[4] Without Britain's survival and without Allied shipments of food and industrial equipment to the Soviet Union,[a] her military and economic power would likely not have rebounded in time for Russian soldiers to prevail at Stalingrad and Kursk.
[5][6][7][8][9] Without victories at sea in the Pacific Theater, the Allies could not have mounted amphibious assaults on or maintained land forces on Guadalcanal, New Guinea, Saipan, The Philippines, Iwo Jima, or Okinawa.
[16] Mindful of the huge wartime industrial potential of America, yet hopeful that Axis successes in Europe would limit what the Allies could undertake in the Pacific,[17] the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) pursued a strate strategy of Kantai Kessen - winning a decisive battle at the beginning of a short war, after which she could dictate peace terms.
This dominance ended abruptly in May 1942 when Allied naval forces, centered around aircraft carriers, frustrated Japanese amphibious invasion plans for Port Moresby, New Guinea during the Battle of the Coral Sea.
King almost immediately began a political campaign to enlarge his mandate in the Pacific to include protecting the sea-lanes from America to Australia, "safeguarding vital interests," and seizing "vantage points" from which offensive operations could be launched.
The month after that, in early March, he presented his strategy to President Roosevelt and the Joint Chiefs to hold Hawaii, support Australia, and move northward from the Allied base in New Hebrides against the Japanese.
While earlier commanders of the South Pacific Area were doubtful about the ability to sustain America's position on Guadalcanal, Halsey boldly committed his fleet, including his few carriers, to supporting the Marines there.
Halsey took advantage of conflicting orders from Nimitz regarding his assigned priorities and took the bait, preferring to aggressively engage an enemy naval force and sink carriers rather than provide protection for an amphibious landing.
[43] From August 1943 to the end of the war, command of the powerful, virtually unstoppable USN "Big Blue Fleet", which included America's Fast Carrier Task Force, alternated between Admirals Halsey and Spruance.
This innovative concentration of aircraft and ship-borne guns provided Japan with an overwhelming naval unit that could be brought to bear effectively on military objectives throughout the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
Of those in the Pacific theater, Saratoga was in San Diego following drydock repairs,[68] Lexington was ferrying planes to Midway Island, and Enterprise was on training maneuvers outside Pearl Harbor.
[88] In March, Japanese landings at Lae and Salamaua on the northern coast of New Guinea were hit hard by 104 aircraft that launched from USS Lexington and Yorktown from south of Port Moresby and flew over the Owen Stanley mountain range.
One of the possibilities that Japan was considering at the time was pushing through the Middle East to link up with Germany and Italy in the Mediterranean, thereby creating a belt of Axis powers spanning half the globe.
In April, the USS Saratoga, on loan from the Americans to the British Eastern Fleet, and the HMS Illustrious, supported by three battleships, launched their bombers and fighters to attack Sabang north of Sumatra.
[102] In addition, these raids provided combat experience for naval aviators as well as for logistical support and replenishment groups prior to initiating renewed British fleet operations in the Pacific.
Yamamoto was ever watching for the opportunity to orchestrate that "decisive battle" that would sink America's aircraft carriers, destroy her will to fight, and lead to the negotiate peace essential for Japan's success.
In the resultant Battle of the Coral Sea, the first naval engagement in which opposing surface ships neither saw nor fired upon each other,[122] early Allied success, including the bombing of Japan's newly established seaplane base at Tulagi, caused Admiral Inoue to order the transports to turn back.
[an] An additional 95 such aircraft did not participate in the battle because two other carriers (Hosho and Zuiho) were kept too far in the rear to assist and two more (Ryujo and Junyo) were sent north for the simultaneous attack on Dutch Harbor and Kiska in the Aleutian Islands.
In a planned coordinated attack, American dive bombers were expected to distract enemy fighters so that the relatively slow, vulnerable torpedo planes could make their approaches in greater safety.
[171] What the Japanese lost with its four carriers was the core of a weapons system of men, machines, and flight decks, unique at that point in the war, that enabled them to concentrate mobile forces to strike and dominate any local area.
[176] Still looking to extend her defensive perimeter to the east, she moved into the southern Solomons with an eye toward ultimately establishing bases in New Hebrides, Fiji, and New Caledonia to cut off Australia and New Zealand from American support.
As a result, Japan committed resources to their Guadalcanal campaign piecemeal, creating lengthy pauses between land attacks that allowed the Allies to reinforce and to become increasingly capable of resisting them.
As early as the end of August, with Henderson Field operating, the Allies had virtually gained daytime control of the air between Guadalcanal and Japanese naval aircraft bases on Bougainville further up the Solomon chain.
In early June 1942, America's then only operational escort carrier Long Island arrived from the Atlantic and provided air cover for Task Force One (TF-1),[189] an assemblage of old battleships and destroyers that patrolled off the West Coast as a precaution should the Midway battle not go well.
Disregarding the risks posed by US carrier aircraft, he boldly led a task force of seven cruisers and a single destroyer down "The Slot" of New Georgia Sound and precipitated the Battle of Savo Island on the night of August 8/9.
On August 20, from a point 200 miles southeast of Guadalcanal, escort carrier USS Long Island launched 19 Wildcat fighters and 12 Dauntless dive bombers, the first to reach Henderson Field.
He was opposed there by Colonel "Red Mike" Edson, whose Marines doggedly held their line during a night of bloody, close-in fighting, including suicidal Japanese attacks into machine gun fire.
[bb] In preparation for the third ground initiative to retake Guadalcanal, IJN battleships Kongo and Haruna bombarded Henderson Field on the night of October 13–14, expecting then to be engaged by the American fleet.
[216] As Yamamoto promised, 14" guns from his battleships mercilessly bombarded Henderson Field for an hour and a half on October 14, an event remembered forever by the unfortunate Marines at the receiving end.
However, on October 24, while the assault on Henderson Field was in progress, President Roosevelt overruled those arguing for conserving resources for deployment in Europe and, supporting Admiral King and General MacArthur, insisted that Guadalcanal be reinforced.