiser. My dad served as a radioman aboard her up to 1959.

[@moosifer3321]

Well spotted, Sir - do you have RADAR?

[@timcobb1752]

LCS-30 is the current U.S namesake of the HMAS Canberra in the U.S navy. I helped build her.

[@billt6116]

That's true, But I hear you mate! Australia doesn't get the credit it's due. They've fought in basically every conflict the United States has fought in through the 20th century. Good on ya', blokes!

[@josephwolosz2522]

Seaman 2nd Class William Moore Stack Listed as Lost at Sea while serving aboard the Heavy Cruiser USS QUINCY. HE WAS MY UNCLE

[@Timothy-lb2vr]

Sorry to hear about your uncle, may he rest in peace.

[@jeffadams9807]

RIP...

[@mystikmind2005]

One significant fact that was overlooked - The Australian spotter aircraft were not concerned about Mikawa's fleet because they did not know about the landings at Guadalcanal! The landings were understandably kept secret from them, prior to execution, however, this secret was astonishingly not immediately corrected after execution of the landings when the Japanese themselves obviously now know about it. Had the Australian spotter aircraft crews known about the landings, then obviously the sightings of Mikawa's fleet would have taken on a completely different degree of urgency.

[@leeg4804]

History repeats itself

[@kristelvidhi5038]

They avanged their brothers 3 months later. And USS Washington became the most iconic allied battleship of the war.

[@billotto602]

This battle sure showed the US Navy they had the wrong people in command down there !

[@takashitamagawa5881]

From the beginning to the end of the Guadalcanal campaign the Japanese did not understand the nature of the struggle they were in. It was not nearly enough to win a naval battle, the contest was for possession of territory and logistics played a fundamental role throughout. Mikawa did not have a well thought out follow-up plan if his force were to succeed in destroying Turner's cruisers, the risk of losing some of his own ships to air attack during the following day was worth the objective of destroying the invasion shipping and denying or at least delaying the use of Henderson Field to the U.S. Marines.

[@kennethbolton951]

For filler combat shots they should hire editors that know what they are showing, like B-25s taking off of the Hornet for the Doolittle raid.

[@moosifer3321]

Unfortunately a common fault - pity HMS Barham for illustrating ANY sinking Warship!

[@Lep_Short]

Notwithstanding the tragic loss of American sailors, it was a terrible display of American and Australian military leadership to not have a more vigilant and coordinated response with their own naval and air reconnaissance operations around the Solomon Islands during the land offensive of Guadalcanal. Were changes made?

[@MrMalvolio29]

It’s misleading and inaccurate to say that after Midway, all of Japan’s remaining carriers were “smaller and less capable” than the four great IJN carriers sunk at Midway. The Shokaku and Zuikaku had still not been sunk, and both were adaptations of the newest aircraft carrier design, that of the Hiryu (the only IJN carrier at Midway to succeed in sinking an American carrier, the USS Yorktown, namesake of her class). Both the Shokaku and Zuikaku would later play significant roles in the IJN Pacific campaign. However, when Guadalcanal was invaded by American forces, both of these two great fleet carriers were still in drydock, recovering from damage they had incurred in the Coral Sea action. The Shokaku had significant damage to its flight deck, and tho the Zuikaku herself was in perfect condition, she had lost nearly half of her planes in the Coral Sea, and was still waiting for her flight arm to be restored to full strength. Thus neither fleet carrier was available for Mikawa’s forceful attempt to stop the Guadalcanal landings.

[@williamkoppos7039]

One of Mikawa's cruisers did not get home. Kako was blasted by obsolete Submarine S-44 near the end of the return trip.

[@matt.willoughby]

1000 allied casualties against 58 Imperial Japanese sailors 😮 This is a great channel, it's a matter of time until there is a million subscribers

[@christuspilatus]

It makes me so angry. Japan was a horrible enemy, who treated their prisoners horrible, and were really good soldiers. Sad that modern Japanese were not made to learn about their on horrible history. Nanking etc is not even a page in Japanese schools.

[@broncodaddy46507]

They paid a heavy price for their aggression

[@adamwright9741]

Without maps, this is a real mess to figure out for me watching this.

