CARRIER STRIKE
The Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, October 1942
Eric Hammel
The Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, a strategic naval action in the bitter Guadalcanal Campaign, was history’s fourth carrier-versus-carrier naval battle. Though technically a Japanese victory, the battle proved to be Japan’s last serious attempt to win the Pacific War by means of an all-out carrier confrontation. It was during the first four carrier battles—in the six-month period from early May through late October 1942—that the fate of Japan’s small, elite naval air arm was sealed. It was at Coral Sea, in May, that Japan’s juggernaut across the Pacific was blunted. It was at Midway, in June, that Japan’s great carrier fleet was cut down to manageable size. And it was at Eastern Solomons, in August, and Santa Cruz, in October, that Japan’s last best carrier air groups were ground to dust. After their technical victory at Santa Cruz, the Japanese withdrew their carriers from the South Pacific—and were never able to use them again as a strategically decisive weapon. Of the four Japanese aircraft carriers that participated in the Santa Cruz battle, only one survived the war. The Japanese “victory” at Santa Cruz cost Japan her last best hope to win the war in the Pacific. Once Japan’s veteran carrier air groups had been shredded at off Guadalcanal, at Eastern Solomons and Santa Cruz, Japanese carriers ceased to be a strategic weapon.
Carrier Strike is the definitive history of the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands.
