test please delete

[DS23]

make that 78.

[The Lone Gunman]

Has SAS noticed he missed 11K yet? He can't seem to do anything right can he.

[DS23]

don't think so and don't think so

[cykophysh39]

Jumping crickety Cricke!!
This thread is moving at a rate of knots!!

Who else has got the same boring job as zeity??

[Moscow Mule]

The Battle of Savo Island, also known as the First Battle of Savo Island and, in Japanese sources, as the First Battle of the Solomon Sea (第一次ソロモン海戦), took place August 8–August 9, 1942. It was a naval battle of the Pacific Campaign of World War II, between the Imperial Japanese Navy and Allied naval forces. The battle was the first of five major naval engagements of the Guadalcanal campaign. The battle was so one sided, Allied eyewitnesses called it "The Battle of the Five Sitting Ducks," referring to the five involved cruisers, all of which were sunk or badly damaged.

[Moscow Mule]

In the battle, a Japanese warship task force surprised and routed the Allied naval force, sinking one Australian and three American cruisers, while taking only moderate damage in return. The Japanese force consisted of seven cruisers and one destroyer, commanded by Vice Admiral Gunichi Mikawa. In response to Allied amphibious landings in the eastern Solomon Islands, Mikawa brought his task force down "the Slot" to attack the Allied amphibious fleet and its screening force. The screening force consisted of eight cruisers and fifteen destroyers, commanded by British Rear Admiral Victor Crutchley, but only five cruisers and seven destroyers were actually involved in the battle.

[Moscow Mule]

As a result of the defeat, the remaining Allied warships and the amphibious force withdrew from the Solomon Islands. This temporarily conceded control of the seas around Guadalcanal to the Japanese. Allied ground forces had landed on Guadalcanal and nearby islands only the day before. The withdrawal of the fleet left them in a precarious situation, with barely enough supplies, equipment, and food to hold their beachhead.

[Moscow Mule]

On August 7, 1942, Allied forces (primarily U.S. Marines) landed on Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and Florida Island in the eastern Solomon Islands. The landings were meant to deny their use to the Japanese as bases. From the eastern Solomons, Japanese forces threatened the supply routes between the U.S. and Australia. The Allies also wanted to use the islands as starting points for a campaign to recapture the Solomons, isolate the major Japanese base at Rabaul, and support the Allied New Guinea campaign. The landings initiated the six-month-long Battle of Guadalcanal.[6]

[Moscow Mule]

The overall commander of Allied naval forces in the Guadalcanal and Tulagi operation was U.S. Vice Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher. He also commanded the carrier task groups providing air cover. U.S. Rear Admiral Richmond K. Turner commanded the amphibious fleet that delivered the 16,000 Allied troops to Guadalcanal and Tulagi.[7] Also under Turner was British Admiral Victor Crutchley's screening force of eight cruisers, fifteen destroyers, and five minesweepers. This force was to protect Turner's "amphibs" and provide gunfire support for the landings. Most of Crutchley's ships were American, but he used HMAS Australia as his flagship.[8]

[Moscow Mule]

The Allied landings took the Japanese by surprise. The Allies secured Tulagi, nearby islets Gavutu and Tanambogo, and the airfield under construction on Guadalcanal by nightfall on August 8.[9] On August 7 and August 8, Japanese aircraft based at Rabaul attacked the Allied amphibious forces several times, setting afire the U.S. transport ship George F. Elliot (which sank later) and heavily damaging the destroyer USS Jarvis.[10] In these air attacks, the Japanese lost 36 aircraft, while the U.S. lost 19 aircraft, including 14 carrier fighter aircraft.[11]