Thursday, August 9, 2012

Seventy Years Ago: Battle Of Savo Island

The Japanese were caught completely by surprise when the US invasion force showed up at Guadalcanal snd put marines ashore the morning of August 7, 1942. Their first reaction was to launch air attacks, but the distance from shore bases to Guadalcanal rendered the attacks ineffective. Admiral Fletcher's force of three aircraft carriers, supported by five fleet oilers, the battleship North Carolina and a number of smaller escorts, provided a substantial advantage. For the first two days of the invasion, the Japanese lost twice as many aircraft as the Americans.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/SavoMikawaApproach.jpg

Japanese Admiral Mikawa, 8th Fleet Commander, quickly organized a counterattack. He departed Kavieng at the NW end of New Ireland the afternoon of August 7th with heavy cruisers Aoba, Furutaka, Kako and Kinugasa, joined near sunset by heavy cruiser Chokai, light cruisers Tenryu and Yubari and destroyer Yanagi. Concerned by the presence of American aircraft carriers, Mikawa paused off Bouganville from dawn until noon, August 8 ("B") and then proceeded down The Slot towards Savo Island and Guadalcanal, sighting the U.S. destroyer Blue at 00:54 on August 9 ("C"). Source: Morison, Struggle for Guadalcanal, p. 21.


An allied screening force of six heavy cruisers and six destroyers in two groups covering both western approaches to Savo Sound.  Radar picket destroyers Blue (DD-387) and Ralph Talbot (DD-390) deployed west of Savo Island. The south passage was defended by HMAS Australia (flagship of RAdm Crutchley, RN), HMAS Canberra, USS Chicago (CA-29), Bagley (DD-386) and Patterson (DD-392). The northern group was made up of Vincennes (CA-44), Quincy (CA-39), Astoria (CA-34) and destroyers Helm (DD-391) and Wilson (DD-408).  The eastern approaches also had a screening force, made up of light cruisers San Juan (CL-54  flag), HMAS Hobart, and destroyers Monssen (DD-436) and Buchanan (DD-484).


The IJN 8th fleet of fast cruisers were spotted during their passage by US Submarine S-38, as well as by at least one Australian Hudson patrol aircraft. They arrived the second night and met the US screening force for the Battle of Savo Island.   At the same time, the three US carriers and their escorts, including North Carolina (BB-55), six cruisers, and 16 destroyers, were withdrawing to get out of reach of land-based bombers from Rabaul.

The enemy cruiser force launched scout floatplanes that reported the American forces.  Both radar picket ships (radar range about 10 miles) were at the extreme ends of their patrols sailing away from the Japanese fleet which passed undetected about 500 yards from Blue.  The enemy was screened by the visual and radar shadow of nearby Savo Island.  The enemy discovered the southern force and fired torpedoes before they were detected. Simultaneously with the explosions, the scout plane dropped flares illuminating the allied fleet.  Canberra was struck by two torpedoes and heavy shelling.  The US ships fired star shells and opened fire.  Chicago of the southern force was torpedoed.

The allied force thought the torpedoes were fired by submarines, as they saw no surface ships within torpedo firing range. Even this late in the war, American forces were unaware of the Japanese type 93 "Long Lance" torpedo, which had three times the range of similar sized US torpedoes and a heavier warhead. A second advantage of the Japanese force is that, though they had no sipboard radar at the time, they had superb optical systems and IJN ships had been well trained for night operations. 

The Japanese force turned north in two columns.  The northern defense force had not gotten the word, there was a rain squall in the area, and they assumed the southern force was shooting at aircraft.  The two Japanese columns passed on each side of the US force and opened fire on Astoria, Quincy, and Vincennes.  The American captains ordered "cease fire" assuming they were Americans firing on their own ships.  Vincennes caught a torpedo.  Robert Talbot came charging south and was attacked first by friendly fire and then raked by the enemy escaping to the north.  Quincy and Vincennes went down.  During rescue operations for Canberra, Patterson was fired on by ChicagoCanberra was sunk the next morning to prevent capture as the US fleet left the waters that was hereafter called Iron Bottom Sound.  Astoria sank about noon while under tow.  Chicago had to undergo repair until Jan'43.

