World War 2 In Review

The U.S. Navy heavy cruiser USS Minneapolis (CA-36) at Tulagi with torpedo damage received in the Battle of Tassafaronga, the night before. The photograph was taken on 1 December 1942, as work began to cut away the wreckage of her bow. The Battle of Tassafaronga, sometimes referred to as the Fourth Battle of Savo Island or, in Japanese sources, as the Battle of Lunga Point, was a nighttime naval battle that took place on November 30, 1942, between United States (US) Navy and Imperial Japanese Navy warships during the Guadalcanal campaign. The battle took place in Ironbottom Sound near the Tassafaronga area on Guadalcanal. In the battle, a US warship force of five cruisers and four destroyers under the command of Rear Admiral Carleton H. Wright attempted to surprise and destroy a Japanese warship force of eight destroyers under the command of Rear Admiral Raizō Tanaka. Tanaka’s warships were attempting to deliver food to Japanese forces on Guadalcanal. Using radar, the US warships...

The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) and other ships of her screen in action during the Battle of Santa Cruz, 26 October 1942. One bomb is exploding off her stern, while two Japanese dive bombers are visible directly above the carrier and towards the center of the image. A flash from anti-aircraft guns of the battleship USS South Dakota (BB-57) can be seen in the distance. The Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, fought during 25–27 October 1942, sometimes referred to as the Battle of Santa Cruz or in Japan as the Battle of the South Pacific, was the fourth carrier battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II. It was also the fourth major naval engagement fought between the United States Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy during the lengthy and strategically important Guadalcanal campaign. As in the battles of Coral Sea, Midway, and the Eastern Solomons, the ships of the two adversaries were rarely in sight or gun range of each other. Instead, almost all attacks by bo...