Disaster at Savo Island, 1942

Abstract

This paper examines the naval battle of Savo Island from a historical perspective and extracts the lessons learned from a strategic, operational and tactical perspective. The Battle of Savo Island occurred early in the morning on 9 August in 1942 when the Japanese 8th Fleet surprised the Allied Task Force shortly after the landing at Guadalcanal. In approximately 37 minutes, the Japanese Navy destroyed four heavy cruisers and killed more than 1000 American and Australian sailors handing the U.S. Navy the worst defeat in its history. There were many reasons for this debacle, however the one common thread through the entire disaster was the poorly framed command and control relationships. This article examines the command and control breakdowns along with the various contributing causes such as personality conflicts between various commanders of the allied force, communication and equipment shortfalls, common prejudices, and the superior night fighting ability of the Japanese force that caused this decisive defeat.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 09, 2002
Accession Number
ADA401647

Entities

People

  • David E. Quantock

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Power
  • Aircrafts
  • Amphibious Operations
  • Boats
  • Command And Control
  • Defense Systems
  • Fire Support
  • Governments
  • Intelligence Collection
  • Landing Forces
  • Naval Operations
  • Navy
  • Reconnaissance Aircraft
  • Second World War
  • Transport Ships
  • United States
  • War Colleges

Readers

  • Joint Military Operations and Doctrine.
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering.

Technology Areas

  • Fully Networked C3
  • Fully Networked C3 - Command and Control