Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands – Pacific War #49 DOCUMENTARY

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Kings and Generals’ historical animated documentary series covering the Pacific War week by week continues. Last week, we covered the failed third Japanese attempt at retaking the important island of Guadalcanal. The unmitigated disaster that was the Battle for Henderson Field would prove to be the last attempt of the invaders to contest the Americans in what they believed to be the most decisive campaign of the war. Yet at the same time, two American carriers would take on four Japanese carriers in a battle that would decide the fate of the Japanese garrison on this Island of Death. In a theater decided by air power, join us as we delve into the fourth carrier battle of the Pacific War: the crucial Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands.

Pacific War Podcast: https://thepacificwar.podbean.com
#1 – Pearl Harbor: https://youtu.be/ZzS1ZAulpoY
#2 – Japanese Invasion of Malaya: https://youtu.be/mpBGUC8OjE4
#3 – Japanese attack Guam, Wake, the Philippines: https://youtu.be/MZ4d7Qeyivk
#4 – Japan Continues Attacking: Borneo, Philippines: https://youtu.be/MhQrv82HHn8
#5 – Wake Island: https://youtu.be/tgtagewcqKo
#6 – Kampar: https://youtu.be/AGYaghICqkY
#7 – Slim River: https://youtu.be/meWALqmsXxs
#8 – Battle for the Dutch East Indies: https://youtu.be/lBwjgesFsFU
#9 – Invasion of New Britain: https://youtu.be/rUL538i8Oms
#10 – Fall of Malaya: https://youtu.be/z7KaNtn2sFo
#11 – Makassar: https://youtu.be/XJMxr7ED8tI
#12 – Fall of Singapore: https://youtu.be/d_xE4CVG3rY
#13 – Invasion of Sumatra: https://youtu.be/DA2HKaeu8w4
#14 – Invasion of Timor: https://youtu.be/PID0vt52-vY
#15 – Fall of Java: https://youtu.be/QOOJcr2DQSQ
#16 – Fall of Rangoon: https://youtu.be/oyu7z7wQNqg
#17 – US Response to Pearl Harbor: https://youtu.be/z-0liSYA60M
#18 – Tojo: Bringing Japan Into The Pacific War: https://youtu.be/7FO4o-N2fKk
#19 – Japanese Raids in the Indian Ocean: https://youtu.be/E75hxwGbFHE
#20 – Fall of Bataan & The Bataan Death March: https://youtu.be/gZsxpgNwxYc
#21 – Doolittle Raid: https://youtu.be/TTM2HR3Mtyo
#22 – Japanese Advance on Burma Road: https://youtu.be/bdJ_373NyME
#23 – Australia’s Pearl Harbor: https://youtu.be/xXXv18D2wd8
#24 – Battle of the Coral Sea: https://youtu.be/kMX7Y6Njc9A
#25 – Fall of the Philippines: https://youtu.be/AEwH8oQk6H8
#26 – Fall of Burma: https://youtu.be/LyHqNY_p27Y
#27 – Operation Sei-Go: https://youtu.be/6Ta_eum5hdU
#28 – Midway: https://youtu.be/p1qKon2rdzk
#29 – Japanese Invasion of Alaska: https://youtu.be/7ayfLluk-go
#30 – Japanese Attack on Sydney: https://youtu.be/ZnYm7P4Oyis
#31 – MacArthur and the Philippines Disaster: https://youtu.be/XfWAKZdelrk
#32 – Attacks New Guinea: https://youtu.be/D36zkO56bpA
#33 – Biological Warfare in China: https://youtu.be/M4wc_sz6XHc
#34 – Japan Attacks the Continental United States: https://youtu.be/SxI03tn7V8k
#35 – Invasion of Buna-Gona: https://youtu.be/42mm2gUjJzQ
#36 – Kokoda: https://youtu.be/MWan4wEb2Ro
#37 – Invasion of Solomon Islands: https://youtu.be/ro7rgxYeK_8
#38 – Savo Island: https://youtu.be/z_gXrpSCrvM
#39 – Raid on Makin Island: https://youtu.be/QJ3YN-QFYbI
#40 – Battle of Eastern Solomons: https://youtu.be/H28H-mRF0A0
#41 – Isurava: https://youtu.be/AwFkaUBHscY
#42 – Milne Bay: https://youtu.be/7XCNjhdWYaQ
#43 – Bloody Ridge: https://youtu.be/YlHi7kSCzYI
#44 – Ioribaiwa: https://youtu.be/TB4cm_vqWQI
#45 – Matanikau: https://youtu.be/Xg4hwxtoPM8
#46 – Cape Esperance: https://youtu.be/mqfNY45xYjQ
#47 – Kokoda Track Counteroffensive: https://youtu.be/2yteUdJdE_0
#48 – Henderson Field: https://youtu.be/kPqYKZY6Iac