[@kidpagronprimsank05]

Solomon Campaign was golden opportunity for Japanese to dealt a significant or severe blow to US effort as their relative strengths were more or less similar, and industrial capacity of US not fully kicked in yet

[@GM-fh5jp]

The loss of Kido Butai's fleet carriers at Midway had such big repercussions. Imagine the fate of the Guadalcanal invasion force had Mikawa's Heavy Cruisers had aircover from a couple of fleet carriers at Savo Island. His squadron could have stayed until first light, savaging the landing and supply columns anchored off Guadalcanal, and then retreated under aircover once the invasion had been wrecked. Midway must rank only 2nd to Trafalgar as the most consequential naval victory of all time.

[@archclement2902]

I agree completely. I don't think we could have launched any counter attack, other than hit and run, while Kido Butai was whole. Trafalgar and Midway had similar affects, a war winning blow, and long term naval domination by the winner.

[@Charlesputnam-bn9zy]

@@archclement2902 21:46 This decision saved the Marines on Guadalcanal. & 2 years later, the same error was repeated with much worse consequences for the Japanese by admiral Ozawa at Leyte. Were Ozawa to press on, the crushing defeat would be on the Americans, with the whole landed force obliterated by the counterattacking Japanese in the jungle.

[@Surfbird11]

Midway was catastrophic for the IJN since they couldn’t really replace lost ships or pilots adequately. Had it gone the other way with the USN losing all their 3 carriers the war would not have changed appreciably since America had more than replaced those carriers that same year with another dozen the next year and another 2 dozen the next and 3 dozen the next. Japan never had any chance other than praying America didn’t try. In June 1944 the allies used the largest fleet ever to invade France. Just 3 months later, on the other side of the world, America used the most powerful fleet ( 2 dozen carriers and a dozen battleships among the hundreds) ever to invade the Philippines. Those 2 fleets were made of almost entirely different ships. Truly incredible production!

[@Charlesputnam-bn9zy]

@@Surfbird11 However fatal consequences could have been for the Allied cause since the British-hating CNO King would have turned his back to Europe & left Germanazy do its thing in foull.

[@Surfbird11]

@@Charlesputnam-bn9zy That wouldn’t have happened since Roosevelt, Stetinius, Marshall and others understood the threat from Germany was greater. Only King and MacArthur wanted to defeat Japan first. Everyone agreed both needed defeating. They just disagreed on the order.

[@davidsexton4033]

Why'd you keep showing Dolittle's B-25s? They has nothing to do with this

[@HemlockRidge]

Besides their Night Fighting abilities, the IJN had "Long Lance" torpedoes. The US Navy had the Mk 14s. These were faulty up until late 1943, but were still outmatched even after. But at least they worked. Add in sheer number of warships, and the Mitsubishi A6M "Zero", and the Allied Navies were totally outclassed in the early part of the war. The US could only do what they could do, and found workarounds. They acted as a placeholder until the US war machine got working.

[@rodneygaul2227]

The IJN had "Long Lance" oxygen fueled torpedoes blew up more Japanese shipping than Allied shipping . Oxygen fueled torpedo blow up with a spark small flame or stray bullet . US Navy's Mk 14s were a product of Roosevelt's "new Deal" top down management style Roosevelt's War Secretary separated Bureau Of Ordinance from the branches of Armed services . No testing done because the big brained civilian scientist and engineers said they where good as is . That was a 2 year internal fight during the war to fix Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" did not have self sealing gas tanks and no armor , basically a flying gas can . Tactics like the "Thatch Weave" from the "Midway Battle" beat the "Zero" not superior plane design . The F4U and F6 just made it easier Allied Navies outclassed ?? wow Peace time Officers don't do well in combat . This was because of Admiral King , and the Fleet Admirals in general , substandard training TG Admiral Nimitz was from supply or King and MacArthur would have given away the Pacific by their ill trained hand picked flunkies Radar was slow to implement and use , so not trusted by junior officers / ship captains lack of Convoy systems Use of WW1 flying tactics 24 knot Battleships I can go on And the biggest issue ? Japan never evolved tactics to counter the Allies / US History should be studied , its amazing what can be learned

[@HemlockRidge]

​@@rodneygaul2227 Is everybody impressed with ​rodneygaul2227's wealth and depth of knowledge? And other than vomiting it all up, did he once negate anything I said? ​ rodneygaul2227, you're not the only one who knows something about WWII.

