The first strike came on August 7, when Japanese bombers attacked the transports, just hours after the 1st Marine Division had gone ashore. Not only did the Japanese ships carry more torpedoes, but their Long Lances were fast and deadly, while the American Mark 14 torpedoes were inaccurate and unreliable, sometimes failing to explode even when they did hit their targets.ДЇor more than three months, since August, Japanese air, land, and naval forces had been trying to push American troops off Guadalcanal and put Henderson Field permanently out of operation. It was hoped that CallaghanвЂ™s torpedoes might tip the balance, but even here the American force fell short. Frank pointed out that each American cruiser could fire a broadside of 8-inch shells weighing 2,340 pounds, while each Japanese battleshipвЂ™s broadside of 14-inch shells totalled 11,920 pounds. In his definitive account of the fighting in and around Guadalcanal, historian Richard B.

HalseyвЂ™s Task Force 64 was too far to the south to offer any assistance. Callaghan.Д¬allaghanвЂ™s task group was heavily outgunned, but Admiral William F. Callaghan, who flew his flag aboard San Francisco. Navy force of five cruisers and eight destroyers commanded by Rear Admiral Daniel J.

Sent to confront Abe in the waters off the embattled island was a U.S. The initial American landings on Guadalcanal had taken place in August 1942, and were the first large-scale offensive land operation initiated by the United States against the Japanese in World War II. But first, the American airfield would have to be destroyed by AbeвЂ™s battleships. Marines would either be killed or taken prisoner. With no air cover from Henderson, the U.S. Six of the transports were to unload their men at Cape Esperance, the other five at Tassafaronga. Following the bombardment of Henderson field, 11 transports were scheduled to land 7,000 troops on the island. Turner, commander of the American amphibious landings on Guadalcanal, rightly surmised that the Japanese fleet was coming south either to attack his transports as they withdrew from Guadalcanal or to bombard Henderson Field, which was vital to the American defense of the island.ДЄbeвЂ™s bombardment force was only half of the Japanese attack on Guadalcanal. AbeвЂ™s force consisted of two battleships, his flagship Hiei and Kirishima, along with one cruiser and 14 destroyers. That afternoon, an American reconnaissance aircraft had discovered a Japanese naval force under Vice Admiral Hiroaki Abe sailing southeast at 25 knots through the Solomon Islands down New Georgia Sound, nicknamed вЂњthe Slot,вЂќ toward Guadalcanal. The task group would be needing all the good luck it could get. The transport vessel USS President Jackson turns hard to port in the vicinity of the Solomons, while smoke rises from the cruiser USS San Francisco after a Japanese plane has crashed into its superstructure. The sailors hoped that the freak accident had cured the ship from any further bad luck, even though it was Friday the 13th. None of the other ships suffered any damage. One of the damaged bombers, however, had crashed into San FranciscoвЂ™s after fire control station, killing one officer and 23 men. Eleven of the Bettys had been shot down, and none of the ships had been hit by torpedoes. The ship had already had some bad luck the day before, when 16 torpedo-carrying Japanese Mitsubishi Betty bombers attacked the cruisers and destroyers of Task Group 67.4. November 13, 1942, was a Friday, which sailors aboard the cruiser USS San Francisco noted with anxiety.

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