Support us on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/KingsandGenerals or Paypal: http://paypal.me/kingsandgenerals or by joining the youtube membership: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMmaBzfCCwZ2KqaBJjkj0fw/join We are grateful to our patrons and sponsors, who made this video possible: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ooKPbpq0z8ciEjz5Zmrga4-gWRmripm0u4BHMkkXHVc/edit?usp=sharing

Video: Zakuan Musa (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3epmaG-GjZqoTSlbgOwrog)
Script: Ivan Moran, Craig Watson (https://www.youtube.com/c/ThePacificWarChannel)
Narrated: Officially Devin (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU0-VII-V376zFxiRGMeZGg & https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC79s7EdN9uXX77-Ly2HmEjQ)

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Production Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound: http://www.epidemicsound.com

#Documentary #PacificWar #WorldWar

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40 thoughts on “Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands – Pacific War #49 DOCUMENTARY”

  3. I’m really glad you are doing this series. Every video reminds me how glad I am to have never been on any of these islands during war. As fun as getting shot while having dysentery seems. I feel like every Marines nightmare starts with a boat ride to SE Asia.

    Reply

  4. 14:25 The fact that the Japanese carrier took 4 hits yet did not blow up like the ones at Midway did, indicates that the Japanese damage control parties were learning lessons too.
    (or that those hits were really unlucky?)

    US damage control was still better and more serious/determined — but it seems less one-sided than popular/stereotypical history likes to remember 🙃

    Reply

  7. The history I heard was that the radar boys WERE detecting the IJN as they came in.
    BUT.
    The air controller didn't have enough bandwidth to contact the CAP.
    He was on one frequency — the same as all the pilots.
    When everyone began yelling at once — direction broke down.
    Worse, the air director kept using vectors based on where HE was.
    With all of the motion, the pilots could no longer figure out who was where.
    Prior exercises never revealed the flaws in the USN doctrine.
    The epic error: holding at 10,000 feet. What a boner.
    For the period, there was no substitute for altitude superiority.
    It took minutes to rise 6,000 feet… even in fighter planes.

    Reply

  9. Kinkaid's decision to abandon the Hornet would later be harshly second-guessed by Halsey. On the eve of the Battle of Tassafaronga, Kinkaid was reassigned and the inexperienced Carleton Wright took command of TF 67, with disastrous consequences.

    Ironically, on the two-year anniversary of Santa Cruz and at the most critical moment of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, Haisey would lead TF 38 and TF 34 northwards in pursuit of Ozawa's decoy carrier force and leave Kinkaid and Seventh Fleet to fend for themselves against Kurita's Center Force bearing down from San Bernardino Strait. A reckless decision by Halsey that would have led to utter catastrophe had it not been for the heroism of Taffy 3.

    Reply

  13. • Rise and Fall of Indian, Indonesian
    Or Indochinese Empires (eg Chandragupta, Khmer, Thai, Champa, Sri Lanka, Madagaskar, Indus Valley, Arian Conquest/Rigveda,White Huns, Tamil Empires,…)

    • East Asia (eg First Chinese Kingdoms, Tibetan Kingdoms, Korean Kingdoms…)

    • Rise and Fall of African Empires (eg Ghana, Songai, Zulu, Great Zimbabwe, Madagascar, Tuareg)

    • Pre-Columbian Empires (eg. Olmecs, Maya, Aztec, Inka and Others, Irokese League, Mississippi Civilization…)

    • Spanish/Britisch/Portugiese/Durch Global Empires

    • Post-Columbian Independence
    (Bolivar, Marti, Mexican Civil Wars, Middle America 18-20th centuries, Pirates etc.)

