Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands
Part of the Guadalcanal Campaign of World War II
USS Enterprise (center left) and her screening ships during the battle, 26 October 1942
Date 25–27 October 1942 Location Off the Santa Cruz Islands, Pacific Ocean 8°S 164°E / 8°S 164°E / -8; 164 Result Japanese pyrrhic victory
Belligerents
United States	Japan
Commanders and leaders
William Halsey Thomas C. Kinkaid George Murray Charles P. Mason	Nobutake Kondō Chūichi Nagumo Hiroaki Abe Kakuji Kakuta
Strength
2 fleet carriers 1 battleship 3 heavy cruisers 3 light cruisers 14 destroyers 136 aircraft[1]	2 fleet carriers 2 light carriers 4 battleships[2] 8 heavy cruisers 2 light cruisers 24 destroyers 199 aircraft[3]
Casualties and losses
266 killed[4] 1 fleet carrier sunk 1 destroyer sunk 1 fleet carrier damaged 1 battleship damaged 1 light cruiser damaged 2 destroyers damaged 81 aircraft destroyed 26 Pilots and Aircrew Members Killed	400–500 killed[5] 1 fleet carrier heavily damaged 1 light carrier heavily damaged 1 heavy cruiser damaged 1 destroyer damaged 99 aircraft destroyed 148 Pilots and Aircrew Members Killed
class=notpageimage| Location within Pacific Ocean

The Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, fought during 25–27 October 1942, sometimes referred to as the Battle of Santa Cruz or Third Battle of Solomon Sea, in Japan as the Battle of the South Pacific (Japanese: 南太平洋海戦 Minamitaiheiyō kaisen), was the fourth aircraft carrier battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II. It was also the fourth major naval engagement fought between the United States Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy during the lengthy and strategically important Guadalcanal campaign. As in the battles of the Coral Sea, Midway, and the Eastern Solomons, the ships of the two adversaries were rarely in sight or gun range of each other. Instead, almost all attacks by both sides were mounted by carrier- or land-based aircraft.

In an attempt to drive Allied forces from Guadalcanal and nearby islands and end the stalemate that had existed since September 1942, the Imperial Japanese Army planned a major ground offensive on Guadalcanal for 20–25 October 1942. In support of this offensive, and with the hope of engaging Allied naval forces, Japanese carriers and other large warships moved into a position near the southern Solomon Islands. From this location, the Japanese naval forces hoped to engage and decisively defeat any Allied (primarily U.S.) naval forces, especially carrier forces, that responded to the ground offensive. Allied naval forces also hoped to meet the Japanese naval forces in battle, with the same objectives of breaking the stalemate and decisively defeating their adversary.

The Japanese ground offensive on Guadalcanal was underway with the Battle for Henderson Field while the naval warships and aircraft from the two adversaries confronted each other on the morning of 26 October 1942, just north of the Santa Cruz Islands. After an exchange of carrier air attacks, Allied surface ships retreated from the battle area with the fleet carrier Hornet sunk, and another fleet carrier, Enterprise, heavily damaged. The participating Japanese carrier forces also retired because of the Japanese army’s failure to capture Henderson Field.

Santa Cruz was a tactical victory for the Japanese in terms of both tonnage and control of the seas around Guadalcanal. However, Japan's loss of many irreplaceable veteran aircrews proved to be a long-term strategic advantage for the Allies, whose aircrew losses in the battle were relatively low and were quickly replaced. The Japanese had hoped for, and needed, a larger, decisive victory. The fact that the naval battle was won just after the land battle was lost meant that the opportunity to exploit their victory in the battle had already passed.