#Night Battle

[ltwilliammowett]

Battle at night, by Alexander Shenderov

[mareislandfoundation]

Friday the 13th

Head out to Lands’ End in San Francisco and you will encounter what appears to be an observation platform overlooking the mouth of the Golden Gate. It is a memorial built with the battle-scarred bridge wings removed from the Heavy Cruiser USS San Francisco (CA-38) following an epic night battle.

In early 1942 an Allied intelligence aircraft identified that the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) had begun constructing a large airfield on an island nobody had ever heard of. Should this airfield become operational, Japanese long-range bombers would threaten the critical sea lanes from the United States to Australia and New Zealand. U.S. Admiral Ernest King, Commander in Chief, United States Fleet, directed the invasion of Guadalcanal to deny the use of the airstrip by the Japanese. With that decision, the stage was set for a bloody battle on land sea and air. The battle began on 7 August 1942, when Allied (primarily U.S.) forces landed against light resistance on Guadalcanal, and the adjacent Tulagi, and Florida Islands in the Solomon Islands. Things rapidly escalated as the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters responded by assigning the Imperial Japanese Army's 17th Army, with the task of retaking Guadalcanal at all costs. In addition, consistent with IJN naval war plans the emerging Guadalcanal conflict was anticipated to provide the opportunity for a decisive naval engagement.  Accordingly, orders were issued to converge on the island. The Japanese General admonished his troops that this was going to be the decisive battle between Japan and the United States. A battle that would determine the rise or fall of the Japanese empire. He was right, and it would take six-months and tens of thousands of lives before the Guadalcanal campaign was decided.

Guadalcanal’s land and naval battles became one of the bloodiest campaigns of the war and it remains legendary in US naval and Marine history. The campaign ended in a US victory and, even though the Marines originally felt deserted by the Navy, the battle at sea was actually bloodier than that on land. Two Mare Island built heavy cruisers the USS Chicago (CA-29) and the San Francisco figured prominently in the ongoing struggle. After the Navy first left the Marines ashore to fend for themselves, it was decided to send available assets on what amounted to a suicide mission pitting US cruisers against the overwhelming superiority of IJN Battleships. The San Francisco, source of  those bridge wings on Lands’ End, played a significant role in that fight which would ultimately result in naval casualties that were three times higher than the losses of the Marines and Army combined. The sea battles mostly took place at night when the IJN would sail down the slot between Florida Island and Guadalcanal to attack US naval assets and bombard US land forces on Guadalcanal.

On March 9, 1933, San Francisco’s namesake, and the second heavy cruiser to be built at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, slid down the building ways. Champagne was not available due to the Prohibition, so she was christened with water from the famed Hetch-Hetchy water system. The christening fluid was even rarer than champagne at the time because after 19 years and many bond issues none of it had yet reached San Francisco (nor would any until another year and half had passed). Approximately 25,000 people gathered on both sides of the channel to see the launch during those early days of the Depression. Few could have envisioned that ten years later the heavily damaged cruiser would limp back to Mare Island for repairs following a night-time engagement in the campaign to capture Guadalcanal.

On the night of Friday, November 13, 1942, the San Francisco attacked a vastly superior Japanese force As part of Task Group 67.4 off the coast of Guadalcanal. It was the most brutal close-quarters naval engagement of World War II. The San Francisco took 45 direct hits and sustained heavy damage while sinking one Japanese ship and seriously damaging two others (including a battleship). With half her crew killed or wounded the remaining crew members performed valiantly as they tended to the casualties and performed damage control. Through their efforts the badly damaged San Francisco survived to fight another day. One hundred and six sailors, including Rear Admiral Daniel Callaghan, were killed and 131 more wounded in what Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King called "…the most furious sea battle fought in history." The battle of Friday the 13th was an American strategic victory despite the loss of two cruisers and four destroyers. On that night the valiant actions of those ships prevented the IJN from shelling the Cactus Air Force on Guadalcanal. The next morning that air force decimated the IJN troopships attempting to reinforce and resupply Japanese forces on Guadalcanal. It was the beginning of the end for Japanese efforts to win back Guadalcanal and the San Francisco was a key part of that victory.

