Operation Watchtower Trivia Quiz

Answer: August 7, 1942

Operation Watchtower began with USS Quincy, Astoria, and Vincennes shelling the island and Big E launching airstrikes. Once the airstrikes were over the first Marines went in. They were in for two years of fighting in the malaria infested jungles of Guadalcanal.

Answer: No

The Marines did not face any resistance. There were light Japanese patrols but the Marines quickly took them out. After battling through the jungle the Marines took the base and it became Henderson Field.

Answer: Saburo Sakai

Saburo Sakai is known as the One Eyed Baron because pilots from the Enterprise and Wasp took shots at his canopy when he engaged them in dogfights. Wounded but not out, Sakai trailed smoke and piloted himself and his damaged plane back to Rabaul and spent the rest of the war in the hospital.

Answer: USS Vincennes

Savo was the biggest defeat ever. The Japanese sneaked into The Slot while the U.S. forces were napping and woke them up with searchlights. Admiral Mikawa onboard Kirishima attacked us with 8 ships and all the Zekes on Rubaul. The battle ended with the heavy cruisers USS Astoria, USS Quincy, and USS Vincennes sunk, the cruiser USS Chicago damaged and later sunk, heavy cruiser Canberra damaged and later sunk, and the destroyers Jarvis and Blue damaged later sunk.

The only two ships to survived the battle were the Talbert and the Patterson which were repaired and returned to the fleet.

It was the worst defeat in the Guadalcanal Campaign and all seven ships are next to each other at the bottom of Iron Bottom Sound at the mouth of the Savo Straits.

But the Allies got revenge: S-44 sank the Kako and USS Washington killed Mikawa and his flagship Kirishima in November.

Answer: Saratoga

The only carrier that did not take part in the Battle of Santa Cruz was Ranger. Wasp, Hornet, Saratoga, and Enterprise took part in this battle. It was 4 against 3 but Fletcher made a stupid move and made it 3 against 2. The Wasp and Hornet were on their way to New Caledonia for refueling when they got jumped by subs and fighters launched from the Shokaku. Japanese sub I-19 and the Zekes launched from Shokaku put three torpedoes into Wasp and dropped three bombs onto Hornet's deck. Enterprise and Saratoga launched a counter-attack and sank the carriers Ryujo and Zuiho.

But it turned out these two carriers were live bait. Zuikaku then launched Kates, and Shokaku launched Vals and Zekes and they each bombed Enterprise and Saratoga three times. Sub I-26 then torpedoed Saratoga and the US Fleet was forced to retreat.

The Enterprise was disabled and the elevators were out of action and she got a case of rudder jam (which had led to the sinking of Bismarck a year earlier). The Saratoga was hit in the propellers and had to be towed by the Minneapolis. With the Pacific Fleet crippled and one carrier sunk and the other sinking Fletcher and Halsey ordered Hornet scuttled. Several attempts at scuttling failed, but the Japanese finished the job by planting four Long Lances into Hornet's hull and she finally went down.

Answer: Cactus Air Force

The Cactus Air Force was the squadron station on Guadalcanal during Operation Watchtower. Their job was to sink freighters and tankers. Japan did send in the Tokyo Express, but the Cactus Air Force put all of them under. The Cactus Air Force was responsible for all the ships sunk at Guadalcanal and they managed to take out every destroyer, battleship, and heavy cruiser the Japanese sent out to meet them.

Answer: Used South Dakota as a fire extinguisher

With the ship burning the only option left is to use South Dakota to put it out. That's what the captain did. He turned the ship towards South Dakota and the massive battleship rocked back and forth producing a large wake that splashed onto the deck of Smith and put the fire out. With the fire out Smith continued to stand by Big E until they withdrew to Pearl for repairs.

Answer: Retreat

If you have been paying attention Kinkade is down to one carrier. Hornet has been hit by kamikazes and is sinking, Smith has a damaged gun from a bomb strike, Wasp is gone, Saratoga is disabled, Blue, Jarvis, and Chicago are gone, and Quincy, Vincennes and Astoria have been sunk.

The best bet is to retreat, wait for the Essex to be launched, and send in Big E for her RCOH. It was a risky decision but that is what was done. Nimitz, Halsey, and Nagumo then ordered Hornet scuttled and she was sank by 4 long lance torpedoes.

Answer: Atlanta

When the battle started Atlanta, Juneau, and Helena were escorting the heavy cruisers San Francisco and Portland along with eight destroyers including Laffey. They had almost reached Guadalcanal when the Japanese got the jump on them. Hiei and Akatsuki pointed their flashlights into Atlanta's bridge blinding her, and friendly fire from San Francisco and Laffey ended up with Atlanta and Juneau sunk.

The Pacific Fleet got the upper hand they sank Hiei and Akatsuki as revenge for sinking Atlanta and Juneau.

Answer: USS Washington

This was the biggest sea battle of the Pacific War. It started when Kirishima tried to invade Guadalcanal at night. Halsey, seeing this, sent Lee on Washington to hunt down Kirishima and sink her. On November 13, 1942 the two navies entered the Slot near Savo and South Dakota got to close to Kirishima and was hit. Lee, seeing impending doom, radioed to South Dakota "Let me have a crack at her. Stand aside, coming through!" Lee then locked his guns on Kirishima and fired. Within hours Kirishima was burning and was out of action. Kondo no choice but to surrender his vessel and Kirishima was scuttled, ending Operation Watchtower and the battle.

After the battle Nimitz gave Washington the Presidential Unit Citation and Lee was given the Navy Cross.