NT - Guadalcanal Grand Campaign – Turn 2: Battle of the Matanikau

Eric Lew: for this campaign – the storyline, execution and outcome are purely based on IJN players’ point of view with inputs from the GM (YS Oon) and all players in the IJN faction (Hyiktsay and Chor Ghee). This is in no way a representation of actual historical battle that had taken place.

“On 7 August 1942, Allied forces landed on Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and Florida Islands in the Solomon Islands. The landings on the islands were meant to deny their use by the Japanese as bases for threatening the supply routes between the U.S. and Australia, and to secure the islands as starting points for a campaign with the eventual goal of isolating the major Japanese base at Rabaul while also supporting the Allied New Guinea campaign. The landings initiated the six-month-long Guadalcanal campaign.

Taking the Japanese by surprise, by nightfall on 8 August, the 11,000 Allied troops, under the command of Lieutenant General Alexander Vandegrift and mainly consisting of United States Marine Corps units, had secured Tulagi and nearby small islands, as well as an airfield under construction at Lunga Point on Guadalcanal. The airfield was later named Henderson Field by Allied forces. The Allied aircraft that subsequently operated out of the airfield became known as the "Cactus Air Force" (CAF) after the Allied codename for Guadalcanal. To protect the airfield, the U.S. Marines established a perimeter defense around Lunga Point.

In response to the Allied landings on Guadalcanal, the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters assigned the Imperial Japanese Army's 17th Army, a corps-sized command based at Rabaul and under the command of Lieutenant-General Harukichi Hyakutake, with the task of retaking Guadalcanal from Allied forces. Beginning on 19 August, various units of the 17th Army began to arrive on Guadalcanal with the goal of driving Allied forces from the island.”

Snippet from Wikipedia

Come 19 August 1942, the IJN were notified an important information that the US Marines are launching a major offensive against Imperial Japanese Army’s (IJA) position west of the Matanikau river. If they were to breach through, the western flank would be exposed. To prevent this, IJN had to secure a local superiority in the area and to shell Allied positions.

Lead by Admiral Chor Ghee, forming 2 separate taskforce (Task Force 1 and Task Force 3) consisting of 7 warships with its flagship, battle cruiser Kirishima – Sailed out to Japanese control section of the Guadalcanal Island and arriving past midnight. The taskforces were flanked by Admiral Hyiktsay’s task force – codenamed Tulagi, consisting of 2 warships, on intercept mission around Allied occupied naval base northeast of Guadalcanal.

0500 hours, while patrolling the waters around IJA occupied Guadalcanal Island, flashes of light can be seen from the distance on the starboard side of Kirishima. The light cruiser Yubari (part of Task Force 3) while patrolling the same waters were able to positively identify it to be USN warships totaling approximately 5 warships.

No sooner, Admiral Hyiktsay’s Tulagi Task Force radioed in and reports roughly 10 USN warships, with a possibility of a battleship, were also spotted on patrol on their western side position. Without much deliberation, Admiral Hyiktsay ordered its Tulagi Task Force to converge with Admiral Chor Ghee’s taskforces.

On a separate location, Admiral Hyiktsay’s 2 other taskforces – Shodo 1 and Shodo 2 – on an airfield strike mission to supplement an attack on Henderson Field, had to be called off and to reinforce Admiral Chor Ghee’s position, concluding that by achieving local naval superiority in and around the area would be crucial to accomplish the Empire’s objectives.

By 0555 hours, the combined IJN fleet of Admiral Chor Ghee and Admiral Hyiktsay sailed out to meet the USN warships, knowing in mind at least 1 battleship would be present and having virtually no IJN or IJA air cover.

IJN Order of Battle: Task Force 1 Task Force 3 Tulagi Task Force Shodo 1 Shodo 2

Battle Cruiser Kirishima Heavy Cruiser Chikuma Destroyer Asagumo Destroyer Yugure Destoryer Makigumo Light Cruiser Yubari Destroyer Shigure Light Cruiser Tenryu Destoryer Uranami Battle Cruiser Kongo Destroyer Shirayuki Heavy Cruiser Kako Destoryer Shikinami

For this battle and at the result of a dice roll off, IJN would be the attacker with dawn battle chosen – whereby at battle turn 2 will be day. House rules: We are using our own tested and proven spot & detection rules. Warships were grouped together and “blinded” (represented by paper) on the table. Only the faction’s players and GM knows what consist in the blinds – the other faction will have to spot them.

“Admiral Chor Ghee, this is Captain Wasabi Nabe on-board I-21. We had received your orders and will be engaging the enemy. Rest assured, we will do our best to sink the battleship” – coded transcript.

Pre-turn submarine strike on battleship Washington scored a direct hit and caused fire.

With the sight of the rising sun on the horizon, cannon fire soon erupted – none hitting their mark with close and near misses on both sides.

“Scramble the smoke screen, all ships to maintain distance. Admiral Chor Ghee, our fleet are converging, maintain port” – Admiral Hyiktsay

Both Hyiktsay and Chor Ghee pulled a maneuver to combine both of their fleet together with hopes that their warships able to launch their recon planes to shoot thru the smokes being layered by the destroyers.

“Admiral Hyiktsay!! Admiral-sama!!” – Shouts from midshipman right after a thunderous shot rip apart battle cruiser Kongo’s bridge.

At turn 6, the undetected battleship South Dakota revealed itself and open fire at battle cruiser Kongo – dealing a bridge critical hit. The situation begin to shift in favor on the USN side, as the IJN soon realized that they were not dealing with a battleship but 2 battleships.

“That’s for Admiral Hyiktsay!!” – yelled out by the gunner manning the Kongo’s main armarment.

Despite the bridge damage, Kongo still managed to find its mark on battleship South Dakota and causing it to be on fire.

“My fellow admirals, please sound the retreat and pull away soonest possible” – Admiral Eric Lew upon receiving battle updates of Kongo’s fate.

Regaining control and heeding the advice, Admiral Hyiktsay ordered his fleet to pull away. Unaware of the capability of Kongo to be able to leave the battle, Admiral Chor Ghee steered his battle cruiser Kirishima to shadow the IJN exit.

“Admiral Chor Gee, we are unable to go any faster, we are taking too much water coupled with the fact we are also having a fire on-board” – Reports from battle cruiser Kirishima

In a twist of events, turn 7 proved fatal for Kirishima as it was shot by various USN warships causing fire and double flooding. Admiral Chor Ghee decision to shadow the retreating Kongo and not heeding retreat advice was costly.

“We found him along with several others. The raft at starboard” – On-board Light Cruiser Tenryu

It would take a further 2 turns for Kirishima to succumb from the numerous USN damage coupled with its speed reduced to a mere 1 inch per turn. By that time, no other IJN warships were left in play and none of its destroyers were present to provide smokescreen cover.

As it turns out, IJN were not able to achieve naval superiority in the area. Blinded by its own smoke screen and undermining the capability of the enemy had cost the IJN an unrecoverable lost. The family shame that brought upon with the lost of Kirishima would haunt Admiral Chor Ghee as he returns to Rabaul.

Although IJN can still rejoice as there were no other warships were destroyed, however it’s also can be said the same on the USN side. Despite the shots from IJN, none of USN warships were sunk.

The victory that sought by the Empire is yet to come.