And the Marine airmen were crazy. One point of the battles one of the Marines drop his landing gear, because he was out of ammo, and smashed the Betty bomber from above with his gear until he broke the enemy plane.
American radar was perhaps one of their biggest advantages and Guadalcanal shows very much how there was a lot of incompetence/Inexperience among US officers who failed to make use of their technology Also the atlanta is absolutely legendary in my book
Though notably, this was the first major naval battle using radar next to so many islands. The islands produced echo's and interference that screwed it's usefulness in some instances. They had very simple interfaces at the time and they really weren't capable of dealing with close landmasses yet. When it did work it was exceptional, but it's failures shook confidence in the tech at the beginning.
Besides, the radar of that time were full of false echoes. The radar improved for ships, is for detect an enemy wave of aircrafts, for detect ships ( with the marine clatter/noise adjusted) is need more advances
A small mistake by Operations Room at 6:16. The ship shown here is the Baltimore-class heavy cruiser USS Helena (CA-75), but the actual Helena that participated in the battle is the Brooklyn-class light cruiser USS Helena (CL-50). Baltimore-class did not exist by this point yet and the two heavy cruisers present were USS Portland and USS San francisco.
Thank you for making this reaction video! I thoroughly enjoyed it. William Halsey was a decisive commander, He placed battleships in a shallow, narrow straight and it paid off. Some of his decisions did not pay off as well, but that is the weight of leadership. Everything seemingly went wrong for South Dakota as she was was pummeled by large caliber projectiles, but battleships are made to slug it out and take the hits. The workers at NY Ship in Camden NJ built a tough old girl. My Dad told me about this battle from his viewpoint on the South Dakota.
Man, I used to watch this series called Battle 360 here on RUclips, ith all the episodes detailing the Pacific War through the perspective of the crew of USS Enterprise CV-6 including the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal before they were taken down by copyright. Really shows what History Channel used to be like.
@@memecliparchives2254 ruclips.net/p/PLA1XETwgm3NjGLgmOaNbHwrvZhnLIrbTC I believe that's the playlist you were talking about. I'm going to binge that right now actually. I do miss the History channel back when they had Battle 360, Dogfight!, Shootout! and shows about the evolution of military tech (although that last one might have been the "Military Channel").
@@lewisvargrson What I miss the most was a series called "Greatest Tank Battles" which featured animated simulations of tank battles with interviews from veterans; Germans, Americans, Russians, Italians, Frenchmen, Israelis etc
They talk about the Hiei pounding the San Francisco, killing her captain and admiral who were both awarded the Medal of Honor. In actuality, Captain Cassin Young had already been awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at Pearl Harbor, when he was captain of the repair ship Vestal. He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for his actions off Guadalcanal.
Young was the Captain of the Vestal which was moored outboard of the Arizona. He kept his ship alongside her rescuing survivors and fighting the fires form the magazine explosion, for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor.
A great book that covers a lot of the naval battles around Guadalcanal from the contemporary perspective is "Japanese Destroyer Captain" by Tameichi Hara. Great read!
@@crazywarriorscatfan9061 i think he missed it too, i'm sure he remembers the video but forgot the channel. here: ruclips.net/video/hPYgRHY4Gk0/видео.html&ab_channel=VloggingThroughHistory
If you're on a WWII naval operations binge, please please please watch History Buffs' Midway Parts 1 & 2~ It's a super insightful and entertaining 2 part series, as always from History Buffs, but it also focuses a lot on the context of the circumstances around the Battle of Midway!
You already reacted to video from the Operations Room before at Easy Company Assault on Brecourt Manor. I wasn't sure after you said that this is premiere, however since I love Operations Room and Band of Brothers I had to check.
Fortunately for the USN, the 2 BC 's (Kiroshima and Hiei) have the armour protection of a heavy cruiser so it's a more even fight than it first seems. As for the channel (Operations Room)I find the videos much better researched than most out there and the presentation is very good. I have done a lot of research on "Operation Source" myself (for my own lecture in a couple of weeks time for our military history group here in Manchester), and the video on this subject is very accurate on almost everything
@@benn454 as noted in the start both the battleships were not part of the first battle off Guadalcanal. So the largest guns were 8" guns on the cruisers. So as I said fortunately these guns could still penetrate the paper-thin belt armour of the BC's and the 6" guns of the light cruisers can deal with anything else.
In early July I met a Sailor from the North Carolina. He described what it was like to play for the ships band and what they would do, and I talked a little about my experiences as a Musician. (He was a Trumpet, and I, a Euphonium, so some brass jokes were exchanged) He told us what it was like on the ship during combat. The Band was assigned to the damage control team and given firefighting training. He described his experiences during Guadalcanal when the North Carolina was hit by an IJN Type 95 torpedo. When battle stations were sounded he made ready to render assistance to the damage control team, but there was no fire on board. He served on the “Showboat” for the duration of the war, and after the North Carolina was taken out of active service he was stationed on the USS Shangri-La (CV-38) until he retired from the Navy.
You should really check out some of Drachinifels videos most are a bit longer than what you usually react to but there are a a few around 30 minutes like the battle of Hampton Roads that I'm sure you'd like.
The Sullivans influenced a lot of personnel decisions as well. For example they try not to get spouses who might both be serving with kids to be stationed at the same command that way there is a reduced chance that if one dies, the other goes as well (and especially if they have kids). There isn't often a time where the policy is put into action quickly to say withdraw someone from danger like with the Nylan brothers but there are lots of procedures in place to try and prevent those circumstances from even potentially taking place.
Love Operations Room content :D. Could you check out Montemayor's videos? His channel is similar to Operation Room. Any of his videos on the Pacific front is great. One of my favorite videos is The Battle of Midway 1942: Told from the Japanese Perspective (1/3)
The death of brothers made me remember a story once told by my russian teacher, basically a mother let all of her 8 sons to go into the eastern front during ww2 and none of them came back, i do not remember how they died, i just know that none of them came back home
I don't know if you've already done this video but you might want to check out Montemayor's video on Midway from the Japanese perspective. I believe it's one of the best videos covering a single battle from an informative perspective I've ever seen.
