Combat Ships

This time on Combat Ships...

An epic naval battle off the shores of Guadalcanal...

It was a desperate-- some would say even a suicidal mission.

Nine warships destroyed

and thousands of lives lost.

All them were pretty much banged up.

Some of 'em without arms legs or whatever.

Not even the commanders are spared.

It represents the only moment in the us Navy's history,

where two officers of flag rank are killed in the same battle.

Heroes are made

and remembered for generations...

Acts of heroism were performed in that action

and unfortunately, a lot of valorous deaths.

...in a battle that changes

the course of World War II.

The US enters World War II

after the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor,

December 7th, 1941.

In the early months of fighting,

the US Navy is forced to play catch-up with the Japanese...

in the Pacific.

Japan started the Pacific War in December of 1941

with attacks on Pearl Harbor.

And they managed to run the table for several weeks,

of overrunning all of Southeast Asia.

The entire six-month struggle, from the summer of '42

to the beginning of 1943,

was really about who was going to retain, permanently,

the strategic initiative in the Pacific theater.

Control of shipping lanes is paramount.

Disrupting the enemy's ability to move troops and supplies

is crucial to dominating the Pacific

and its countless islands.

One warzone, around New Guinea,

is key to controlling the region.

In July 1942,

the Japanese take New Guinea

and the island of Guadalcanal

at the edge of their rapidly expanding area of control.

Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands chain

is located at the South Eastern corner

of this area of control

that the Japanese had carved out for themselves

in the first months of the Pacific War.

Japan needed to build a stronghold

against allied counter attack.

On July 9th,

the Japanese start building an airfield.

The Allies could not allow this to happen.

In Japanese hands,

it could severely disrupt communications

between the United States and Australia.

If you're gonna use Australia as a staging ground

to push the Japanese outta Southeast Asia,

Australia needs all of the implements of war.

It needs to get planes, tanks, munitions,

most importantly, it needs oil.

If the Japanese are able to take the airfield,

reinforce it, and then use it to, sort of, cut off Australia

as a staging ground for future attacks

by the Allied Powers,

that's the worst case scenario.

The Americans decide to take action.

August, 1942,

an invasion force of 75 warships

and transports with 16,000 men on board

set sail for Guadalcanal.

The US 1st Marine Division

is tasked with taking the island from the Japanese.

It'll be the first US amphibious landing operation

of World War ll.

Success depends on a small unassuming vessel,

the Higgins Landing Craft.

Andrew Higgins was a New Orleans based inventor

and entrepreneur.

He saw the need for an all-purpose boat

that could be used in the swamps of the Southern States.

A lot of the people that needed boats down here

were working in very shallow waters or congested waterways.

And so Higgins started to design craft

that could actually work in these

for oil industry, for fur trappers,

for fishermen, everyone that needed boats.

In 1938,

the navy saw that Higgin's design

had potential as a troop transporter.

With its shallow draft and huge carrying capacity,

it needed little modification

to be used on the shallow beaches of the Pacific.

Everything about his boat

was really perfect for amphibious invasions.

August 7th, 1942, 31 destroyers,

nine heavy cruisers and a battleship,

shower Guadalcanal with shellfire

in preparation for the US invasion.

It will the first time the military version

of the Higgins boats

called the Landing Craft Personnel Large, or LCPL,

will see combat action.

A fleet of Higgins boats begin their work

transporting marines to seize the Japanese airfield.

The LCPL can carry up to 36 troops

or a couple thousand pounds of cargo directly onto a beach.

And they have to disembark over the side.

There's a large step rail

that goes the length of it

and you're supposed to be able to sling yourself

over the side, set a foot on there,

and then you can make the jump

to the rest of the beach.

At Guadalcanal,

success will depend on Higgins' revolutionary design

and the teamwork of the crew.

We're at the Coxswain Station

for the Landing Craft Personnel large or LCPL.

To actually physically operate the vessel,

it only takes one man to do it, and he stands right here.

This position also gives a clear view

over the bow of the landing craft.

Good communication with the gunners,

and the troops are behind him so he can beach it.

The troops will disembark over the sides,

and then he can begin to retract

with a clear view back to the waves.

The LCPL can retract from that beach,

turn before the next wave comes in,

and return to the ship for another load.

It's bringing things back and back,

sort of, this amphibious conveyor belt of supply

and new waves and material and weapons.

Within 24 hours,

the Higgins boats prove their worth,

transferring 11,000 marines onto the island.

The Americans started out with a single marine division,

but began adding to that as they were able to do so

sending sea-carried reinforcements

into Guadalcanal...

-(EXPLOSION) ...almost every night.

Despite most of the island

still under the control of the Japanese,

the marines achieve their primary goal.

They capture the precious runway

and rename it Henderson Field.

The Japanese could not let this stand.

Japan was determined through major bombardment,

and trying to get reinforcement on the island,

that they were gonna take the airfield back.

For the Japanese, the airfield was critical

because it was part of their push for the Pacific defense

and their expansion through the Pacific and into Asia.

Over the next three days,

seven Japanese battlecruisers and one destroyer

attack the American invasion fleet.

The fight for Guadalcanal is on.

The waters around Guadalcanal

saw an immense amount of fighting.

Many battles fought at night

sometimes between large squadrons of ships,

but also between tiny forces of two or three vessels aside.

Four Allied cruisers are sunk.

Only one Japanese ship sustains moderate damage.

September 23rd, 1942,

after seven weeks of bitter fighting,

the Marine 1st division

has held the line on their patch of Guadalcanal.

The Marine Corps command devises a plan

to defeat the remaining Japanese on the island.

Part of that operation involved the landing

of several companies of marines to encircle the Japanese.

Those marines moved inland after a successful landing

and soon encountered

an overwhelmingly superior Japanese force

and found themselves in a desperate situation

The marines are forced to retreat back to the beaches.

Rescue by Higgins boat is their only hope.

A fleet of landing craft is launched to rescue the Marines.

Leading it is 23-year-old coastguardsman Douglas Munro.

In 1939, as war looms,

Munro enlists with the Coast Guard,

as he wants to save lives.

By 1942,

his skills are desperately needed on the Higgins boats,

landing troops on Guadalcanal.

He became a signalman,

he trained as a coxswain

and he was almost out at sea

pretty much from the time he enlisted

until the Guadalcanal campaign.

On September 27th, 1942,

Munro is racing in his Higgins boat

toward the beach in a desperate bid to save his comrades.

It's a highly dangerous mission.

-(GUN FIRING) -(EXPLOSIONS)

Trying to conduct an amphibious operation,