After the great victory despite the poor circumstances (inferior force + being surprised by the enemy + bogged down by supplies), Rear Admiral Raizo Tanaka got sacked and reassigned to shore duty one month after the battle. Way to go IJN, you are the USN's greatest ally.
After the great victory despite the poor circumstances (inferior force + being surprised by the enemy + bogged down by supplies), Rear Admiral Raizo Tanaka got sacked and reassigned to shore duty one month after the battle. Way to go IJN, you are the USN's greatest ally.
To be fair, though Tanaka won a crushing victory in the tactical battle, he lost on a strategic level. The supplies never got through to Guadalcanal, and the IJA starved. If this pool went further through history, the next few pages would consist of Tanaka getting wrecked by PT imp groups in sight of starving IJA soldiers.
After this battle, the American Admiral claimed to have sunk four Japanese destroyers. Takada claimed he sunk a battleship and two cruisers at this battle. So both sides claimed to inflict about four times more damage than they actually had.
To be fair, though Tanaka won a crushing victory in the tactical battle, he lost on a strategic level. The supplies never got through to Guadalcanal, and the IJA starved. If this pool went further through history, the next few pages would consist of Tanaka getting wrecked by PT imp groups in sight of starving IJA soldiers.
After this battle, the American Admiral claimed to have sunk four Japanese destroyers. Takada claimed he sunk a battleship and two cruisers at this battle. So both sides claimed to inflict about four times more damage than they actually had.
Once the Japanese were detected, there was no way the supplies could be delivered. The destroyer-transports carried the supplies at the expense of their torpedo reloads, meaning had they continued with their mission, they would have to unload their supplies near the waters of a fully alerted enemy without their primary weapon to defend themselves with. The American destroyers were unharmed, and their radar-directed gunfire would give them the advantage in a night gun engagement. PT boats and aircraft from Henderson could easily sink the food drums now that they knew the Japanese destroyers' intentions.
It wouldn't be fair to blame Tanaka for the ultimate defeat at Guadalcanal. In fact, his protests about how the war was being fought in Guadalcanal led to his reassignment. Given the circumstances this result was about the best he could have achieved.