When I was in they wouldn't assign brothers to the same ship. It does happen but both have to personally request it and takes Admiral approval, saw it once two identical twin brothers. Great guys.
Great video! Both Operation Room's and your reaction here. Good stuff! There's a couple of fascinating aspects to Guadalcanal. First, as you already mentioned in the video, the overwhelming quantitative and qualitative US advantages later in the Pacific War had not yet materialized; in 1942 we were scratching hard just to achieve and maintain parity at best...and not always succeeding. Second (and related to the above), the Guadalcanal campaign was somewhat unique in how all three warfare domains - air, land, and sea - were all so equally critical AND so evenly and hotly contested, at such protracted length. Of course all three realms were equally important in all major Pacific battles, but in just about every other case, one side or the other went into the fight with an already-substantial advantage, even to the point of foregone conclusion for US air/sea superiority during late 1944 and 1945. There's of course been *tons* of good history written (or recorded) about this campaign. Richard Franks' "Guadalcanal" (1990) remains among the very best 30+ years later. Franks does a magnificent job in balancing the land, air, and sea facets, and really bringing out their inherent interdependence. In my opinion...if a person is going to read just a single book about Guadalcanal, this is the one. Final comment: it's easy - and natural - to view battles somewhat in isolation. I've certainly done it. But over time as I've read & studied the Pacific War, I've come to better understand 1942 as a continuous process of initiative gradually shifting from Japan to the US+Allies. A process in which June 4th at Midway was undoubtedly the most spectacular single day and important event....but a single day/event nevertheless. Just as much as the major events themselves, I'm also deeply interested in their context. The moves/countermoves, how the battles grew out of earlier events and influenced decision-making for later events. This chain began on Dec 7th itself, when the Pearl Harbor attack missed the USN carriers...and culminated right here in the mid-Nov night battles covered in this video. I find it a bit ironic that it was Willis Lee (a rather overlooked admiral who I think deserves more attention) and his battleships - not the carrier task forces - who finally consummated the last act of this almost year-long saga.
My maternal grandfather was in the RAAF in new Guinea. He was only a corporal but he was in one of the few roles in the air force who carried a weapon as an airfield guard. I'm sure as not a frontline soldier he didn't see much horror but he hardly ever talked about the war. He was such a gentle man and it probably haunted him to his death bed that he ever fired a weapon on a human if he in fact did so. I did hear from a cousin that he did sometimes man machine guns aboard bombers but I never heard my grandfather talk about this. He only ever told one story that I remember and it was a comedic one. They were watching a movie when the air raid sirens went off. So in the scramble to get back to barracks my gf and another couple of Aussies hitched a ride on a American jeep as the Aussie base was on the way to the American one. As they passed the Aussie barracks they screamed for the Americans to let them off only to get the response "I ain't stopping til I get where I'm going" lmao 😂😂😂 they then had to run back to the Aussie base.
If anyone wants a book on Guadalcanal that puts you both in the shoes of command and crew I recommend "Neptune’s Inferno" it’s really well written and not at all dry for a history book
Hornfischer's other book "Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors" is about Leyte Gulf, particularly the Battle off Samar. Equally riveting. There's many great historians...but only a rare few whose sheer literary talents match - or even exceed - their historical/research prowess. James Hornfischer, may he rest in peace, was one such.
Not only did larger combatants take a fair amount of time to construct but even if you have an advantage in gross tonnage that doesn't mean you can shift it to wherever you want. Ships are relatively slow in the scale of an ocean and other commitments can tie down outsized numbers of ships (or supply challenges can prevent them from traversing to where they are needed). The US was luckily leaning in the correct direction with the pre-war scramble to build up the Navy. If they had not the war would have likely dragged on significantly longer. Nowadays the build times are even worse, ofc. Something to be said for the relatively "simple" nature of WW2 ships.
Love how you acknowledge how difficult night battles are. I had an argument with some "history buff" online once over the feat of the USS Washington sinking the Japanese destroyer Ayanami at long range in a night battle. This dude literally refused to understand how impressive that was even with advance radar fire control system. I was in the Marines and my unit have been lost before conducting night ops even with radio contact with other platoons. I know from experience that night battles along with the possibility of friendly fire are the worst.
For all the horrors frontline soldiers endured the casualties pail in comparison when you consider how many sailors are aboard a large ship and it gets sunk.
One of the most amazing stories in WWII is that, at one point the USS Enterprise was the only remaining functional US aircraft carrier in the South Pacific; and, even it had been damaged by Japanese bombing strikes, so the forward elevator was not working. The forward elevator is how planes are taken below deck after they land. Without it, they had to push the planes back to the middle elevator by hand to lower them below deck. That took about 1/2 an hour per plane, which was not fast enough in combat conditions. So, they actually launched fighters from the Enterprise to attack the Japanese attempting to retake Guadalcanal & landed them on the Henderson airfield island runway, only to slowly be returned to the Enterprise later.
I served on the destroyer USS The Sullivans and remember connecting the dots to the conversation the upper brass had in Saving Private Ryan and was like oh crap! The motto of the ship was “We stick together” and had a big green clover painted on it for luck.
My Mother told me that the news of what happened to the 5 Sullivan brothers came to her home town in the Republic Ballina Co Mayo it caused great sadness in the town ,my Mothers maiden name was Sullivan so I wonder if there was a connection there
Destroyer is shortened from PT Boat Destroyer which is why they have torps, but WWII is where we learn to use them to hunt Cruisers and Submarines with Cruiser being a little more suited for submarines. Before the US had built its Navy up, they adapted to using Destroyers to charge enemy Battle ship; firing some torps and praying that they close distance fast enough to avoid the big guns range as they cannot travers all the way down to aim at such small ships at close range.
My grandfather was a marine in WWII and his first tour of duty was Guadalcanal. He was one of the first waves of marines to land before the Japanese navy showed up and run the American nave off. In fact in the book Guadalcanal diary, there's a picture of a line of marines walking in from a dock and he's one of the marines at the back.
