11. Battle of Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, August 1942 – February 1943
The Battle of Guadalcanal was fought on the island of Guadalcanal (and nearby Florida and Tulagi islands) in the skies above it, and in the seas around the Solomon Islands. The United States lost 29 ships during the battle, giving the seas of the slot between Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and Savo Island the name Ironbottom Sound. The marines which landed on Guadalcanal on August 7, 1942 quickly obtained their objective, the capture of an airfield under construction by the Japanese, which they named Henderson Field. The Japanese then began a five month battle to reclaim it, bombarding it with warships for weeks, from the air, and from land based artillery. The battle for the island became one of attrition, with US and Japanese warships engaging in surface actions in daylight and at night.
By the time the Japanese gave up on their efforts to reclaim the airfield, withdrawing their remaining troops from the island in February 1943, 7,100 Americans had died in the battle for the tiny island. Much of the pattern of the Pacific War was developed during the battle; the fierceness of Japanese resistance, the brutality with which the war was to be fought, and the overwhelming significance of air power. American aviators provided close support to the marines engaged in combat on the ground below, and supporting naval gunfire was called in by troops ashore. For nearly all of the troops who fought the battle of Guadalcanal it was their baptism of fire, nearly all had only completed their training in the weeks before the battle. American losses were so heavy that by the end of the battle only one operational aircraft carrier, USS Hornet, remained in the Pacific theater, the others lost or heavily damaged.