    • Conquest of New Zeeland against Maori

    • Polynesian Conquest of Pacific Ocean (egm Tonga Empire, Hawaian Empire)

    • East Africa (eg. Oman Empire, Ethiopia, Sheba Empire, Nabateans…)

    • Full History of Egypt from First Cities until Persian or Greek Conquest)

    • More Greek Wars (eg Conquest of the Mediterrane Sea, Ioanic Conquest of Little Asia, and of Libia and South Italy, Messinian Wars, Chalcis vs. Eritrea, Sacred wars, Penepolese Wars, Diadochi Wars, Indo-Greek Kingdoms, Greek Mythology Like Troy and Amazons)

    • Old Europe Civilisations and Indoeuropean Conquest

    • Germanic Conquest of Roman Empires

    • Choresmian Kingdom

    • History of Georgia, Armenia, Albania, Baltic Kingdoms (eg Lithuanian Empire)

    • Skythians, Sarmatians, Awars, Petshenegs, Huns and other Steppe Kingdoms)

    • Ioanian Conquest of Little Asia

    • Middle East (eg. Pre-egyptian Levante, Mari, Summer, Guti, Akkad, Elam, Medes, Hetites, Lydians, Phrygians, Uratu, …)

    • History’s Oldest Kings known by name and deed

    Reply

  14. Correction- Halsey ordered the Hornet scuttled. But she wouldn't go down. The IJN captured the dead ship. Determined it wasn't worth the risk to tow it back as a prize. And scuttled it. Yorktown class….. built to fight and die hard.

    Reply

  16. There have been 6 battles in World War II where Carriers were at opposing sides, all but 1 of them in the Pacific.

    Coral Sea, 1942
    Indian Ocean Raid, 1942
    Midway, 1942
    Eastern Solomons, 1942
    Santa Cruz Islands, 1942
    Philippine Sea 1944, a.k.a. "The Marianas Turkey Shoot"

    Of these 6 Carrier Duels, 3 of them have been in the same region in the South Pacific: Coral Sea, Eastern Solomons, Santa Cruz Islands.
    Very heavy air and naval action in this part of the world in WWII.

    Santa Cruz Islands was a "must critically win" battle for the Imperial Japanese Navy. They knew the Essex-class carriers would start being commissioned very soon. Essex herself would commission in December 1942, and her sisters will slowly start entering service. Another would enter service in February 1943, and April 1943. By April 1943, the US Navy would have 3 new Essex-class, along with new planes (Hellcats) that will enter service. It will take time for training up their crews and assigned air groups. Essex would see her first combat in the Pacific with a raid on Wake Island in May 1943. So in the months after, the tidal wave of the Essex-class would hit hard.

    The IJN desperately needed to sink both Enterprise and Hornet, while still preserving their own Carriers. They basically needed to hit a baseball Grand Slam for this battle. IF they could do it, their 2 Fleet Carriers of the Shokaku-class and several Light Carriers would have superiority until the Essex-class started arriving in strength in mid-1943. Before the Essex-class Tidal Wave, the IJN would have to only deal with Saratoga.

    But Enterprise survived. Shokaku herself was badly damaged. Just as bad for the IJN, they suffered horrific aircrew losses in this battle, losing more of their ever dwindling pre and early war experienced pilots. They could never replace that experience. The losses would be so heavy that the IJN would not sortie their carriers again with full air groups until 1944. Even then, the quality of those aircrews in 1944 were a pale shadow of the ones from 1941-1942. These are the guys that get butchered in the "Marianas Turkey Shoot" against seasoned, well trained US Navy pilots.

    Reply

  18. Regarding the anti-aircraft gunfire the Japanese aircrews faced in this battle, wikipedia has some interesting bits about it on their page for this engagement.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Santa_Cruz_Islands

    Between 1140am and 2pm, the two undamaged Japanese carriers, Zuikaku and Jun'yō, recovered the few aircraft that returned from the morning strikes on Hornet and Enterprise and prepared follow-up strikes. It was now that the devastating losses sustained during these attacks became apparent. Lt. Cmdr. Masatake Okumiya, Jun'yō's air staff officer, described the return of the carrier's first strike groups:

    "We searched the sky with apprehension. There were only a few planes in the air in comparison with the numbers launched several hours before… The planes lurched and staggered onto the deck, every single fighter and bomber bullet holed … As the pilots climbed wearily from their cramped cockpits, they told of unbelievable opposition, of skies choked with antiaircraft shell bursts and tracers."

    Only one of Jun'yō's bomber leaders returned from the first strike, and upon landing he appeared "so shaken that at times he could not speak coherently".

    Reply

  28. I recently started watching this series. I understand that in Japanese they say the surname first but in English we say it last. Being pedantic and switching it up on all of the graphics is really unnecessary. I keep looking back multiple times at the graphics because the names are backwards and I'm thinking I'm reading something wrong. Just speaking for myself, I'm finding it really annoying. I wish you would have written them like the rest of the English-speaking world does.

    Reply

  35. For Japan, The Battle of The Santa Cruz Islands was the victory that would cost them the war! Before the battle the Japanese held naval superiority; after the battle they were unable to mount another major decisive naval attack and the American's advantage only continued to improve!

    Reply

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