Ops Room did a few videos in collaboration with Drachinifel, who has a video on this battle as well which goes into a lot more detail. Drach's video may not be as condusive to making a reaction video as this one, but I highly recommend it (indeed his entire channel) to anyone interested in naval history. ruclips.net/video/jET2M8yP4Jo/видео.html (Drach's Guadalcanal campaign playlist)
enterprise was more or less the flagship of the pacific fleet in ww2 and i love to hear about the pacific war since the names of ships is recognizable and the class of ships
I know what you're saying, and I agree with the sentiment. The Big E was pretty unique in several respects. But being a bit technical and nitpicky, her flagship status was not one of them. Early on, Enterprise was indeed a flagship for her own task force...but so were all the other early-war US carriers, at a time when these individual task forces were initially built around one carrier each. Later on as the forces grew, Spruance preferred to command the fleet from Indianapolis (cruiser), while Halsey commanded in New Jersey (battleship). Instead what set Enterprise apart - and I think what you were getting at above - was just her sheer war record and longevity. There were six major carrier-vs-carrier battles during the Pacific War...Enterprise fought in 5 of the 6. No other carrier - either early-war or later Essexes - served in nearly so many carrier engagements. It remains a crying shame - bordering on almost criminality - that the Big E was not preserved as a museum ship afterward. No ship in USN history ever deserved it more. In that sense, yeah, if I had to pick one symbolic USN "flagship", not just for WW2 but for the Navy's entire 246-year history, it would indeed be USS ENTERPRISE (CV 6).
Though he didn't go into specifics. My grandfather was at guado canal. He mentioned that this was before he got his m1. He was still going in with a world war I Springfield rifle.
Although the _Kongo_ class ships (which includes the _Hiei_ and _Kirishima)_ started out as pre-WW1 battlecruisers, they were reclassified as "fast battleships" after extensive modification in the 1930's.
you should watch drachinifel's video on the battle off Samar, I think that the battle itself is really interesting and would be a good video to react to.
WWII has always been one of the most intriguing wars for me because of the technological advances in such a short amount of time, the competing ideologies that would lay the groundwork for global diplomatic policy for generations, along with the plethora of stories of survival and innovative battle tactics that led to the conclusion of the war. I love seeing reactions to the Pacific Theater in the Second World War in part from my grandpaw that influenced him to join the USMC in the Korean War.
I love Operations Room but I have the sinking feeling I'll never get to use their content in a high school classroom. I don't know if the length of his videos is a problem, but hypohystericalhistory is a great emerging history channel that has done some excellent videos on the Australian-American New Guinea campaign that was happening concurrently. They are 1hr+ per video so probably a split-part reaction series for you :P
This battle was absolute carnage, I've been reading Neptune's Inferno by James D. Hornfischer (RIP) and learned how they had to have gore patrols on ships after battles from the brutality especially after this one
Fun fact: Belgium soldiers charged a german tank battalion with pitchforks and managed to catch the german battalion commander who was laughing at the attempt. Later the commander was interrogated and revealed a german offensive through the ardennes, which was then forwarded to the french high command. Which was rejected as impossible.
The dark channels I feel are to click baity and are overly dramatic about information. They're aren't bad channels by any means, just a little rough to watch.
What was interesting and also really bad for the USN task force was that Callahan was senior to Norman Scott by a week, thus gaining command of the task force despite having no experience in night battles where Norman Scott would probably have been better served to lead the task force.
Over on "World War 2"s WW2 in real time channel they are currently going through this time period. One thing you are missing in your discussion of the impact of Guadalcanal is that this represents the furthest extension of Japanese power extension, and the first time that western powers have been able to hold back the Japanese army. (The Chinese army has been able to stop the Japanese, at great cost, but the UK and Dutch armies have by this time lost Malaysia, Burma, and Indonesia.) "Henderson Field" was originally started by the Japanese and was captured and completed by the US. Japan saw their operation as retaking land and positions they previously occupied. At the strategic level, this action is happening at the same time as Japan's attempt to take New Guinea and Port Moresby overland. Diverting troops to retake Guadalcanal means they didn't have the manpower to take Port Moresby, even though they managed to get within sight of it. Meanwhile over in the USSR the battle of Stalingrad has started up, so everything is in the balance and on the edge now. (I'm writing this as of the beginning of October, so "now" will be different when you read this comment.)
As far as the sole survivor policy goes... My father-in-law's great uncle served in WW2. The only reason his grandfather didn't serve was because the only children in that family was the 2 brothers.
Hey! Anazing video as always but could you consider doing some videos on Daniel boone? He is an ancestor of mine and id like to learn more about him Via your channel...All i know is he was a leading frontiersman early in Americas life...Thanks for reading!
Look up the Kidd Class DDGs [aka the dead Admirals class] - there are 4 of them. Kidd was killed on the Arizona. Callaghan and Scott were in this battle. Chandler died of burns from a Kamikaze in Jan 45.
@@VloggingThroughHistory Plus there was a fifth admiral, Mullinnix, who was killed when his flagship, USS Liscome Bay, was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. Doris Miller, the Pearl Harbor hero, was also killed in this sinking.
also colloquially nicknamed the "Ayatollah Class". Originally ordered and built for Iran in the Shah's time; none had yet been completed/delivered in 1979.
@@cragnamorra Also called the Shah's Navy, they are still in operation in Taiwan's Navy. [I'm Retired USN - Active 1981-2003.] Never served on one but, they were part of the CVBGs and CMEF when I was in the Gulf or Gonzo.
Rear Admiral Kidd was killed on board USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Rear Admiral Daniel Callaghan was killed at Guadalcanal together with Rear Admiral Scott, while Rear Admiral Theodore Chandler was killed in January 1945, when his ship was hit by a kamikaze. They are the "dead admirals" who gave their names to the Kidd-class destroyers (DD-993 - DD-996).
In addition to Scott and Callaghan, there was Rear Admiral Henry M. Mullinix. He was on board Liscome Bay (CVE-56) when she was torpedoed and sunk off Makin Island, in the Gilberts, November 24, 1943. He was declared dead a year later. He was not included as a namesake in the "dead admiral class", as he had already had a destroyer named after himself in the 1950's.