[@davidelliott5843]

Type 93 used a “Shimose”explosive warhead. This was more sensitive to shock than the TNT used in US torpedos. The oxygen tanks do not seem to have been especially hazardous. They were kept empty until ready for firing. They had the added advantage that of significantly less exhaust gas making the torpedoes harder to spot.

[@rodneygaul2227]

I probably regret this Allied Navies were totally outclassed is totally wrong I just stated some reality and let the reader decide The obsolete P40 under the "fly tigers" had a nice kill count for being "outclassed"

[@HemlockRidge]

@@rodneygaul2227 Like I stated: "The US could only do what they could do, and found workarounds. They acted as a placeholder until the US war machine got working."

[@johnmcmickle5685]

I have never understood why the US did not mine the area where the Japanese unloaded supplies as well as the area around Savo Island. Make it difficult to maneuver in that area.

[@moosifer3321]

Too Deep?

[@brucelytle1144]

Making it hard to maneuver goes both ways!

[@johnmcmickle5685]

@@brucelytle1144 It is called area denial. Wait for them to get into the mine field before opening fire,

[@johnmcmickle5685]

@@moosifer3321 the Depth off the baches where they unloaded should not have been a factor.

[@garysteed6903]

The prettiest and best specialist I had was Japanese. A lot has changed from WW2! 🇺🇸🇯🇵

[@johnmcmickle5685]

I would think those spotlights would be a great target.

[@andrewstackpool4911]

Ironically, HMAS CANBERRA was first torpedoed by a US destroyer.

[@morrissoublet25]

Anyone else bother by the often used clips of the planes from the Doolittle Raid appearing this far into the war?

[@Digmen1]

Yes HMAS Canberra was Australian And how can you decimate a mast? There is only one mast, so you cannot decimate it.

[@crossleydd42]

In any case, decimate means only to destroy one tenth of something!

[@nwnelson66]

Excellent book "Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal" by James D. Hornfischer (2012) covered this battle in detail.

[@dusterman1972]

Excellent book

[@andrewstackpool4911]

Another is CDRE Bruce Loxton's book. Loxton was aboard Canberra. The USN for decades blamed the entire thing on RADM Crutchley , the RAN Fleet Commander. Crutchley had deployed the northern and southern forces appropriately and earlier VADM Turner, the CIC over all, had ordered him to a conference aboard the flagship. No blame can be attached to Crutchley; he did as directed. As shown here, a combination of major failings permitted a vastly superior Japanese TG to annihilate a vastly underprepared Allied force. .

[@Jeffei-qs7kp]

If you're going to read . Read Samuel Elliot Morrisons official history and leave Horgenschiffer on the table.

[@andrewstackpool4911]

I suggest that you also read Commodore Bruce Loxton's book The Shame of Savo, which he wrote with Chris Coulthard-Clark. Loxton was a Midshipman on Canberra's Bridge at the time and was seriously injured by shrapnel. When the ship's company returned to Sydney, the Fleet Commander told them they should feel ashamed that they had not fired a shot. Loxton was also annoyed at the USN and staff college view over the years that Crutchley was primarily responsible for the disaster. I saw the same attitude after the Melbourne and Evans collision when RADM King and others fought hard at the Court of Inquiry and later to blame the CV even though the court ruled Evans in error. That cost one of our finest captains his career.@@Jeffei-qs7kp

[@gruntforever7437]

@@andrewstackpool4911Richard Franks Guadalcanal only blames Crutchley a little; but some definitely. and his book was written after everything was unclassified

[@HemlockRidge]

Canberra, or HMAS Canberra was Australian, not a "US", Heavy Cruiser.

[@35806willnala]

CA-70/CAG-2 The USS Canberra a guided missile cruiser. My dad served as a radioman aboard her up to 1959.

[@mhelmreich1]

The USA have just recently named a second ship the Canberra. So that is twice that the USA has had a ship named after another nation's city. The only case is the city of Canberra. The _only_ but twice. Australia has only had one that I know of.

[@HemlockRidge]

@@35806willnala Yes. And why was it named Canberra? Why was a US Navy ship named after an Australian city? Well it wasn't. It was named after HMAS Canberra, sunk while part of a Task Force under US command.

[@moosifer3321]

However the Screwup WAS American Command/Doctrine and being `tired` doesn`t cut it in Wartime!

