Hello and welcome to episode 120 of the unauthorized history of the Pacific War podcast. My name is Seth Peridon, historian and deputy director of the Mississippi Armed Forces Museum here at Camp Shelby. And with me, as always, is my esteemed co-host, retired Navy captain Bill Toaddy, former Skipper of the Fast Attack Submarine Usess, Indianapolis, Commodore Submarine Squadron 3 in Pearl Harbor, many other postings. How are you this morning, Bill?

I'm freezing down here in Florida. It's a middle of the winter, 60 degrees. I can't believe how cold it is.

Well, John.

John, Minneapolis, I know. He's not going to want to hear that.

So if you are listening and or watching, you've heard another voice on here this week, Bill and I have our return special guests with us. He's been here before. We always love to have him. He's the one, the only, my good buddy, John, partial, John, how are you? I am very well and shedding a single tear for Bill in Florida. Yeah, exactly.

Hey, keep shedding them because it's 80 degrees here in Andesburg today. I like it cold. All right. I do too. So tomorrow night is going to... Short sleeve shirt. I don't care. Yeah, tomorrow it's going to drop 50 degrees overnight. So, yeah. Good. Anyway. Okay, so back to the important topic. if you've been listening to the podcast as of late, you are well aware that we are making our way through the Slugfest. That is the Guadalcanal campaign. While the fighting ashore has raged on and off between pitched engagements, the seas around the canal have been anything but quiet. Savo Island in August was a debacle for the U.S. Navy, to put it mildly,

the carrier forces under Admiral Fletcher landed some fairly significant blows on the Japanese carrier force at Eastern Solomons, and Admiral Norman Scott finally exacted some revenge for Savo at the

Battle of Cape Esperance. The U.S. Navy has added share of victories as well as defeats in these bloody waters.

And while the fighting has been significant at sea, it's not over, not by a long shot.

The calendar now since October 1942, October 26th, to be exact, and ashore the Japanese have launched a massive offensive to push, finally, push the Marines and

Army now off of Guadalcanal. The October offensive and the fighting that takes place

ashore will be remembered as the battle for Henderson Field. The fighting at sea that takes

place only a day later, all coinciding with the offensive ashore, will be called the

Battle of Santa Cruz. So gentlemen, this is a battle that, you know, any carrier battle in 1942 ultimately get

overshadowed by the Battle of Midway and then the Battle of Coral Sea.

This, I would venture to argue, is just as important, certainly more important than Coral Sea.

And it's right, maybe just a frog's hair below midway in terms of importance.

And this is a big battle.

This is a large battle.

John, the Japanese send a large fleet down here.

Yeah.

A lot, they send a lot of boats down here. Yeah.

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