It's a tragedy for the family if you got 5 sons and they all die. In my grandfather's village there is also a family like that except when the Nazi commander came to get their last son to join the army the mother chased them away.
Indeed. I think Iron Bottom Sound has actually become the formal name for that body of water, not just an unofficial nickname. At the time, I think it was called "Sealark Channel" before the campaign...or at least the southeast portion was, between Guadalcanal and Tulagi.
Your inforamtion about the first Admiral killed in battle isn't exactly correct. Rear Admiral Kidd was awarded the Medal of Honor for his leadership aboard the USS Arizona. The only thing left of the flag bridge that could be given to his wife was his Naval Academy ring, which was melted into the bulkhead.
didnt read down far enoughjust posted the same. Admiral Mullinex was killed on a CVE off the Marshall Islands, and Admiral Chandler was killed on the Louisville off of Okinawa.
Im woundering what happend to uss south dokota, in this vid it looks like it was damaged badly and it faces the full heat of multiple taskforces of japan after the uss Washington slipt away? How did it survive? And ifso, why did the japanese let a battleship leave?
South Dakota was indeed damaged and took significant casualties. But much of it was to superstructure and topside systems, including communications. She did not, however, lose propulsion and had relatively little hull damage. So was rendered temporarily combat-ineffective, rather than threatened with actual loss of the ship. As far as the IJN, clearly they had problems of their own against Washington; were in no position to pursue the SD as she disengaged. Footnote: one of South Dakota's wounded sailors was 12-year-old Calvin Graham. Youngest American (known) to have fought in WW2. Had (obviously) lied about his age to enlist. Discharged from the Navy the following year when his true age became known...apparently his mom caught up with where he was and made a fuss.
I don't believe so, as there is at least some doubt over who even found it. The man most likely to have found the orders was wounded soon after and died in 1868. Here's an interesting article on it www.historynet.com/corporal-barton-w-mitchell-and-the-lost-orders.htm
FYI Rear Admiral Isaac Campbell Kidd on USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor became the first U.S. Navy flag officer killed in action in World War II as well as the first killed in action against any foreign enemy.
I wonder if this is relevant but have to you watched "The Pacific" by HBO? It's like the "Band of Brothers of the Pacific theater". I'm just 2 minutes into the video so maybe this will be answered along the way. Regardless, The Operations Room is a great channel, thanks for covering their content!
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
I think ive learned more and been more engaged in history than i ever did in school. Also love the Civil War stuff! Thanks
That's awesome to hear. Thanks for taking the time to share,
Guadalcanal is probably THE campaign where victory did most equally depend on all three branches of the military
I hadn’t considered that but you make an excellent point
@@VloggingThroughHistory Well technically two, considering the Air Force was still part of the Army.
@@rudranshu65sengupta14 He was referring to the Army, the Navy, and the Marines
And the Marine airmen were crazy. One point of the battles one of the Marines drop his landing gear, because he was out of ammo, and smashed the Betty bomber from above with his gear until he broke the enemy plane.
The Solomons campaign was the turning point in the pacific theater. after November of 43 we were never really challenged.
You should check out a video by Montemayor about midway from the Japanese perspective it’s really interesting
I'm gonna second this, I think that's one of the best historical videos on the whole site.
This. Definitely This.
Yes! Watch this one!
Definitely!
Great suggestion! I love those videos! The Japanese perspective is the best one. Coral Sea and Savo Island are great too. I’m sure you’ve seen those.
American radar was perhaps one of their biggest advantages and Guadalcanal shows very much how there was a lot of incompetence/Inexperience among US officers who failed to make use of their technology
Also the atlanta is absolutely legendary in my book
aMOgus ?
Though notably, this was the first major naval battle using radar next to so many islands. The islands produced echo's and interference that screwed it's usefulness in some instances. They had very simple interfaces at the time and they really weren't capable of dealing with close landmasses yet.
When it did work it was exceptional, but it's failures shook confidence in the tech at the beginning.
Besides, the radar of that time were full of false echoes. The radar improved for ships, is for detect an enemy wave of aircrafts, for detect ships ( with the marine clatter/noise adjusted) is need more advances
Operations Room has always been one of my favorite channels...glad to see you're reacting to it now
John Basilone did earn his Medal of Honor during the Battle for Henderson Field over the course of the night of 24-25 October 1942
Didn't know about him and read into a bit, what a awesome dude, thanks for the info.
@@Leafmaster32 if you want a to learn in depth about John, I’d recommend Jim Proser’s biography of him ‘I’m Staying With My Boys’
Marine Corp legend, Gunny Basilone
A small mistake by Operations Room at 6:16. The ship shown here is the Baltimore-class heavy cruiser USS Helena (CA-75), but the actual Helena that participated in the battle is the Brooklyn-class light cruiser USS Helena (CL-50). Baltimore-class did not exist by this point yet and the two heavy cruisers present were USS Portland and USS San francisco.
Thank you for making this reaction video! I thoroughly enjoyed it. William Halsey was a decisive commander, He placed battleships in a shallow, narrow straight and it paid off. Some of his decisions did not pay off as well, but that is the weight of leadership. Everything seemingly went wrong for South Dakota as she was was pummeled by large caliber projectiles, but battleships are made to slug it out and take the hits. The workers at NY Ship in Camden NJ built a tough old girl. My Dad told me about this battle from his viewpoint on the South Dakota.
Man, I used to watch this series called Battle 360 here on RUclips, ith all the episodes detailing the Pacific War through the perspective of the crew of USS Enterprise CV-6 including the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal before they were taken down by copyright.
Really shows what History Channel used to be like.
I miss those days and now, History Channel is all about Ancient Aliens.
@Don Ho Did they? Don't see the full episodes. But if they are, then I guess they're not available in my country.
@@memecliparchives2254 ruclips.net/p/PLA1XETwgm3NjGLgmOaNbHwrvZhnLIrbTC
I believe that's the playlist you were talking about. I'm going to binge that right now actually. I do miss the History channel back when they had Battle 360, Dogfight!, Shootout! and shows about the evolution of military tech (although that last one might have been the "Military Channel").
