Above: HMAS Canberra underfire
On August 7, 1942, United States Marines landed on the island of Guadalcanal under the cover of a powerfull American Fleet, including three carriers and a battleship.
When he recieved word of the landings, Vice Admiral Gunichi Mikawa immediately sortied from Rabaul with a force of five heavy cruisers, two light cruisers and one aging destroyer.
On the evening of August 8, this fleet encountered an Allied force of five heavy cruisers and four destroyers. Yet it was Mikawa inflicted, as one historian put it, "The Worst Blue Water Defeat in the History of the United States Navy". When it was over, four heavy cruisers were sunk, another severely damaged, and her captain forever labled a coward.
Forces
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