[@cole1407]

My great uncle was in Guadalcanal

[@robwhite6057]

Is this the action that created the name of Ironbottom Sound?

[@pobinr]

Leave Out the music

[@vishawnathgangode6286]

Very best history

[@frankorosz901]

Great eyesight did not really make up for code breakers and radar. Also a determination to make the Japanese "pay a heavy price". Sleeping Giants tend to become smart, brave, industrial powers bent on revenge.

[@2Sage-7Poets]

every generals game.. it's an advantage if your general is a tactician

[@markgranger9150]

Amateurs talk tactics the real genius is logistics. The U S Navy had a floating supply chain that let.the combat.ships stay in the fight. Very few Navies can replenish their fleet without depending on shore service and supplies. The .U S Navy.dose it underway. Only the RN can do.the same.

[@thevictoryoverhimself7298]

Picket destroyers you have ONE JOB

[@Digmen1]

Gee I never really knew much abotu this. Imagine if Mikawa had attacked the US transports, they could have sunk many of them. Sure his force was disorganised and low on ammo. But to me it was a make or break time for Japan.

[@talpark8796]

interesting

[@kristelvidhi5038]

USS Washington: i avenged my brothers.

[@talpark8796]

Honda Point 😁

[@douglasrice7524]

There is a decidedly condescending tone in the UK narrator's script that seems to look down on any-and-all aspects of the American side of the battle without anything but the most off-handly vague explanations for such statements, while favoring the Imperial Japanaese side with everything from a "rage" for vengeance to a trained super-human ability to see in the dark as their naval stategy. While these elements DID play their part in the fateful battle that night, the documentary's script totally screws the pooch with the telling of the even MORE fateful retreat of the victorious IJN force, failing in their primary mission -- so the US landing force escaped and the USMarine beach-head on Guadalcanal did not so much as sneeze that night. This production was like watching history with it's right turn-signal constantly blinking.

[@gathasofpersia6432]

Footage is from Victory and others. Footage showed Atlantic shipping. Waste.

[@douggreen9046]

I really like all the non-related footage of US & Japanese prewar battleships, carriers, cruisers, destroyers, aircraft and other things that weren't involved in this action being included. For those that are just learning history they will forever be misinformed of who was there and what actually happened at this tragic event. As much documentation that is available on this subject how can you get so many things wrong? This is like 90% of the history videos out there that just throw any black and white footage in there and tie it to partial facts.

[@elvinsmatthew]

Hmas Canberra was a australian not anerican vessal

[@kidpagronprimsank05]

Seems both luck and communication SNAFU of Allied causing this disaster, but luck also with US as with no chart for Mikawa, plus another circumstances prevented further destruction

[@Rusty_Gold85]

The US Navy "lost " another ship...... to Australia ...the US never owned it . HMAS Canberra was not a US Navy ship . HMAS means His Majesty's Australian Ship. And Furthermore Several personnel from Canberra believe that USS Bagley inadvertently torpedoed the cruiser. From the 819-strong ship's company, 84 were killed (74 during the battle, 10 dying later from wounds), and another 109 were wounded . Also At 03:30, USS Patterson came alongside and relayed orders from Rear Admiral Turner: if Canberra could not achieve mobility by 06:30, she would be abandoned and sunk. The destroyer began to recover the Australian survivors, but at 04:30, Patterson detected an approaching ship. The destroyer moved to investigate, at which point the unknown ship opened fire, and USS Patterson retaliated. It was quickly realised that the attacker was USS Chicago, which had mistaken Canberra for a damaged Japanese vessel, and both ships ceased fire. Good Job US Navy , Good Job

[@billt6116]

The battle for Ra- bowel was hard! Alot of bad sht went down.😁 maybe it had been constipated..?

[@mauriceouellette7514]

Bonjour a tous du Canada The image of the video ,not fit with the speach of this gentlemen .

[@terrydawkins9936]

Why is there so many photos of the Doolittle raid airplane…nothing to do with this battle

[@michaelnaisbitt7926]

The shots of the B 25s taking off from carriers happen only once in 1942 when the US attacked Tokyo nothing to do with Savo island

[@magpie59]

In my opinion it is a little irritating that (for example) flattops were shown when there were non (at least no Japanese ones)

[@HemlockRidge]

Sorry that there is no footage of the battle, there Karen. Would you rather stock footage, or maybe just a static image while he narrates.