@@lewisvargrson What I miss the most was a series called "Greatest Tank Battles" which featured animated simulations of tank battles with interviews from veterans; Germans, Americans, Russians, Italians, Frenchmen, Israelis etc
They talk about the Hiei pounding the San Francisco, killing her captain and admiral who were both awarded the Medal of Honor. In actuality, Captain Cassin Young had already been awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at Pearl Harbor, when he was captain of the repair ship Vestal. He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for his actions off Guadalcanal.
Young was the Captain of the Vestal which was moored outboard of the Arizona. He kept his ship alongside her rescuing survivors and fighting the fires form the magazine explosion, for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor.
@@WNC_BUCKEYE He was blown overboard by the explosion, but hauled himself back onto his ship and went right back to work.
A great book that covers a lot of the naval battles around Guadalcanal from the contemporary perspective is "Japanese Destroyer Captain" by Tameichi Hara. Great read!
I love these longer reactions to the more in-depth battles. Your adding of information really enhances these types of video presentations.
I love the operations room animated maps, makes it so much easier to understand from a birds eye view wheats happening all across the battlefield
I'm glad you're covering Operations Room. They make amazing content!
didn't he see the video from operations room about winters taking the german guns on d-day?
@@boss180888 Must've missed it.
@@crazywarriorscatfan9061 i think he missed it too, i'm sure he remembers the video but forgot the channel. here:
ruclips.net/video/hPYgRHY4Gk0/видео.html&ab_channel=VloggingThroughHistory
Operations Room is an amazing channel. Please keep doing their stuff.
If you're on a WWII naval operations binge, please please please watch History Buffs' Midway Parts 1 & 2~
It's a super insightful and entertaining 2 part series, as always from History Buffs, but it also focuses a lot on the context of the circumstances around the Battle of Midway!
I'd also like to suggest Montemayor's videos too on the topic of the Pacific Theatre.
I was genuinely surprised how accuate most of the details were in the movie. A good WW2 movie!
You already reacted to video from the Operations Room before at Easy Company Assault on Brecourt Manor. I wasn't sure after you said that this is premiere, however since I love Operations Room and Band of Brothers I had to check.
Two of my favorite channels coming together!
Love the Ops Room. Amazing work.
I absolutely love the Operations Room, amazing channel for those wanting a detailed battle space picture in different wars.
Fortunately for the USN, the 2 BC 's (Kiroshima and Hiei) have the armour protection of a heavy cruiser so it's a more even fight than it first seems.
As for the channel (Operations Room)I find the videos much better researched than most out there and the presentation is very good. I have done a lot of research on "Operation Source" myself (for my own lecture in a couple of weeks time for our military history group here in Manchester), and the video on this subject is very accurate on almost everything
Kirishima and Hiei were older designs than the Washington and SoDak, with lighter armor and smaller guns. They were no match in a straight up fight.
@@benn454 as noted in the start both the battleships were not part of the first battle off Guadalcanal. So the largest guns were 8" guns on the cruisers.
So as I said fortunately these guns could still penetrate the paper-thin belt armour of the BC's and the 6" guns of the light cruisers can deal with anything else.
@@steveclarke6257 It was also at nearly point blank range for the Cruisers, well close enough to be a close fight.
Your voice is great to fall asleep too , I always put on your videos before I go to bed so I can have some fun history before I sleep
In early July I met a Sailor from the North Carolina. He described what it was like to play for the ships band and what they would do, and I talked a little about my experiences as a Musician. (He was a Trumpet, and I, a Euphonium, so some brass jokes were exchanged) He told us what it was like on the ship during combat. The Band was assigned to the damage control team and given firefighting training. He described his experiences during Guadalcanal when the North Carolina was hit by an IJN Type 95 torpedo. When battle stations were sounded he made ready to render assistance to the damage control team, but there was no fire on board. He served on the “Showboat” for the duration of the war, and after the North Carolina was taken out of active service he was stationed on the USS Shangri-La (CV-38) until he retired from the Navy.
You should really check out some of Drachinifels videos most are a bit longer than what you usually react to but there are a a few around 30 minutes like the battle of Hampton Roads that I'm sure you'd like.
The Sullivans influenced a lot of personnel decisions as well. For example they try not to get spouses who might both be serving with kids to be stationed at the same command that way there is a reduced chance that if one dies, the other goes as well (and especially if they have kids). There isn't often a time where the policy is put into action quickly to say withdraw someone from danger like with the Nylan brothers but there are lots of procedures in place to try and prevent those circumstances from even potentially taking place.
Love Operations Room content :D. Could you check out Montemayor's videos? His channel is similar to Operation Room. Any of his videos on the Pacific front is great. One of my favorite videos is The Battle of Midway 1942: Told from the Japanese Perspective (1/3)
The death of brothers made me remember a story once told by my russian teacher, basically a mother let all of her 8 sons to go into the eastern front during ww2 and none of them came back, i do not remember how they died, i just know that none of them came back home
Defo watch more of these guys and you still need to watch the Victoria cross documentary
I don't know if you've already done this video but you might want to check out Montemayor's video on Midway from the Japanese perspective. I believe it's one of the best videos covering a single battle from an informative perspective I've ever seen.
Came down to the comments specifically to recommend this
When I was in they wouldn't assign brothers to the same ship. It does happen but both have to personally request it and takes Admiral approval, saw it once two identical twin brothers. Great guys.
Great video! Both Operation Room's and your reaction here. Good stuff!
There's a couple of fascinating aspects to Guadalcanal. First, as you already mentioned in the video, the overwhelming quantitative and qualitative US advantages later in the Pacific War had not yet materialized; in 1942 we were scratching hard just to achieve and maintain parity at best...and not always succeeding.
Second (and related to the above), the Guadalcanal campaign was somewhat unique in how all three warfare domains - air, land, and sea - were all so equally critical AND so evenly and hotly contested, at such protracted length. Of course all three realms were equally important in all major Pacific battles, but in just about every other case, one side or the other went into the fight with an already-substantial advantage, even to the point of foregone conclusion for US air/sea superiority during late 1944 and 1945.
