TO GUADALCANAL

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 57, 5 September 1945, Page 8

TO GUADALCANAL

CONVOY FROM WELLINGTON

FIRST PACIFIC OFFENSIVE

Outstanding- among- the many stirring- sights witnessed in Wellington during- the six years of war were the assembly and departure of the great convoy comprising the major part of the amphibious force which, covered by a powerful air support force of the United States navy, carried out the landing' of the United States marines in the Solomon Islands. The assault on Guadalcanal and Tulagi on August 7, 1942, marked the first Allied assumption of the offensive in the Pacific. Though shrewd blows had been struck at the Japanese—notably in the battles of the Coral Sea and Midway Island—all previous operations had been of a defensive character.

From the very start of the Japanese war it had been evident that the safeguarding of sea communications between the United States and New Zealand and Australia was a paramount consideration of Allied strategy. As early as January, 1942, the Japanese had established bases at Rabaul and in the northern Solomons. In April they moved further south to Tulagi, in the southern Solomons. On July 4 the enemy landed a considerable force of troops and labourers on Guadalcanal, and a few days later air reconnaissance showed that an airfield, wharves, and other installations were being constructed on the north coast of the island. As the operation of Japanese aircraft from Guadalcanal would immediately imperil Allied control of the New Hebrides and New Caledonia and threaten Fiji, the necessity of the recapture of Guadalcanal became urgent. PLANNED IN NEW ZEALAND. This operation, the first Allied major offensive move in the Pacific, was planned in New Zealand under the direction of Vice-Admiral R. L. Ghormley, U.S.N., who had been appointed in command of the South Pacific Area and arrived in the Dominion on May 8, setting up his headquarters in Auckland. The forces organised were the First Marine Division, reinforced by the Second Marine Regiment and two other battalions, an air support force comprising three large aircraft-carriers, one new battleship, five heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, and 15 destroyers, and an amphibious force of six heavy cruisers, two light destroyers, 20 destroyers, and 23 transports. A third task force of aircraft based on New Caledonia, Fiji, and Samoa, was to cooperate closely with the aircraft under the command of General Mac Arthur in New Guinea and Australia. The marines were under the command of Major-General A. A. Vandegrift, U.S.M.C. The first echelon of the division arrived on June 14, but the second echelon did not arrive until July 11. The United States navy transports and store ships arrived at intervals during May and June, and the Wellington waterfront became the scene of intense activity. The ships were combat-loaded; this is, things which would be needed first during landing operations were loaded last. First priority was given to fighting equipment and supplies such as artillery, tanks, vehicles, ammunition, and gasoline; then came food rations, medical supplies, and more gasoline. Other supplies were loaded in reverse order to their degree of essentiality, so that they might be landed with the utmost facility. General Vandegrift said just before the ships' departure: "I believe they are really combat-loaded, for we have taken infinite pains and have disembarked in practice to see that things first come out that way." The harbour was "alive" with the marines' landing craft, which attracted the keenest interest. They included troop boats of 12 knots capable of carrying 39 fully-equipped men; armoured boats of 12 knots, fitted with "ramp" bows capable of being lowered on beaches for the rapid disembarkation of men and stores; tank lighters of about 10 knots for the landing of tanks, artillery, vehicles, etc. There were also amphibious tractors known as "Alligators," lightly armoured tank-like machines, sufficiently buoyant to float when loaded with men and supplies. Their "tracks" propelled them through water at about eight knots and on land at 15 miles an hour. A POWERFUL FORCE. In all, twelve naval transports assembled at Wellington. They were: McCawley (flagship of Rear-Admiral R. K. Turner, U.S. Navy, commanding amphibious force), Barnett, George F. Elliott. Fuller, American Legion,

Hunter Liggett, Neville, Hey wood, Alchiba, Libra, Formalhaut, and Bellatrix. They were converted merchant ships specially adapted and fitted for the exacting requirements of amphibious warfare. They ranged in size from the George F. Elliott, of 14,250 tons, down to the Formalhaut, of 4000 tons gross register. All were wellarmed with a varied assortment of anti-aircraft guns in addition to a sinch gun. ■ In the morning of July 18, 1942, Wellington was startled by the arrival of a powerful force of Allied warships. This was the task force of five cruisers and seven destroyers commanded by Rear-Admiral V. A. C. Crutchley, V.C., D.S.C., R.N., which were to escort the transports. The cruisers were H.M. Australian ships Australia (flagship), Canberra, both eight 8-inch and tour 4-inch guns, and Hobart. eight 6-inch and eight 4-inch guns; U.S.S. Chicago, nine 8-inch and eight 5-inch guns, and U.S.S. Salt Lake City, ten 8-inch and eight 5-inch guns. The destroyers, all American, were Selfridge. Jarvis, Patterson, Mugford. Henley, Blue, and Ralph Talbot. The Selfridge was a ship of 2130 tons mounting' eight sin guns; the others displaced 1725 tons and mounted four sin guns. During their stay in Welling! on in that grim period of the war all the ships of the amphibious force, transports as well as fighting ships, kept their anti-aircraft guns manned at two minutes' notice for action. Antisubmarine patrols were maintained by two destroyers under way in Cook Strait and security boats carrying depth-charges patrolled inside the harbour. SUCCESSFUL OPERATION. This great expeditionary force sailed from Wellington in the forenoon of July 22, 1942. The convoy of 24 ships formed into cruising stations in Cook Strait and proceeded for the rendezvous towards which the aircraft-carrier groups and other transports were moving from San Diego and Pearl Harbour. Junction was effected on July. 26 and the fleet of some 80 ships steamed to Koro Island in the Fiji group, where realistic, full-scale' landing exercises were carried' out. Throughout July the aircraft of the air task force were assembling at newlyconstructed airfields in the New Hebrides, New Caledonia, and Fiji. Squadrons of United States navy and army and R.N.Z.A.F. aircraft were preparing for a week of intensive reconnaissance before the ships moved into the Solomons. . At sunrise on August 7 the United States Marines made their landings on Guadalcanal and Tulagi. The enemy was taken by surprise but reacted quickly. There was little opposition initially on Guadalcanal, where the airfield was seized. By the next afternoon the Marines were in complete control of Tulagi. In the early afternoon of August 7 the enemy made two bombing attacks on the transports. The first was unsuccessful, but in the second the destroyer Mugford received a direct hit which caused considerable damage and loss of life. Next morning an attack was carried out by 23 enemy torpedo bombers. The destroyer Jarvis was hit by a torpedo, but was able to reach shallow water. She was subsequently lost while on passage to the New Hebrides for repairs. The transport George F. Elliott was set on fire by .an aircraft which flew—apparently deliberately—into her superstructure, and she became a total loss.Shortly after midnight of August 8-9 a force of enemy cruisers and destroyers made a surprise attack en the screening force. In thirty minutes the United States heavy cruisers Quincy. Vincennes, and Astoria, and H.M.A'.S. Canberra were so severely damaged that they subsequently sank. The U.S.S. Chicago and the destroyers Patterson and Ralph Talbot were damaged.