Battleships had long been the apple in the eye of a Japanese pilot, and when those D3As saw them they were delighted, and even more enthused by the fact that there were no American fighters up over them. A formation of 10 planes came in to attack, but Fletcher had spotted them on radar, and his ships were rough and ready, his gunners soon filling the skies with flak as the enemy began their diving runs.
AA Cruiser San Juan was in escort, an Atlanta Class light cruiser with 16 Dual Purpose 5-inch guns that could elevate 85 degrees with added mounts for rounds with special AA fuses. It would come to be considered the very best dual purpose gun in its class, if not the world, and those big rounds were quick to darken the sky over the task force. In spite of that, it was often necessary to fire off at least 100 rounds to get a kill, but good crews could get off over 20 rounds per minute with those guns, so the next five minutes were going to be hot. San Juan would get two of those Vals with that flurry of AAC Mark 49 flak shells that afternoon. Two more would fall prey to her Bofors 40mm guns, 14 in all, and she also had 13 more 20mm Oerlikon AA guns.
Both the Washington and North Carolina had 20 of the same 5-inch guns that made up San Juan’s primary battery, and another 16 of the 1.1-inch AA guns. South Dakota, being one step newer, had 16 of the 5-inchers, but was beefed up considerably when it came to air defense, as that ship had been built with the idea of it being a Fleet Flagship. It was given no less than 68 Bofors 40mm guns, and 76 of the 20mm Oerlikon AA guns. Her 5-inch guns also carried a very special new round designed for air defense. That was the ship that put those Vals down for the count, getting four more as they came in, with another taken down by the North Carolina. But that left two that got through, and their aim was true. One of the dying planes had also got its bomb off before being hit, so the Japanese got just a little reprisal for the loss of that squadron. They put two one bomb on the North Carolina, and two more on the San Juan.
Fletcher winced when he saw the explosion hit his lead battleship. He had already darkened his reputation by losing two fleet carriers, and now the thought that he might lose a battleship here rankled in the back of his mind. But that was not to be. North Carolina was a very well protected ship, with armor accounting for 41% of her total displacement, over 45,000 tons full load. Her armored decks were in three layers that totaled just over seven inches of steel. Her conning tower had 14 to 16 inches of armor, and so the “Showboat,” as the ship was called, brushed off the hit to her forward deck easily enough.
San Juan did not fare quite so well. One bomb hit her amidships, just aft of the rear funnel on her starboard side, setting off a torpedo mount. That put the twin 5-inch battery there out of action, and blew a good sized hole in the deck, scoring the funnel with a lot of shrapnel. While not in danger of sinking, the fires looked serious, giving the sole Japanese pilot to get out of that attack alive something to crow about. He reported he had set a battleship on fire, and no one would ever be the wiser. Fletcher decided to detach the ship and send it back to Pago Pago, but he was more than determined to carry on his mission and get after that airfield.
The sun set an hour later, with no further sign of enemy planes, and that night the three battleships would deliver a most unwelcome surprise to the Japanese at Nandi. Fletcher’s five destroyers had swept on ahead to make the introductions. They began dueling with a few Japanese shore batteries, though not many guns could be spared for that role. The Japanese thought they had little to fear when the destroyers lighter rounds came in. They caused more noise and distraction than damage, but ten minutes later the gloaming horizon darkened with the silhouettes of those three US battleships, and in came the big 16-inch rounds, and with terrible effect.
Four of the twelve Claudes were blasted on the airstrip, which saw no less than 19 shells coming to plant big craters there. The port dock and warehouse area took five direct hits, and a fuel tank took another, exploding in a blaze of fire and smoke. As Fletcher watched the smoke and fire hit the enemy for a change, he managed just the hint of a smile. Fedorov’s history recorded him as a cautious but competent carrier commander, with more than one victory to notch his belt. Yet he was a surface action commander at heart, and that was where he would take his ride into the pages of this history.
Far to the west, the Close Covering force waiting for the Tanaka Detachment convoy got new orders that night. Captain Mori on the heavy cruiser Haguro was ordered to take his ships in to sweep the harbor area. He had the cruiser Maya with him, and five destroyers, and was thinking to steal in and catch the Americans near Nandi by surprise the following morning. It was a rash order, sent by the local commander at Noumea in response to an urgent radio call from Nandi asking for naval support, and not by Yamamoto’s Combined Fleet HQ. Those three battleships would be more than a match for the Japanese, but Mori’s group would never get there.
Halsey’s planes would find them first.
Out to finish up the Japanese airfields, a mixed formation of 27 SBDs escorted by 18 Wildcats spotted the enemy ships just after sunrise on the 28th of April. They came screaming in to get their vengeance for the attack that had sent the San Juan to the corner. Both Haguro and Maya would take three hits, with serious damage and heavy fires on both cruisers. The destroyer Ushio also took a bomb forward, which was enough to put that ship out of the game. The entire force did a hasty 180 degree turn and withdrew to Noumea, chastened and well warned.
The opening act of the naval battle for the Fiji Group had gone to Bull Halsey. The airfields at Nandi and Tavua were in very bad shape, and the Japanese had lost the services of those two heavy cruisers, and all but seven A5M fighters, and three Vals that still remained at Nandi. When Yamamoto got the news he was not pleased.
“So, the American carriers have spoiled our celebration of Showa Day, the Emperor’s Birthday. Who ordered that covering force to move to the Fijis so soon, and without proper air cover?”
“I assure you, Admiral, the order did not come from this headquarters.”
“Well, find out where it did come from, and tell the man who issued it that I will speak with him directly after this is over. In the meantime, as the landings in the Santa Cruz Islands look to be unopposed, we will now depart to join Admiral Hara. We move south this morning.”
Part IX
The 5th of May
“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”
Chapter 25
It would be no easy matter to take a big unit like the 1st USMC Division and get it off the transports, unpacked, sorted out and ready for combat, but there was very little time to get that done. PBYs out of Suva had spotted the approach of the Japanese carriers, and all those troops and supplies had to be unloaded before they got there. The transports had orders to immediately put to sea as they were emptied, and return to Pago Pago, and the docks and quays at Suva were a beehive of activity.