There's of course been *tons* of good history written (or recorded) about this campaign. Richard Franks' "Guadalcanal" (1990) remains among the very best 30+ years later. Franks does a magnificent job in balancing the land, air, and sea facets, and really bringing out their inherent interdependence. In my opinion...if a person is going to read just a single book about Guadalcanal, this is the one.
Final comment: it's easy - and natural - to view battles somewhat in isolation. I've certainly done it. But over time as I've read & studied the Pacific War, I've come to better understand 1942 as a continuous process of initiative gradually shifting from Japan to the US+Allies. A process in which June 4th at Midway was undoubtedly the most spectacular single day and important event....but a single day/event nevertheless. Just as much as the major events themselves, I'm also deeply interested in their context. The moves/countermoves, how the battles grew out of earlier events and influenced decision-making for later events. This chain began on Dec 7th itself, when the Pearl Harbor attack missed the USN carriers...and culminated right here in the mid-Nov night battles covered in this video. I find it a bit ironic that it was Willis Lee (a rather overlooked admiral who I think deserves more attention) and his battleships - not the carrier task forces - who finally consummated the last act of this almost year-long saga.
My maternal grandfather was in the RAAF in new Guinea. He was only a corporal but he was in one of the few roles in the air force who carried a weapon as an airfield guard.
I'm sure as not a frontline soldier he didn't see much horror but he hardly ever talked about the war. He was such a gentle man and it probably haunted him to his death bed that he ever fired a weapon on a human if he in fact did so. I did hear from a cousin that he did sometimes man machine guns aboard bombers but I never heard my grandfather talk about this.
He only ever told one story that I remember and it was a comedic one. They were watching a movie when the air raid sirens went off. So in the scramble to get back to barracks my gf and another couple of Aussies hitched a ride on a American jeep as the Aussie base was on the way to the American one. As they passed the Aussie barracks they screamed for the Americans to let them off only to get the response "I ain't stopping til I get where I'm going" lmao 😂😂😂 they then had to run back to the Aussie base.
If anyone wants a book on Guadalcanal that puts you both in the shoes of command and crew I recommend "Neptune’s Inferno" it’s really well written and not at all dry for a history book
Nico you are 100% correct. A fantastic book indeed. Worth getting a library card if all you ever check out is that one book.
Hornfischer's other book "Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors" is about Leyte Gulf, particularly the Battle off Samar. Equally riveting. There's many great historians...but only a rare few whose sheer literary talents match - or even exceed - their historical/research prowess. James Hornfischer, may he rest in peace, was one such.
Not only did larger combatants take a fair amount of time to construct but even if you have an advantage in gross tonnage that doesn't mean you can shift it to wherever you want. Ships are relatively slow in the scale of an ocean and other commitments can tie down outsized numbers of ships (or supply challenges can prevent them from traversing to where they are needed). The US was luckily leaning in the correct direction with the pre-war scramble to build up the Navy. If they had not the war would have likely dragged on significantly longer. Nowadays the build times are even worse, ofc. Something to be said for the relatively "simple" nature of WW2 ships.
Love how you acknowledge how difficult night battles are. I had an argument with some "history buff" online once over the feat of the USS Washington sinking the Japanese destroyer Ayanami at long range in a night battle. This dude literally refused to understand how impressive that was even with advance radar fire control system. I was in the Marines and my unit have been lost before conducting night ops even with radio contact with other platoons. I know from experience that night battles along with the possibility of friendly fire are the worst.
i love videos like this and your added insight makes them even better
For all the horrors frontline soldiers endured the casualties pail in comparison when you consider how many sailors are aboard a large ship and it gets sunk.
I'm an afficiando of WWII, but am still deficient in knowledge of the Pacific and Africa theaters. Thank for this informative post.
One of the most amazing stories in WWII is that, at one point the USS Enterprise was the only remaining functional US aircraft carrier in the South Pacific; and, even it had been damaged by Japanese bombing strikes, so the forward elevator was not working. The forward elevator is how planes are taken below deck after they land. Without it, they had to push the planes back to the middle elevator by hand to lower them below deck. That took about 1/2 an hour per plane, which was not fast enough in combat conditions. So, they actually launched fighters from the Enterprise to attack the Japanese attempting to retake Guadalcanal & landed them on the Henderson airfield island runway, only to slowly be returned to the Enterprise later.
Operations room is such a great channel about all sorts of conflicts, including the attack on the Iranian embassy in London
Love the intro to Op Room's channel. That Rolls Royce music to my ears.
I served on the destroyer USS The Sullivans and remember connecting the dots to the conversation the upper brass had in Saving Private Ryan and was like oh crap! The motto of the ship was “We stick together” and had a big green clover painted on it for luck.
My Mother told me that the news of what happened to the 5 Sullivan brothers came to her home town in the Republic Ballina Co Mayo it caused great sadness in the town ,my Mothers maiden name was Sullivan so I wonder if there was a connection there
Rah, always gotta love the Marine Corps stuff
Was waiting for him to react to this love the content 👌
Destroyer is shortened from PT Boat Destroyer which is why they have torps, but WWII is where we learn to use them to hunt Cruisers and Submarines with Cruiser being a little more suited for submarines. Before the US had built its Navy up, they adapted to using Destroyers to charge enemy Battle ship; firing some torps and praying that they close distance fast enough to avoid the big guns range as they cannot travers all the way down to aim at such small ships at close range.
My grandfather was on the sanfronsisco during this battle. As a kid I would ask him about his time in navy during ww2 . He never would talk about it.
My grandfather was a marine in WWII and his first tour of duty was Guadalcanal. He was one of the first waves of marines to land before the Japanese navy showed up and run the American nave off. In fact in the book Guadalcanal diary, there's a picture of a line of marines walking in from a dock and he's one of the marines at the back.
