The Coastwatchers saved Guadalcanal and Guadalcanal saved the Pacific.
With these words , the United States Navy's Admiral William 'Bull' Halsey, commander of the South Pacific forces retaking Guadalcanal, relayed his appreciation to the Australian Coastwatchers for their warnings of enemy movements during the battle for Guadalcanal.
At 9.30 am on 7 August 1942, from his concealed position on South Bougainville in the Solomon Islands, Coastwatcher Paul Mason observed a Japanese air strike force which had taken off from Rabaul, New Britain. This strike force was responding to the Allied landings taking place at Guadalcanal and nearby Tulagi earlier that morning. It was still more than 500 kilometres from their objective when Mason transmitted his warning:
From STO. Twenty-four bombers headed yours.
The action, which was intended to protect Allied communication and supply lines, was the beginning of the island-hopping Allied offensive that would isolate Rabaul, the major Japanese base in the Pacific. Amongst the 77 Allied ships were the cruisers HMA Ships Hobart, Australia and Canberra.
Rear-Admiral Victor Crutchley, a Royal Navy officer who had been seconded to the RAN, was placed in charge of a screening force to protect the transports and supply ships against air, submarine and surface attack. His force comprised three groups, two of which patrolled the west and south approaches and which included HMA Ships Australia and Canberra and USS Chicago and the east patrol group, which included HMAS Hobart.
Roy Scrivener in HMAS Hobart described their role:
… it was Hobart's and Australia's and USS Chicago's and attached destroyers' duty to keep the enemy at bay and away from the troops who were landing.
… it was our duty to keep the supply of the troops ashore and their equipment up to scratch and flowing.
[Roy Scrivener, HMAS Hobart, interview, June 1989, Keith Murdoch Sound Archive, AWM]
Preparing for war [AWM F01909]
Thanks to both Paul Mason and a simultaneous intelligence report of approaching enemy submarines, all Allied ships were under way and carrier fighter aircraft were in position to intercept by the time the Japanese aircraft arrived over Guadalcanal on 7 August.
However, early in the morning of 9 August 1942, Australian and American warships, supporting US marines landing on the Japanese-held islands of Guadalcanal and Tulagi, were surprised and defeated by a Japanese strike force. The action that developed that night is known as the Battle of Savo Island.
The Japanese naval area commander, Vice-Admiral Gunichi Mikawa, decided to make a night attack and on 8 August his force sailed south from the northern Solomons. Despite being detected by two RAAF Hudson bombers on reconnaissance, this critical intelligence didn't reach the Allied commanders off Guadalcanal and Admiral Mikawa and his seven kilometre, single line of ships was able to pass between Allied ships without being detected.
We were each night taken away from the transports to protect, through patrol, the areas by which everyone enters the waterways between Tulagi and Guadalcanal. Spaced probably 30 miles apart. Tulagi to the east of Guadalcanal. In the middle and north was Savo Island … Hobart (was) patrolling one area while Quincy, Vincennes, Astoria and Canberra were patrolling another area. At about ten past one on this very black night, I was a surface lookout. … I was on the bridge when there was a flash off our starboard bow, but many miles distant.
[Roy Scrivener, HMAS Hobart, interview, June 1989, Keith Murdoch Sound Archive, AWM]
When the Japanese ships encountered the southern patrol group that included HMAS Canberra and USS Chicago, they launched torpedoes that hit the Chicago, badly damaging but not sinking the ship. They missed the Canberra but before Canberra could return fire, explosions rocked the ship as Japanese warships fired on her. Canberra lost power and was quickly out of the action.
Next, the three American heavy cruisers, Vincennes, Astoria and Quincy, were destroyed by shellfire in what has been described as 'a model action and tactical masterpiece' by the Japanese. The US Navy suffered 1593 casualties of whom nearly 1000 were killed or died of wounds. The RAN suffered 193 casualties of whom 84, all crewmen in Canberra, were killed or died of wounds. The commanding officer of Canberra, Captain Frank Getting, was amongst those who died.
The crew of the disabled Canberra, now without power and water pressure, was unable to fight the fierce fire on board. Francis Pickup, a signaller in HMAS Canberra, gave this account of his ship's last hours:
The fire raged and cancer-like, the flames, fuelled by several coats of paint since 1925, spread uncontrollably. Much was done between the hours of 0143 to 0600 to attend the wounded and dying men. I was amongst the group gathered on the quarterdeck. Everybody kept calm despite the situation. Flames burned amidships and at one stage were licking at the Walrus amphibious aircraft mounted on the catapult. The bombs on both wings seemed likely at one stage to explode. The fuel tank of 2000 gallons [9000 litres] was in danger of catching alight. Thankfully nothing eventuated.
At 0600 the order to 'abandon ship' came and the US destroyer received the survivors after a slide down the lifelines on the port side.
[Francis Pickup]
The Canberra remained afloat until the next morning, which enabled all of the survivors to be embarked on to American destroyers. They were transferred to the USS President Grant where the wounded were treated and accommodated in bunks and cabins. Others were housed in the ship's holds, fed and issued with warm clothing. American destroyers sank the damaged Canberra in 'Ironbottom Sound' at 8.00 am on 10 August 1942. The survivors arrived in Sydney on the President Grant ten days later.
The Battle of Savo Island has been dogged with controversy. On the one hand American accounts of the battle have often alleged that Australian failings contributed to the Japanese successes. The official Australian naval history, written years later, put the sinking of the Canberra down to 24 Japanese shells that had hit the ship. More recent studies suggest that the damage to Canberra, which had prevented the cruiser from fighting back, was caused by a torpedo fired from the American destroyer, USS Bagley.
Coastwatchers
During 1942, a number of Royal Australian Navy (RAN) coastwatchers, strategically placed behind Japanese lines in the Solomon Islands and other locations, kept watch on Japanese naval movements. They sent regular radio reports to Australian Naval Intelligence at Townsville, Queensland. Former plantation owner Lieutenant Paul Mason and Lieutenant Paul Read were on Bougainville Island, while Lieutenant Donald Macfarlan and Sub-Lieutenant Frederick Rhoades (former manager of Burns Philp's copra and rubber plantation on the north-west coast of Guadalcanal Island) were concealed on Guadalcanal. All were members of the Royal Australian Naval Volunteer Reserve (RANVR).
The Coastwatchers had reported enemy interest in Guadalcanal since the Japanese occupied the island in June 1942. The Japanese had made some attempts to capture them, even landing an occupation force with dogs on Bougainville. Despite some close shaves, the loyalty of local villagers and the skill of the Coastwatchers thwarted the Japanese attempts.
The Coastwatchers' detailed reports of Japanese shipping and aircraft movements provided valuable early warning of naval convoys and air raids heading south-east towards Allied forces. In August 1942, during the American attack on Guadalcanal, which was supported by Australian warships, both Read and Mason were instructed to move inland and to maintain radio silence. Despite their orders, they continued to warn Allied forces of approaching Japanese ships and aircraft.
From STO. Twenty-four bombers headed yours.
Just days before the Allied offensive at Guadalcanal, Read was briefed to use the first three letters from his married sister's surname, Stokie, as his call sign. He had also been briefed to report aircraft in 'plain language' to save time. Thirty minutes after his transmission, this message was heard simultaneously by listening posts throughout the Pacific including Port Moresby, Townsville and Canberra as well as Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. This vital information was quickly sent on to the Allied forces preparing for the impending attack.
In October 1942, Coastwatchers Read, Rhoades, MacFarlan and Mason were each awarded an American Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) for their bravery.