Night Engagement off Empress Augusta Bay 1945 US Navy (Battle of Empress Augusta Bay)

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• published: 22 Jul 2015
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more at http://quickfound.net/links/military_news_and_links.html Public domain film from the US National Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and mild video noise reduction applied. The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Empress_Augusta_Bay The Battle of Empress Augusta Bay, on 1–2 November 1943—also known as the Battle of Gazelle Bay, Operation Cherry Blossom, and in Japanese sources as the Sea Battle off Bougainville Island (ブーゲンビル島沖海戦)—was a naval battle fought near the island of Bougainville. The naval battle was a result of Allied landings on nearby Bougainville in the first action in the Bougainville campaign of World War II and may also be seen as part of the Solomons and New Guinea campaigns. The battle was significant as part of a broader Allied strategy—known as Operation Cartwheel—aimed at isolating and surrounding the major Imperial base at Rabaul. The intention was to establish a beachhead on Bougainville, within which an airfield would be built. On 1 November 1943, the U.S. 3rd Marine Division landed at Cape Torokina in Empress Augusta Bay. The bay had been chosen because it was at the outer limit of Allied fighter plane range, and because the numerically-superior Japanese 17th Army was concentrated at other, more strategic sites in the north and the south. The Marines were backed by Task Force 39, composed of cruisers and destroyers, commanded by Rear Admiral Aaron S. "Tip" Merrill... Naval battle The Japanese responded with air attacks and a powerful naval force from Rabaul commanded by Admiral Sentaro Omori: Cruiser Squadron - heavy cruisers Myōkō and Haguro, 10th Cruiser Squadron - light cruiser Agano, destroyers Naganami, Hatsukaze, and Wakatsuki, 3rd Destroyer Squadron - light cruiser Sendai, and destroyers Shigure, Samidare,and Shiratsuyu. The Japanese formation was hastily assembled from whatever ships were on hand, many of which had never trained or fought together before. The U.S. Task Force 39 consisted of Cruiser Division (CruDiv) 12 - USS Montpelier, Cleveland, Columbia , Denver and two destroyer divisions (DesDiv): DesDiv 45 - USS Charles Ausburne, Dyson, Stanley, Claxton and DesDiv 46 - Spence, Thatcher, Converse, Foote. The Americans evacuated most of their landing craft and troop transports, assembled their ships to the southwest of Empress Augusta Bay and steamed slowly northward. CruDiv 12 would maneuver in a race track pattern, blocking the entrance to Empress Augusta Bay. The Japanese approached from the northwest and would try to bombard the invasion force in their transports and on the shore. On 2 November at 0130 Haguro was struck amidships by an American aerial attack. The resulting damage necessitated a significant reduction in speed for the entire formation... After the Japanese ships returned to Rabaul, they were joined by four cruisers and more destroyers from Truk for another attack on the Allied landing forces at Bougainville. On 5 November, however, two U.S. aircraft carriers raided Rabaul, heavily damaging four heavy cruisers, which had to withdraw to Truk. This ended the Japanese warship threat to the Allied landing forces at Bougainville.