Ops Room did a few videos in collaboration with Drachinifel, who has a video on this battle as well which goes into a lot more detail. Drach's video may not be as condusive to making a reaction video as this one, but I highly recommend it (indeed his entire channel) to anyone interested in naval history.
ruclips.net/video/jET2M8yP4Jo/видео.html (Drach's Guadalcanal campaign playlist)
You should check out Montemayor's Battle of Savo Island video. Its an hour, but oh man does it really give a great breakdown/analysis of the scenario.
enterprise was more or less the flagship of the pacific fleet in ww2 and i love to hear about the pacific war since the names of ships is recognizable and the class of ships
I know what you're saying, and I agree with the sentiment. The Big E was pretty unique in several respects. But being a bit technical and nitpicky, her flagship status was not one of them. Early on, Enterprise was indeed a flagship for her own task force...but so were all the other early-war US carriers, at a time when these individual task forces were initially built around one carrier each. Later on as the forces grew, Spruance preferred to command the fleet from Indianapolis (cruiser), while Halsey commanded in New Jersey (battleship).
Instead what set Enterprise apart - and I think what you were getting at above - was just her sheer war record and longevity. There were six major carrier-vs-carrier battles during the Pacific War...Enterprise fought in 5 of the 6. No other carrier - either early-war or later Essexes - served in nearly so many carrier engagements. It remains a crying shame - bordering on almost criminality - that the Big E was not preserved as a museum ship afterward. No ship in USN history ever deserved it more. In that sense, yeah, if I had to pick one symbolic USN "flagship", not just for WW2 but for the Navy's entire 246-year history, it would indeed be USS ENTERPRISE (CV 6).
@@cragnamorra the history will always remember the name enterprise
Anything from Montemayor is great
Drachinifel has an excellent 8 part series on the naval battles around Guadalcanal
The Operations Room just did two videos on the battle of Iwo Jima, I think it’d be really interesting for you to check out
Though he didn't go into specifics. My grandfather was at guado canal. He mentioned that this was before he got his m1. He was still going in with a world war I Springfield rifle.
"The Operations Room" is my favorite channel on YT
08:06 minor error here. Destroyer's name is Akatsuki.
Although the _Kongo_ class ships (which includes the _Hiei_ and _Kirishima)_ started out as pre-WW1 battlecruisers, they were reclassified as "fast battleships" after extensive modification in the 1930's.
you should watch drachinifel's video on the battle off Samar, I think that the battle itself is really interesting and would be a good video to react to.
WWII has always been one of the most intriguing wars for me because of the technological advances in such a short amount of time, the competing ideologies that would lay the groundwork for global diplomatic policy for generations, along with the plethora of stories of survival and innovative battle tactics that led to the conclusion of the war. I love seeing reactions to the Pacific Theater in the Second World War in part from my grandpaw that influenced him to join the USMC in the Korean War.
Love operations room please react to the Doolittle raid and battle of midway they are so informative and would love to hear your thoughts
Yes! More Operations!
I second the comments saying you should check out Montemayor's descriptions of the Pacific Theater so far.
Thank You! for stating that there were other combatants in the Pacific theatre. The rest of us are too often overlooked!
I love Operations Room but I have the sinking feeling I'll never get to use their content in a high school classroom.
I don't know if the length of his videos is a problem, but hypohystericalhistory is a great emerging history channel that has done some excellent videos on the Australian-American New Guinea campaign that was happening concurrently. They are 1hr+ per video so probably a split-part reaction series for you :P
This battle was absolute carnage, I've been reading Neptune's Inferno by James D. Hornfischer (RIP) and learned how they had to have gore patrols on ships after battles from the brutality especially after this one
Fun fact: Belgium soldiers charged a german tank battalion with pitchforks and managed to catch the german battalion commander who was laughing at the attempt. Later the commander was interrogated and revealed a german offensive through the ardennes, which was then forwarded to the french high command. Which was rejected as impossible.
Callahan needed to be on Helena with its better radar, thus having a clearer picture of the battle.
My grandfather was a Marine who fought on Guadalcanal. I have his uniform, dog tags and other misc items.
I’m thankful for your grandfathers service.
Some other channels that go in depth about battles in the Pacific are Montemayor and Vector Historia
3:32 Admiral Isaac Campbell Kidd was killed aboard USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor.
You'll notice I specified it was the only naval surface action where US Admirals were killed. Admiral Kidd was killed by planes.
John Basilone is from my hometown and I went to high school his granddaughter
Operations room dark docs, dark skies, ,and dark seas are my favorite for straight up history I highly recommend looking them up
The dark channels I feel are to click baity and are overly dramatic about information. They're aren't bad channels by any means, just a little rough to watch.
You should look up Drachinifel
Have you ever done anything on the 1944 Battle of Leyte Gulf? It would have to be a multi part presentation.
Semper Fi 1st MarDiv!!
What was interesting and also really bad for the USN task force was that Callahan was senior to Norman Scott by a week, thus gaining command of the task force despite having no experience in night battles where Norman Scott would probably have been better served to lead the task force.
My unit, 1st bn 7th marine reg was a major part of taking and holding Henderson field under the command of Chesty Puller 😎🔥
And yes, John Basilone did earn his CMOH here. He was in our battalion
Has there been any movies made about this night time naval battle
Can you do the battle of Samar especially taffy 3 that’s one hell of a story.
If it was just you and another sibling that enlisted in the US military, does the sole survivor policy also count for that too?
I’d love to see you react to some warhawks battle maps to compare how accurate his work is
I've done some of their videos. I've also walked the Antietam battlefield with the guy who writes their scripts.
@@VloggingThroughHistory I’ll have to check them out. I guess I must have missed them. A lot of your stuff doesn’t show up on my notifications
Over on "World War 2"s WW2 in real time channel they are currently going through this time period.
One thing you are missing in your discussion of the impact of Guadalcanal is that this represents the furthest extension of Japanese power extension, and the first time that western powers have been able to hold back the Japanese army. (The Chinese army has been able to stop the Japanese, at great cost, but the UK and Dutch armies have by this time lost Malaysia, Burma, and Indonesia.)
"Henderson Field" was originally started by the Japanese and was captured and completed by the US. Japan saw their operation as retaking land and positions they previously occupied.
At the strategic level, this action is happening at the same time as Japan's attempt to take New Guinea and Port Moresby overland. Diverting troops to retake Guadalcanal means they didn't have the manpower to take Port Moresby, even though they managed to get within sight of it.
