Guadalcanal Campaign - Thread 🧵 3/3: #OnThisDay 1942, the Battle of the Savo Island took place between the Imperial Japanese Navy and United States Navy. The US Navy's worst defeat of World War 2 and the first in a series of vicious naval battles for control of Guadalcanal. As soon as American landings on Guadalcanal and nearby Tulagi were reported on August 7th, the newly arrived commander of the Japanese 8th Fleet at Rabaul Vice Admiral Gunichi Mikawa decided to gather his forces and attack the Allied forces with little idea of their strength.

Guadalcanal Campaign - Thread 🧵 2/2: #OnThisDay 1942, having dug in overnight the 1st and 5th Marines were ordered by Major General Vandergrift to move toward the airfield and advance to the Lunga River, Vandergrift himself would personally scout ahead and came under rifle. In the meantime, at the major Japanese base of Rabaul, 27 Bettys equipped with torpedoes and escorted by 15 Zeros took off at 08:00 to attack the US carriers covering the operation, as Japanese reconnaissance aircraft already in the air searched in vain for the US carriers.

Guadalcanal Campaign - Thread 🧵 1/1: #OnThisDay 1942, Japanese personnel on Guadalcanal and nearby Tulagi and Gavutu-Tanambogo awake to a bombardment by Allied cruisers and destroyers targeting suspected Japanese positions on the islands; Operation Watchtower has begun. With the momentous victory at Midway, Commander-in-Chief US Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King wanted to use his still limited forces to take the initiative against the Japanese in the South Pacific, and the Solomons soon became the focus of this first American offensive of the war.

Thread: #OnThisDay 1942 the battle of the Coral Sea will come to a destructive climax. After days of fruitless reconnaissance sweeps and misinformed attacks, by the dead of night the MO Carrier Striking Force and Task Force 17 now know they are agonisingly close to one another. Having captured Rabaul in January 1942, the Imperial Japanese Navy commander in the region Admiral Inoue sought to further Rabaul's defence by capturing Tulagi in the Solomon Islands and Lae, Salamaua and of particular importance Port Moresby on the Papuan Peninsula.

Thread: #OnThisDay 1942 the Battle of the Savo Island took place between the Imperial Japanese Navy and United States Navy. The battle was the US Navy's worst defeat of World War 2 and the first in a series of vicious naval battles for control of the island of Guadalcanal. With the momentous victory at Midway, Commander-in-Chief US Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King has the opportunity to use his still limited forces to take the initiative against the Japanese in the South Pacific, and Guadalcanal soon becomes the focus of this first American offensive.