In just 32 minutes the Japanese navy had inflicted massive damage on the allied force.   Four heavy cruisers were sunk and a heavy cruiser and destroyer badly damaged.  1,270 men were killed and 708 injured.   The enemy suffered light damage to three cruisers.

The Japanese force, worried about carrier air attack, withdrew before dawn without attacking the cargo ships remaining at Guadalcanal. 

As far as the US Navy went, involvement in the disaster at Savo Island and other shortcomings of the Guadalcanal operation was not in general a "career-enhancing" experience. Admirals Ghormley and Fletcher were transferred to other, less-demanding assignments not long afterward. Ghormley was replaced by Halsey, and things picked up greatly in the Guadalcanal campaign.

Only Richmond Kelly Turner, of the senior officers, survived seemingly unscathed. He later offered a self-serving explanation of the ignominious defeat of the surface forces under his command:

"The (U.S.) Navy was still obsessed with a strong feeling of technical and mental superiority over the enemy. In spite of ample evidence as to enemy capabilities, most of our officers and men despised the enemy and felt themselves sure victors in all encounters under any circumstances. The net result of all this was a fatal lethargy of mind which induced a confidence without readiness, and a routine acceptance of outworn peacetime standards of conduct. I believe that this psychological factor, as a cause of our defeat, was even more important than the element of surprise."

It was Richmond Kelly Turner who was most immediately responsible for insuring the readiness of the invasion force.





Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Seventy Years Ago: Guadalcanal, Day 2

The 11,000 marines landing on Guadalcanal encountered no initial Japanese opposition. The marine force was made up mostly of recruits fresh from military training, equipped with old bolt-action (1903 Springfield) rifles.

Because of the desire to get the force into action quickly, logistics planners loaded the ships with only 60 days worth of supplies instead of 90 days. Marines began referring to the invasion as "Operation Shoestring." Even worse, unloading supplies on the beach and transporting them to supply dumps was taking longer than expected.

Marines fighting on Tulagi and two other small islands, unlike Guadalcanal itself, encountered fierce Japanese defenses. Japanese aircraft from Rabaul attacked the landing force during the first two days of the invasion. Japan lost 36 aircraft. Admiral Fletcher's force lost 19, including fourteen fighters.

In a still controversial move, on August 8th Admiral Fletcher, possibly thinking things were going smoothly on the beaches, withdrew the three carriers providing air support for the invasion, leaving Admiral Turner helpless against any further Japanese air attacks.

The air strip under construction by Japan, which the marines renamed Henderson Field, would not be able to operate aircraft for almost two weeks.

In the meantime, Admiral Turner tried to unload his transport ships before leaving the area, but by the morning of August 9, had unloaded less than half of the supplies the ships carried. Five days worth of food had been landed from the transports, which, along with captured Japanese provisions, gave the Marines a total of 14 days worth of food. To conserve supplies, the troops were limited to two meals per day.

Marines referred to the departure of Fletcher and Turner as the "great Navy Bug-out."

That night things got worse.


Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Cox v. Town Of Oriental

Some readers are aware that I filed an appeal last Thursday to the closing by the Town of Oriental of Avenue A on July 3 after a public hearing.

I filed the appeal within the statutory deadline of thirty days following the permanent closing of the street. A civil summons notifying the town of the appeal and providing a copy was served on Mayor Sage Monday morning about ten o'clock.

The mayor transmitted the appeal to Mr. Scott Davis, the Town Attorney, and to the town's insurance carrier.

Anyone who wishes to read a copy of the appeal will find a link on the home page of TownDock.net. I think the appeal speaks for itself.

