Battle of the Eastern Solomons
At 1300 the Japanese carrier Ryujo launches 15 Zeros and 6 Betty bombers to attack Henderson Field. The marines on Guadalcanal have been alerted of the Japanese planes by a coastwatcher. At 1420 14 F4Fs of the Cactus Air Force are in the air. The Japanese bombers come in at 9,000 feet and the F4Fs dive down to catch them. Capt Marion Carl shoots down 2 torpedo planes and 1 Zero, but 3 F4Fs fall to the Zeros. Henderson Field is hit by a few of the bombers that get through. The Japanese head back for their carrier. About 1600 as the Japanese carrier is about the launch planes for combat air patrol, planes from the Saratoga arrive to attack the carrier. In this group are a combination of dive bombers and torpedo planes. Cmdr Harry D. Felt leads them in. The bombers score several hits on the Ryujo near the stern, and a 1,000-pound armor-piercing bombs goes through the flight deck. Within 10 minutes the carrier has fires burning uncontrollably and is listing to starboard. Several American planes attack the cruiser Tone and some of the destroyers in escort, but no hits are made. The destroyers Amatsukaze and Tokitsukaze and the cruiser Tone help evacuate the crew or pick them up from the water and the planes' pilots who had to ditch because they could not land. The Ryujo sinks in the evening.
During the afternoon the combat air patrol of the Saratoga shoots down 3 Japanese 'snoopers', but the last from the cruiser Chikuma of the combined fleet manages to get off a message reporting the position of the American carriers. Adm Nagumo, in command of the 3rd Fleet and of the carrier striking force, in an attempt to make up for Midway, launches an attack from the carriers Zuikaku and Shokaku - 27 bombers and 10 Zeros. 2 Search planes from the Enterprise next discover the Shokaku and drop 500-pound bombs which do no damage although they claim one hit. Fletcher, learning of the position of the 2 Japanese carriers, has no planes with which to launch attack, so he concentrates on defense. At 1625 the first Japanese attack group finds a group of American planes heading home and follows them back to the American carriers. Discovering Japanese planes on radar 20 minutes earlier, 53 planes are sent out from the carriers to attack the Japanese bombers.
At the same time the Enterprise launches 11 bombers and 7 torpedo bombers to strike the enemy ships. The Saratoga also launches 5 torpedo bombers and 2 dive bombers to join up with the others. Just after 1700 the Japanese begin their attack. Most of the planes target the Enterprise but several go after the North Carolina. The volume of antiaircraft fire from the American ships is tremendous. The Enterprise first takes a near miss which damages the after end of the flight deck. Then 2 more bombers score hits near the No 3 elevator killing more than 70 sailors. Capt Arthur C Davis increases the speed of Enterprise to 30 knots in an effort to escape the Japanese attackers. Capt George H. Fort of the North Carolina estimates that 16 dive bombers, 12 level bomber and 8 torpedo planes attack his ship. Only 3 make it through the antiaircraft barrage with near misses. The Japanese bombers (Aichi-99 dive bombers and Nakajima-97 torpedo bombers) get through the fighter screen because for every American fighter that attacked a Japanese bomber 1 or 2 Zeros are immediately after him. The Japanese attack is over in 4 minutes. The enemy turns back toward their carriers. 4 Japanese dive bombers encounter 10 American dive bombers returning from their strike on the Ryujo and the American rear gunners shoot down 3. Of the first attack's 10 fighters and 27 bombers, 6 fighters and 18 bombers were lost.
The planes from Enterprise never find the enemy carriers. Those from Saratoga find Adm Kondo's main group of surface ships north of the Stewart Islands. The 5 torpedo planes attack first but the ships evade the torpedoes. The seaplane tender Chitose is bracketed by near misses from the other 2 and suffers some damage, but manages to make it back to Truk.
The Americans lose 20 planes but 7 of their crews are rescued. Repairs are quickly made aboard the Enterprise and within an hour of the bombing she is steaming at 24 knots. 74 men have been killed and another 95 wounded.
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