Battle of Eastern Solomons and Battle of Santa Cruz Archival Footage – Episode 537

The Unauthorized History of the Pacific War

Captain William Toti, USN

Naval History And Heritage Command, History, Imperial Japanese Navy, Sam Cox, Admiral King, Cruisers, Spruance, Fargo, Seth Paridon, Fighters, Pacific War, Stavridis, Cactus Air Force, December 7, Station Hypo, William Toti, Bombers, Bill Toti, Navy, Halsey, Submarines, Society & Culture, Education, Us Navy, Mush Morton, Cincpoa, Documentary, Guadalcanal, Imperial Japan, World War Ii, Midway, Aircraft Carriers, Cryptology, Wake Island, Nimitz, Cincpac, Macarthur, Pearl Harbor, Wahoo, Courses, Battleships, New Guinea

4.9 • 872 Ratings

🗓️ 13 January 2026

⏱️ 94 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week Seth Paridon and Jon Parshall dig into some incredible archival footage from the final two carrier battles of 1942. The Battle of Eastern Solomons, fought on August 24, 1942, was the first carrier battle since Midway and saw USS Enterprise and USS Saratoga engage Japanese carrier forces in a short, sharp clash. Enterprise is heavily damaged during the battle, and the guys dissect the footage shot from the Big E frame by frame, while simultaneously busting a couple of myths about the footage. Following the violent Eastern Solomons footage, the guys look at the footage shot aboard CV-6 at Santa Cruz in October, as well as footage of USS Hornet (CV-8) and her final moments. The footage in this one is visceral, violent and close-up, but vitally important and utterly fascinating as we see ships like USS South Dakota, North Carolina, San Diego, San Juan, Pensacola, Northampton, Smith and others in incredible action. Check this one out, Nerderatti, you’ll dig it. US National Archives footage shown here are reels: 428npc13397 428npc13399 428npc13400 #wwiihistory #ww2 #usnavy #usa #usarmy #medalofhonor #enterprise #aircraft #aircraftcarrier #cv6 #midway #wwii #wwiihistory #ww2 #worldwar2 #usnavy #usnavyseals #usmc #usmarines #saipan #usa #usarmy #aircraft #aircraftcarrier #battleship #battleships #ussenterprise #aircraftcarriers #museum #essex #halsey #taskforce38 #wwii #wwiihistory #ww2 #usnavy #usa #usarmy #medalofhonor #enterprise #aircraft #aircraftcarrier #cv6 #midway #wwii #wwiihistory #ww2 #worldwar2 #usnavy #usnavyseals #usmc #usmarines #saipan #usa #usarmy #aircraft #aircraftcarrier #battleship #battleships #ussenterprise #aircraftcarriers #museum #hollywood #movie #movies #books #mastersoftheair #8thairforce #mightyeighth #100thbombgroup #bloodyhundredth #b17 #boeing #airforce wwii #wwiihistory #ww2 #usnavy #usa #usarmy #medalofhonor #enterprise #aircraft #aircraftcarrier #cv6 #midway #wwii #wwiihistory #ww2 #worldwar2 #usnavy #usnavyseals #usmc #usmarines #saipan #usa #usarmy #aircraft #aircraftcarrier #battleship #battleships #ussenterprise #aircraftcarriers #museum #hollywood #movie #movies #books #oldbreed #1stMarineDivision #thepacific #Peleliu #army #marines #marinecorps #worldwar2 #worldwar #worldwarii #leytegulf #battleofleytegulf #rodserling #twilightzone #liberation #blacksheep #power #prisoner #prisonerofwar #typhoon #hurricane #weather #iwojima#bullhalsey #ace #p47 #p38 #fighter #fighterpilot #b29 #strategicstudying #tokyo #boeing #incendiary #usa #franklin #okinawa #yamato #kamikaze #Q&A #questions #questionsandanswers #history #jaws #atomicbomb #nuclear #nationalarchives #nara #johnford #hollywood #fdr #president #roosevelt #doolittle #doolittleraid #pearlharborattack #salvaged #medalofhonor #tarawa #malayalam #singapore #guadalcanal

Transcript

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0:00.0	The
0:07.0	The Right. All right. You ready?
0:42.4	Yes, sir.
0:43.3	All right, let's do it.
0:45.9	Hello, and welcome.
0:48.5	Let's do it.
0:52.6	Let's do this.
0:54.8	All right, here we go.
0:56.5	Hello and welcome to episode 537 of unauthorized history of Pacific War
0:59.9	podcast.
1:00.5	My name is Seth Parrott and historian and deputy director of the Mississippi Armed Forces Museum.
1:03.7	And with me as always is my co-host, author and historian good buddy, John Parshall.
1:07.7	How are you this frigid December day?
1:10.9	Stressed out and overworked. How about you? Let's just lay it out, you know?
1:17.2	I'm good. You know, I'm almost to the point where I can produce a complete galley of the book now.
1:22.7	That's, that's, we're getting there. So, but yeah, God, I'm, as my friend Seth would say, I am busier than a one-armed paper hanger at this point in time.
1:33.4	And, yeah, in December is just kind of what it is.
1:36.5	Anyway, but I prefer the one-legged man in an ass kicking contest.
1:43.7	Whatever, man. Whatever, whatever contest. Whatever, man.
1:45.0	Whatever, whatever.
1:46.0	All right, so, as you can tell, we're doing an archival episode today because this is the week after Thanksgiving and John and I didn't want to prep anything.
1:55.0	So here we are.
	...

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