Seventy Years Ago: Guadalcanal

The morning of August 7, 1942, an invasion force of 48 ships under Rear Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner rounded Cape Esperance and Savo Island in the southern Solomons and bombarded Japanese targets on Guadalcanal, Tulagi and Florida Islands. Bad weather had concealed the force from the Japanese, who were caught completely by surprise.

A supporting force of three US Carriers (Saratoga, Enterprise and Wasp) and the battleship North Carolina, under command of Vice Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher, stood offshore and attacked Japanese objectives with carrier aircraft. After the bombardment, 14,000 marines under Major General Vandegrift went ashore on Tulagi and Guadalcanal in the largest US amphibious operation undertaken up to that time. The principal objective: an air base under construction by the Japanese at Lunga Point on the north shore of Guadalcanal.

The US land offensive had begun.



Monday, August 6, 2012

To Arms!

Yesterday's shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, like the killings in Aurora, Colorado over a week ago, inevitably raise questions of the Second Amendment. The discussion these days invariably misrepresents the Second Amendment, takes it out of its historical context and leads the discussion into paths that need not be followed.

The Second Amendment was really the anti-Redcoat provision. Written less than fifteen years after the "shot heard round the world," the object really was to insure the United States would not have a large standing army. The revolutionists believed standing armies were destructive of freedom. The unstated, but clear presumption, was that militias under state control could defend against a small standing federal force, should it be necessary.

Justice Antonin Scalia proudly claims to be an "originalist," meaning judicial decisions should be informed by the original meaning of words in a law or constitution.

Two Sundays ago on Fox News Sunday, Justice Scalia revealed his ignorance of historic terms of art in the profession of arms and his superficial grasp of original meaning. The interviewer, Chris Wallace, asked Justice Scalia about the Second Amendment in light of the mass killings in Aurora, Colorado. Could there be any limits on the right to bear arms? Wallace asked. Scalia answered that, if a weapon can be hand-held, it probably still falls under the right to “bear arms”:

WALLACE: What about… a weapon that can fire a hundred shots in a minute?
SCALIA: We’ll see. Obviously the Amendment does not apply to arms that cannot be hand-carried — it’s to keep and “bear,” so it doesn’t apply to cannons — but I suppose here are hand-held rocket launchers that can bring down airplanes, that will have to be decided.
WALLACE: How do you decide that if you’re a textualist?
SCALIA: Very carefully.
Obviously?

Obviously Antonin Scalia has never borne arms. To bear arms is a term of art, ancient in origin, which means "to serve in the armed forces." Military personnel keep and bear arms. The term is not limited to arms a person can carry. Legally, under the International Traffic In Arms (ITAR) regulations, the term can apply to items not normally thought of as arms, like encryption programs. To "keep arms" does not mean to have in one's possession. It means to maintain in good order, as for example a lighthouse keeper does for a lighthouse.

These are things the average person understood in 1789.

Some definitions:

"arms [ɑːmz]pl n
1. (Military / Firearms, Gunnery, Ordnance & Artillery) weapons collectively See also small arms
2. (Military) military exploits prowess in arms
3. (History / Heraldry) the official heraldic symbols of a family, state, etc., including a shield with distinctive devices, and often supports, a crest, or other insignia
bear arms
a.  (Military) to carry weapons
b.  (Military) to serve in the armed forces
c.  (History / Heraldry) to have a coat of arms
(Military)
in or under arms armed and prepared for war
(Military)
lay down one's arms to stop fighting; surrender
(Military)
present arms Military
a.  a position of salute in which the rifle is brought up to a position vertically in line with the body, muzzle uppermost and trigger guard to the fore
b.  the command for this drill
(Military)
take (up) arms to prepare to fight
to arms! arm yourselves!
up in arms indignant; prepared to protest strongly"

Civilians do not bear arms - soldiers and sailors do.

To bear arms includes to equip one's force with or operate any kind of  weapon, including: sword, spear, pike, rifle, pistol, howitzer, bomb, torpedo, airplane, tank, warship, even military trucks, jeeps, or other logistical equipment for military uses.


