Battle of the Eastern Solomons

Overview

The naval Battle of the Eastern Solomons took place on 24–25 August 1942 and was the third carrier battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II and the second major engagement fought between the United States Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the Guadalcanal campaign. As at the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway, the ships of the two adversaries were never within sight of each other. Instead, all attacks were carried out by carrier-based or land-based aircraft.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

The Battle of the Eastern Solomons was the third carrier battle of the Pacific campaign and the second major naval engagement of the Guadalcanal campaign. Like the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway before it, the opposing surface forces never came within sight of one another; the entire engagement was conducted through carrier-based and land-based aircraft. This pattern confirmed that carrier aviation had displaced the gun-armed surface fleet as the decisive instrument of Pacific naval warfare. Within the Guadalcanal campaign specifically, the battle was part of the sustained contest between the U.S. Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy to control the waters around the island and determine which side could reinforce and supply its ground forces. Japanese casualties reached 290, reflecting the cost of projecting naval air power in that contested theater.

Forces & casualties

Commanders (7)