How a U.S. Navy Battleship Blasted Its Way Into History (At Point Blank Range)

The Japanese were feeling pretty good about breaking down the South Dakota until the Washington blew Kiroshima to smithereens.

Sometimes luck plays a bigger part in history than we'd like. Great story PO1 Tony Holland

There were three battles for Savo Island. These battles were part of the larger Guadalcanal campaign. Basically, the Americans owned the sea by day but the Japanese owned it by night. America's main problems at this time are leadership. Poor leadership. Admirals scott and callaghan (deliberate disrespectful spelling of their names in lower case...) fail to learn how to use radar, mistrust anything new and feel that the Japanese will be lousy night fighters based on their slanted eyes. They will both happily die as Japanese - able to see quite well - hand them the worst defeat (at sea) that the US Navy has ever had. WW2 is an attrition war and while America has enough ships on paper to rule the waves, the two-ocean war act has most of it in Europe. So the USA's Pacific contingent is literally on a shoe-string. Hence, Guadalcanal will be referred to in American slang as "Operation Shoestring." The Japanese have enough surface ships to rule the waves but not enough aircraft to wrest superiority from the allies. So American air by day, Japanese ships by night. The key to the entire campaign is Henderson field where the US Marines are not dying as easily as the Japanese feel they should be. In fact, the Marines are kicking so much ass that the Emperor himself demands instant action.

The Japanese send a force through nearby Savo Island to bombard Henderson field. They are cocky and adequately armed and sail into a radar detected trap, but sadly, (for us)(and the dead Americans that will become of it!!!) scott and calladum are unable to turn a strategic advantage and the Japanese literally eat us for breakfast. The Japanese arrive and bombard Henderson. The plucky Marines had hidden the few aircraft they had and the next day, the planes were still airborne to defend the ground troop's position. The Japanese prepared another night mission. The second mission had cruisers and one battleship. Again, the poor American planning fails to do anything but kill sailors and Marines. Following the raid, Japanese intel rightly concludes that they have destroyed close to 60% of Henderson so a final third mission is planned, this time with two battleships including the Japanese Navy's flagship (and specially Emperor-blessed) the Kirishima. America by now is out of cruisers and almost out of destroyers. There are a whopping four destroyers left. In preparation, the Marines are sent "permission" to surrender from JCOS. But... A different Admiral, Willis Lee, who although "older than dirt" has actually learned how to use and trust radar, is heading there with two battleships. USS Washington and brand new USS South Dakota. Knowing that the British trained the Japanese, he knows that the Japanese will be expecting the lead ship to be the most powerful. So he arrays his force so that the four destroyers enter the battle first.

On time, the Americans pick up the Japanese first via radar. Lee, who knows how to use radar, fans his force out as planned. SoDak is brand new and suffers a power failure. She is basically adrift. The Japanese can't believe their luck and circle the stricken battleship like Indians on a covered wagon. With all their searchlights on her, they neglect to spot Washington drifting in. A sage lookout spots Washington when she is 4 - 5000 feet away. By then it's too late. Washington's first salvo of nine 16 inch rounds tears all four of Kirishima's turrets off, holes her bridge (killing command staff) and wipes out her fire control areas. The salvo also includes ten 5 inch guns that take out exposed crew. By now, Kirishima is dead in the water. SoDak regains power and salvos the nearest target, Japanese cruisers. Washington's second salvo takes out the cruiser and destroyer "picking on" SoDak. Washington's third salvo is un-necessary as Kirishima is floating under the water and soon her tail rises out of the water. SoDak finishes a cruiser and both pursue the fleeing Japanese force including the other battleship. Both land hits. NavAir will sink her the next day but Washington feels that she put too many holes in her. Marines that night heard the racket and thought it was Japanese heading towards them to bombard. They were pleased to learn of the Japanese defeat.

So USS Washington goes down in history as the only American battleship to sink another battleship in combat. We won't count the battle of Surigao Strait in 1944 as the Japanese battleships never reached the American battleships. The PT boats, destroyers and submarines got them first.