On a linguistic note, I wonder if Scalia's native tongue is English.  In English (and Judges are expected to be very careful with language), there is a vast difference between "people" and "the people." "People" can refer to a collection of individuals - "people like football," for example. "The people" is always a collective noun and never refers to individuals. The drafters of our constitution invariably used the word "persons" when they referred to an individual right, though "people" might have also served the purpose. So when the drafters of the Second Amendment wrote "the right of the people to keep and bear arms," as a matter of language, they were not referring to an individual right.

Scalia's insistence that the Second Amendment confers an individual right to keep and bear arms is deficient as a matter of English grammar, reflects an inaccurate understanding of original meaning, and presents him with a logical dilemma, because he apparently recognizes that there must be some limits.

But he is wrong about cannon (and also ships, planes, rockets, bombs, torpedoes, missiles, etc.). They are all arms, and the people who maintain and operate them are engaged in keeping and bearing arms.

Which neither Antonin Scalia nor any other sitting Justice has ever done.

Why Is It So Hot In Oklahoma?

In case you were wondering about the heat in Oklahoma and in Texas, here's a link to a Washington Post article that explains: 

Climate change is here — and worse than we thought

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Wind Comes Sweeping Down The (Very Hot) Plains

My home state of Oklahoma has become a very hot, very windy, convection oven. Here's the report from Weather Underground's Dr. Jeff Masters:

"Historic heat wave in Oklahoma
A second day of destructive fires affected Oklahoma on Saturday, thanks to extreme heat and drought, low humidities, and strong winds in advance of an approaching cold front. At 3 pm CDT Saturday, Oklahoma City had a temperature of 107°, a humidity of 19%, and winds of 16 mph gusting to 22 mph. The Oklahoma fires have destroyed at least 125 homes. The high temperature in Oklahoma City on Saturday reached 109°, the 12th warmest temperature recorded in the city since records began in 1891. Friday's high of 113° tied for the warmest temperature in city history.


Figure 3. Highway 48 is covered in smoke as flames continue, Saturday, Aug 4, 2012, east of Drumright, OK. Image credit: Associated Press.

The only comparable Oklahoma heat wave: August 1936
The only heat wave in Oklahoma history that compares to the August 2012 heat wave occurred during the great Dust Bowl summer of 1936, the hottest summer in U.S. history. Oklahoma City experienced three days at 110° that summer, and a record streak of 22 straight days with a temperature of 100° or hotter. Those numbers are comparable to 2012's: three days at 110° or hotter, and a string of 18 consecutive days (so far) with temperatures of 100° or hotter. The weak cold front that passed though Oklahoma Saturday will bring temperatures about 10° cooler over the next few days, but high temperatures are still expected to approach 100° in Oklahoma City Sunday through Tuesday. It's worth noting that Oklahoma City has experienced only 11 days since 1890 with a high of 110° or greater. Three of those days were in 2011, three in 2012, and three in the great Dust Bowl summer of 1936."

Bend It Like Beckham

Anyone who has seen the really hilarious and entertaining movie, "Bend It Like Beckham," knows that Sikhs aren't Muslims and that they are a very peaceful people embodying many traditional virtues. Tragically, there's always that ten percent who didn't get the word.

Since 9/11, the handful of Sikhs in this country have been objects of persecution by ignorant, hate-filled racists. It is certainly too early to confirm the motives of the Wisconsin shooter, but it's reasonable to surmise that is what happened today.

Those of us a bit far along in years have a favorable image of Sikhs, based on the cartoon character Punjab, who was "Daddy Warbucks" right hand man and protector of Little Orphan Annie.

The word "guru," by the way, comes from Sikhism. The religion was founded in South Asia some five hundred years ago by Guru Nanak Dev. There have been ten subsequent Gurus.

Sikhism is monotheistic and is the world's fifth largest religion. Its adherents are enjoined to engage in social reform through the pursuit of justice for all human beings.