The Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands was fought during 25–27 October 1942. It was the fourth aircraft carrier battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II. Allied surface ships retreated from the battle area with the fleet carrier Hornet sunk and another fleet carrier, Enterprise, heavily damaged. The participating Japanese carrier forces also retired because of high aircraft and aircrew losses, plus significant damage to the fleet carriers Shōkaku and the light carrier Zuihō.
About Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands in brief
The Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands was fought during 25–27 October 1942. It was the fourth aircraft carrier battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II. Allied surface ships retreated from the battle area with the fleet carrier Hornet sunk, and another fleet carrier, Enterprise, heavily damaged. The participating Japanese carrier forces also retired because of high aircraft and aircrew losses, plus significant damage to the fleet carriers Shōkaku and the light carrier Zuihō. The battle was a tactical victory and a short-term strategic victory for the Japanese in terms of ships sunk and damaged, and control of the seas around Guadalcanal. However, Japan’s loss of many irreplaceable veteran aircrews proved to be a long- term strategic advantage for the Allies, whose aircrew loses in the battle were relatively low and quickly replaced. The Allies still maintained air superiority over the southern Solomon Islands because of their aircraft based at Henderson Field. The U.S. Navy now had only one operational carrier, Hornet, in the South Pacific. The Allied landings on the islands were meant to deny their use by the Japanese as bases for threatening the supply routes between the U. S. and Australia, and to secure the islands as starting points for a campaign with the eventual goal of neutralizing the major Japanese base at Rabaul while also supporting the Allied New Guinea campaign. The landings initiated the six-month-long Guadal canal campaign.
After the Battle of Eastern Solomons on 24–25 August, in which the fleet. carrier USS Enterprise was heavily damaged and forced to sail to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, for a month of major repairs, three U. s. carrier task forces remained in the. South Pacific area. The task forces were based around the carriers USS Wasp, Saratoga, and Hornet plus their respective air groups and supporting surface warships, including battleships, cruisers, and destroyers. On 31 August, Wasp was torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-26 and was out of action for three months for repairs. On 14 September, Saratoga was hit by three torpedoes fired by I-19 while supporting a major reinforcement and resupply convoy to Guadal Canal. Although Wasp scuttled and abandoned, she was abandoned and abandoned by the Allies because of large damage from torpedo damage, and the ensuing large fires, and she was unable to contain the ensuing fire. The Battle of Santa Cruz was the last major naval action in the Pacific during the war, and ended with the surrender of the Japanese at the end of October 1942, after the Battle for Henderson Field in the Philippines. The United States won the war and the victory over the Japanese ended the stalemate that had existed since September 1942. In the aftermath of the battle, the Allies maintained their air supremacy over the Solomon Islands, and almost a year later, they still maintained a major air base in the area.
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