Meanwhile over in the USSR the battle of Stalingrad has started up, so everything is in the balance and on the edge now. (I'm writing this as of the beginning of October, so "now" will be different when you read this comment.)
Love seeing my home state's battleship USS North Carolina in the thumbnail 😀
As far as the sole survivor policy goes... My father-in-law's great uncle served in WW2. The only reason his grandfather didn't serve was because the only children in that family was the 2 brothers.
My great grandfather was at Guadalcanal
Hey! Anazing video as always but could you consider doing some videos on Daniel boone? He is an ancestor of mine and id like to learn more about him Via your channel...All i know is he was a leading frontiersman early in Americas life...Thanks for reading!
He’s my uncle through both my mother and father.
@@VloggingThroughHistory We might be distantly related! Im in central Wisconsin but my grandmother is from Kentucky and shes a Masten
Look up the Kidd Class DDGs [aka the dead Admirals class] - there are 4 of them.
Kidd was killed on the Arizona.
Callaghan and Scott were in this battle.
Chandler died of burns from a Kamikaze in Jan 45.
As I specified the two admirals killed here were the only ones killed by surface fire. The other two you mentioned were killed by planes.
@@VloggingThroughHistory Plus there was a fifth admiral, Mullinnix, who was killed when his flagship, USS Liscome Bay, was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. Doris Miller, the Pearl Harbor hero, was also killed in this sinking.
also colloquially nicknamed the "Ayatollah Class". Originally ordered and built for Iran in the Shah's time; none had yet been completed/delivered in 1979.
@@cragnamorra Also called the Shah's Navy, they are still in operation in Taiwan's Navy.
[I'm Retired USN - Active 1981-2003.]
Never served on one but, they were part of the CVBGs and CMEF when I was in the Gulf or Gonzo.
Savo Island and Guadalcanal highlights how ill prepared the US Navy and commanders were to battle the Japanese Navy at night battles
Rear Admiral Kidd was killed on board USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Rear Admiral Daniel Callaghan was killed at Guadalcanal together with Rear Admiral Scott, while Rear Admiral Theodore Chandler was killed in January 1945, when his ship was hit by a kamikaze. They are the "dead admirals" who gave their names to the Kidd-class destroyers (DD-993 - DD-996).
Correct. I was specifically talking about the only admirals killed by surface action during the war. Kidd and Chandler were killed by aircraft.
In addition to Scott and Callaghan, there was Rear Admiral Henry M. Mullinix. He was on board Liscome Bay (CVE-56) when she was torpedoed and sunk off Makin Island, in the Gilberts, November 24, 1943. He was declared dead a year later. He was not included as a namesake in the "dead admiral class", as he had already had a destroyer named after himself in the 1950's.
@@stefanpajung113 Liscome Bay was sunk by a submarine. Again, my discussion was on those killed by surface action.
It's a tragedy for the family if you got 5 sons and they all die. In my grandfather's village there is also a family like that except when the Nazi commander came to get their last son to join the army the mother chased them away.
"Iron Bottom Sound" became the name for the waters around Savo Island.
Those watching this probably know that already.
Indeed. I think Iron Bottom Sound has actually become the formal name for that body of water, not just an unofficial nickname. At the time, I think it was called "Sealark Channel" before the campaign...or at least the southeast portion was, between Guadalcanal and Tulagi.
Your inforamtion about the first Admiral killed in battle isn't exactly correct. Rear Admiral Kidd was awarded the Medal of Honor for his leadership aboard the USS Arizona. The only thing left of the flag bridge that could be given to his wife was his Naval Academy ring, which was melted into the bulkhead.
didnt read down far enoughjust posted the same. Admiral Mullinex was killed on a CVE off the Marshall Islands, and Admiral Chandler was killed on the Louisville off of Okinawa.
Im woundering what happend to uss south dokota, in this vid it looks like it was damaged badly and it faces the full heat of multiple taskforces of japan after the uss Washington slipt away? How did it survive? And ifso, why did the japanese let a battleship leave?
South Dakota was indeed damaged and took significant casualties. But much of it was to superstructure and topside systems, including communications. She did not, however, lose propulsion and had relatively little hull damage. So was rendered temporarily combat-ineffective, rather than threatened with actual loss of the ship. As far as the IJN, clearly they had problems of their own against Washington; were in no position to pursue the SD as she disengaged.
Footnote: one of South Dakota's wounded sailors was 12-year-old Calvin Graham. Youngest American (known) to have fought in WW2. Had (obviously) lied about his age to enlist. Discharged from the Navy the following year when his true age became known...apparently his mom caught up with where he was and made a fuss.
@@cragnamorra thanks, good to know!
Hey i know its not the right video for this but i have a qwestion. Did the soldier(s) that discover order 191 reciev a reward, if yes what was it?
I don't believe so, as there is at least some doubt over who even found it. The man most likely to have found the orders was wounded soon after and died in 1868. Here's an interesting article on it www.historynet.com/corporal-barton-w-mitchell-and-the-lost-orders.htm
@@VloggingThroughHistory thank you
First US Admiral to die in combat was Isaac Kidd at Pearl Harbor.
I believe they specified in this video from enemy surface fire. Kidd was killed by a plane.
What is the most surprising thing you've learned while doing reaction videos?
FYI Rear Admiral Isaac Campbell Kidd on USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor became the first U.S. Navy flag officer killed in action in World War II as well as the first killed in action against any foreign enemy.
Correct. But not killed by surface fire which is what I talked about in this video.
@@VloggingThroughHistory Fair enough. Again good work sir I take my hat off to you.
Only 1hour almost live all the ones I see are always months old
I wonder if this is relevant but have to you watched "The Pacific" by HBO? It's like the "Band of Brothers of the Pacific theater". I'm just 2 minutes into the video so maybe this will be answered along the way. Regardless, The Operations Room is a great channel, thanks for covering their content!
4:34 nevermind, there it is! 😂
Sabaton just released a new song called "Steel Commander" its about tank warfare. Its an amazing song that I think you ahould react to
Did that reaction earlier this week.
@@VloggingThroughHistory oh i did not know that. RUclips's notification must be messed up again