The San Francisco was sent back to Mare Island for repairs. Arriving in her namesake city she and her crew were celebrated in week long festivities before returning to Mare Island for repair of her extensive battle damage. By the end of the seven naval battles in the Guadalcanal campaign over 5,000 Americans were killed at sea, and the battleground would be become so littered with sunken combatants that it became known as “Iron Bottom Sound.” To this day you can visit the memorial featuring the battle-scarred bridge wings of the San Francisco at Lands’ End in the city of San Francisco. When you do, reflect on those men who stood watch and died on that bridge knowing they were on a suicide mission during a furious night battle against vastly superior forces.

Dennis Kelly

[grim-vs-lizard]

[loolilyumm]

The night we met

[sharkuro]

the last 2 are so funny to me.. like.. girl what happened

[ermwhatsup]

love how everyone else is living in the normal historical drama/political thriller world of the show while daemon is temporarily stuck in a psychological horror story

[courtesanofdeath]

Tsukki, what are your thoughts on volleyball lately? Thanks to everyone...Every now and then... Just once in a while, it can be sorta fun.

[shalom-iamcominghome]

It's absolutely true that delusions can take on religious elements and be fueled in part or whole by religion, but dear l-rd, do I hate when people blanket all religion under this whole "it's all delusion, anyway!!!".

No it is not, and I know that because I know what it's like to have gone through delusions! I was reminded of that difference recently, and I'm religious. Not everything that you personally disagree with is a delusion, a narcissistic power play, or anything else. Sometimes you disagree with others. I am pretty religious, but I am more than willing to agree with non-theists about their opinions because they come up with good ideas and we are equal human beings. In fact, the atheist has strengthened my own religious beliefs because I am challenged by them to actually think things through. My whole issue with this is the - funnily enough - holier-than-thou, stigmatizing attitudes that are necessary to say things like that.

As someone who has a vested interest in mental health and accurate information about it, this stuff unironically angers me. The human in me wants to educate people, but the ape in me wants to take away the terms delusional, narcissistic, gaslighting, and every mental health term under the sun away until people learn how to properly use and apply them. The only people you are hurting are people who are already hurting.

[weirdstrangeguybattle]

[timethehobo]

Love drawing rain scenes tbh.

[old-desert]

Inktobertale 2024 Day 5: Camping

Cross doesn't know that the first law of the multiverse is that there's nowhere Ink can't be.

[buckycap]

i do think it’s very important that liam pointed out specifically that no matter how hardheaded orym is in what he believes he doesn’t let that stop him from seeking dorian out for comfort and wanting dorian close to him and dorian quickly reciprocating. i think that’s especially important when so many people thought that their opposing sides would drive them further apart (especially on orym’s part) when in actuality we learned that orym’s love for dorian is SO fucking strong that it it supersedes his hardheadedness which when you remember who orym is, is actually a big fucking deal

[egophiliac]

I got a really tough question.

What’s your favorite Twst event of ALL TIME?

I like Harveston

this truly is the hardest question. :( but after much consideration, I think Endless Halloween Night wins out for me, because it's nonstop Characters Being Silly the whole way through. the whole thing is just lots of these little dorks having the most ridiculous interactions, which is always my favorite! and of course the big twist is SO delightfully stupid and doubles down SO hard that it becomes AMAZING and I 100% unironically adore it. AND it's Halloween! everyone is in their cute little costumes and having a spooky adventure! it's great!

however, I am ALSO a big fan of the Harveston event! how can I not be! everyone is wearing comfy winter outfits and getting along really weirdly well with Epel's grandma and he's getting a little worried about that! my terrible loud son sews a plush squirrel and then gives it a silly little nickname and refuses to leave it behind when it breaks! the ending shot with the sled! I LOVE IT.

obviously we need the best of both worlds now

[collophora]

"Let's fix this drawing" *redraw the whole thing*

[donelywell]

Later that night...

Part 1