The Battle of Rennell Island took place on 29–30 January 1943. It was the last major naval engagement between the United States Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Guadalcanal Campaign of World War II. Japanese naval land-based torpedo bombers made several attacks over two days on U.S. warships operating as a task force. The Japanese successfully evacuated their remaining troops from Guadal canal by 7 February 1943, leaving it in the hands of the Allies and ending the battle for the island.
About Battle of Rennell Island in brief
The Battle of Rennell Island took place on 29–30 January 1943. It was the last major naval engagement between the United States Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Guadalcanal Campaign of World War II. Japanese naval land-based torpedo bombers made several attacks over two days on U.S. warships operating as a task force. As a result of the Japanese air attacks on the task force, one U. S. heavy cruiser was sunk, a destroyer was heavily damaged, and the rest of the U. S. task force was forced to retreat from the southern Solomons area. The Japanese successfully evacuated their remaining troops from Guadal canal by 7 February 1943, leaving it in the hands of the Allies and ending the battle for the island. The landings on the islands were meant to deny their use by the Japanese as bases for threatening the supply routes between the US and Australia. They were also intended to secure the islands as starting points for a campaign with the eventual goal of isolating the major Japanese base at Rabaul while also supporting the Allied New Guinea campaign. On 7 August 1942, Allied forces, consisting primarily of U. s. troops, landed on Guadal Canal, Tulagi, and Florida Islands in the Solomon Islands. Thereafter, the Japanese Navy was able to deliver only subsistence supplies and a few replacement troops to Japanese Army forces on Guadelcanal.
Because of the threat from Allied aircraft based at Henderson Field, plus nearby aircraft carriers, theJapanese delivered these supplies at night, usually by destroyer or submarine, in operations the Allies called theTokyo Express. On 31 December 1942, the Imperial General Headquarters, with approval from the Emperor, agreed to evacuate all Japanese forces from the island and establish a new line of defense for the Solomon on New Georgia. The evacuation was code-named Operation Ke, and was scheduled to begin on 14 January 1943, but Allied forces misinterpreted the Ke preparations as the beginning of another Japanese offensive to try to retake GuadalCanal. At the same time, Admiral William Halsey Jr., the Allied theatre commander, was under pressure from his superiors to complete the replacement of the 2nd Marine Regiment, which had been in combat on Guabalcanal since August, with fresh U. S. Army troops. On 29 January 1943 he sent five task forces toward the southernSolomons region to cover relief convoy and any Japanese naval forces that came into range. Leading this array of task forces was Task Group 62, which was commanded by Rear Admiral Robert C iffen’s Task Force 18. It included two carriers, three cruisers, and destroyers; four destroyers, four transports and eight transports.
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This page is based on the article Battle of Rennell Island published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 08, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
