The battle of Savo Island was arguably the worst, most lopsided naval defeat the US navy ever suffered.
On teh night of August 8-9, 1942, just days after the Guadalcanal landing, a Japanese task force under Admiral Mikawa of 5 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers, and 1 destroyer slipped completely undetected through The Slot and in a space of 15 minutes, sank 5 US and Australian Cruisers guarding the transports at Tulagi and Guadalcanal, taking practcally no return fire. This one-sided defeat was nicknamed "The Battle of the Five Sitting Ducks" by Guadalcanal campaign veterans.
This left practically nothing left guarding the transports, but Mikawa, fearing a daylight carrier strike, turned back. In reality, the US carriers and larger capital ships had already withdrawn to refuel and rearm, and to protect them from Japanese attack. The next day the Transports were all withdrawn. This left the Marines on Guadalcanal in a bad way as over half their equipment was still in the ships. However, all those ships were still afloat to bring in new supplies later.
So what if Mikawa instead drives on, Sinks the San Juan (the only cruiser still available to guard the transports) as well, and destroys the transports off Guadalcanal and Tulagi?
While certainly the US can eventually make good the loss of transports, that will take some time. What is the immediate effect on the Guadalcanal campaign? Is the island abandoned?
On teh night of August 8-9, 1942, just days after the Guadalcanal landing, a Japanese task force under Admiral Mikawa of 5 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers, and 1 destroyer slipped completely undetected through The Slot and in a space of 15 minutes, sank 5 US and Australian Cruisers guarding the transports at Tulagi and Guadalcanal, taking practcally no return fire. This one-sided defeat was nicknamed "The Battle of the Five Sitting Ducks" by Guadalcanal campaign veterans.
This left practically nothing left guarding the transports, but Mikawa, fearing a daylight carrier strike, turned back. In reality, the US carriers and larger capital ships had already withdrawn to refuel and rearm, and to protect them from Japanese attack. The next day the Transports were all withdrawn. This left the Marines on Guadalcanal in a bad way as over half their equipment was still in the ships. However, all those ships were still afloat to bring in new supplies later.
So what if Mikawa instead drives on, Sinks the San Juan (the only cruiser still available to guard the transports) as well, and destroys the transports off Guadalcanal and Tulagi?
While certainly the US can eventually make good the loss of transports, that will take some time. What is the immediate effect on the Guadalcanal campaign? Is the island abandoned?