[@darlonripley606]

Throwing unrelated quick MTV-like WW2 goo video clips at us while audio telling a story the author has no real photos to illustrate is so overly common makes these shows almost unviewable. Watching fast clips of nothing in particular as long as its black & white WW2 goo is really distracting from a fairly good story. This mindless thinking that people interested in history cannot endure lack of honest video materials and might shut the movie off if we dont have continuous WW2 goo video in front of our eyes is almost insulting. You know; I may just get mad enuf to do these better myself. Don't hold your breath, but I so hope I can clear my life to do so. This guy actually has video segments I have not seen, and good for him to find them. Then he destroys their impact by throwing in fillers.

[@julesmoto9022]

Not to mention the golden gate bridge background TWICE

[@herodotus63]

HMAS Canberra was neither HMS (British) nor American. C'mon mate...

[@ethanleveque]

Wow so many mistakes ….

[@magpie59]

Murphy's Law ...

[@MichaelMitchell-nv4lf]

This was the battle that made us surrendered the next day??

[@richardwaugh2049]

You're showing aircraft carriers and other totally unrelated ships, that were not present, to represent this action...shame on you

[@firegod457]

Carriers were probably significant. Since the Japanese didn't know where the carriers were, but knew they were in the area, they most likely influenced their decision to withdraw and not press on with the total destruction of the U.S. forces. My dad and uncle were on the USS Astoria and made it through the night.

[@michaelnaisbitt7926]

I doubt if accurate film of this action still exists hence the tale has used unreled film😊

[@sandraavila1249]

Search the battle of Salinas Cruz usa navy got fucked By México Mondragon General usa doesnt even speak about

[@Digmen1]

After watching the video its obvious that the allied reconsaince pilots were very poorly trained and also the US intelligence staff on the fleet did nto analyse the possiblity of an attack. Imangine the result if the US ships were alert and on battle stattions.

[@oldsalt7534]

It appears we didn't learn much from Pearl Harbor.

[@user-zz4rg9nk7l]

The Japanese were performing well in the Solomons, how come they lost ww2

[@2000sborton]

What a sad mistelling of a momentous event. I guess that drama is more important than facts. The Japanese fleet WAS picked up by American radar. More than once. Confusingly, that fact was not reported to the flagship. Yes, the Japanese navy had excellent, specialized night observers. But they were no match for American radar. Unfortunately, the use of radar in this engagement was a tremendous cluster#$%k. From the Admiral, all of the way down. It was also misreported about the number of transports there. The aircraft carriers, which were south of Guadalcanal, had stated that they would pull out after 4 days. They in fact pulled out earlier than that. When the aircraft carriers left, so did many of the transports. They were considered to be too vulnerable without air cover. Many other events of this engagement were misstated here, in favor of dramatic representation. For a more detailed, fact based account of this battle try Kings and Generals account of Guadalcanal.

[@davidhouston1729]

The US Navy was just learning to treat the Japanese with respect. The first US picket destroyer which should have reported the approach of Mikawa's fleet had British radar, but didn't trust that new "Limey" invention, so didn't report the contact. Everyone on the Allied side paid for the US arrogance.

[@markgranger9150]

The U S Navy took a mauling at Savo lots of mistakes were made on.both sides. The what if's of this battle are interesting but the battle would not have been.won by Japan even if the IJN had it's carrier's in the fight it would have ended in a U.S victory.

[@kdrichardson5261]

Horribly inaccurate

[@everaldodejesus4018]

21:16 FAKE! ANIMATION!

[@thomaslinton5765]

. . . AS LONG AS WE INGORE PEARL HARBOR.

[@markgranger9150]

What the fuck are you trying to say? It is not a video about Pearl..... So IGNORE the video that is playing.........Don't forget Pearl Harbor.

[@thomaslinton5765]

@@markgranger9150 Dear slow motion, let me help. Savo Island was emphatically not the "most devastating confrontation in US naval history." Pearl Harbor and Okinawa were far worse than Savo.

[@mcleod300]

Overly dramatic.

[@HemlockRidge]

I thought maybe dramatic enough.

[@MichaelMitchell-nv4lf]

Did we lose the war because of this battle?????