The Battle of Rennell Island was a naval battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II fought on 29 January – 30 January 1943 between a United States task force and land-based Japanese bombers, near Rennell Island south of Guadalcanal. The Americans lost the heavy cruiser Chicago in the battle.

At the end of January 1943, the Japanese were preparing to evacuate Guadalcanal, but the Americans misinterpreted the increased ship traffic as preparation for another offensive. Admiral William Halsey, Jr. decided to send in no less than five task forces to cover the relief of the US 2nd Marine Division. Task Force 18 , under Rear Admiral Robert C. Giffen , and consisting of two escort carriers, three heavy cruisers, three light cruisers, and eight destroyers was ordered to provide air support for the relief transports.

However, the escort carriers were too slow (18 knots) to make a scheduled rendezvous, so Giffen left them behind and pushed on at 24 knots, expecting to get air cover from planes at Henderson Field on Guadalcanal once he made the rendezvous. But he was being tracked by Japanese submarines, who passed on TF 18's position to G4M "Betty" torpedo bombers stationed at Munda and Buka.

At about 19:00, the bombers made a first pass, launching several torpedoes, none of which hit, and strafing the ships. They then dropped flares to mark the position and course of the task force, and at 19:30 another run started, this time scoring a crippling hit on Chicago. Giffen changed course at 20:00 and took measures to keep the ships from presenting lit-up targets, and by 20:15 the bombers were mostly gone.

Louisville took Chicago in tow, the escort carriers moved up to provide combat air patrol, and aircraft of the nearby Enterprise also joined in. The CAP caught most of a flight of 12 "Bettys" going after Chicago on the afternoon of the 30th, but several got through and launched the torpedoes that would sink the cruiser. A final flight of Japanese aircraft failed to find any targets, and the battle was over.

References

• Samuel Eliot Morison, History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, vol 5, ch. 15

External links

• Rennell Island: Setback in the Solomons
• domeisland.com: Battle of Rennell Island