Captain Samuel Jenkins
USS Atlanta
26th August 1942
At Coral Sea and Midway, we the succeeded in halting the Japanese advance. In the Solomons, we not only stopped them, but pushed them back. The battle at Guadacanal just had to be the turning point for us. Almost everything in the fleet was committed to the battle.
The Battle of the Eastern Solomons, most of which took place on August 24, had been less a tremendous clash of arms than a series of skirmishes. Strategically for us it must be considered a partial failure since over these next few days Admiral Tanaka succeeded in landing large numbers of troops on Guadacanal.
What is distinctive about the Eastern Solomons is the inadequacy of our reconnaissance effort. Neither shore nor tender-based air came through when it was really needed. McCain's planes should have tracked the enemy first but they did not. When their patrols failed to come up with what was needed, carrier-borne planes should have but they did not either. Communications inadequacies only agravated the situation. Submarines contributed little if any and could have filled the reconnaissance gap.
Most pronounced in this battle was our ability to destroy enemy planes in both air combat and through anti-aircraft fire. Air losses decided the issue. Our navy lost a total of 17 carrier planes in the confused, hesitant and inconclusive clash, and Japan suffered several times that. In the end, the IJN broke off the fight after being stripped of their carrier aircraft although their powerful surface force was still largely intact. Their loss of Ryujo on the other hand, gave us a slight tactical victory especially since we managed to save the damaged Enterprise. Chitose also survived. We did not even attack Tanaka's Guadacanal reinforcement convoy until later.
Our fundamental problem was quite clear: we did not have sufficient sea control to be really secure on land. Neither does Japan however, even though some of their equipment and tactics were better suited to the kind of war being fought. This should be our next priority.
