Battle of Savo Island 1942: America's Worst Naval Defeat

This dude is the definition of quality over quantity

18:40 the Betty flying extremely low on the left was piloted by Lt Jun Takahashi. He entered the Guinness World Records in 2014 for being the oldest active commercial pilot alive and he's still alive.

Imagine being in Mikawa's position. He obliterated 4 ennemy ships, coming from accross the biggest ocean in the world, made a plan that was accepted and went through with it brilliantly, he won a battle by the biggest margin up to date and the biggest that will be during the Guadalcanal campaing, and some dudes were like "why didn't you kill the transports too" when the army told him not to worry about it. And he had wrong intelligence from a previous battle the same day. Give the man a break, he did outsandingly well.

Am I the only one that would watch a full series of WW2 videos made with this level of detail? Amazing work - please keep making these!

54:25 "He didn't possess a crystal ball." Mikawa didn't even possess navigation charts anymore. He had received so many lucky breaks, he was smart to act based upon what the enemy could do.

If Mikawa had returned for the transports, we would get a second round of "he made a decision based on what the enemy would do instead of what they could do". Even if he thought the carriers would likely withdraw, to stick to the maxim, he should assume they were in play and that his ships would be at serious risk by returning.

Mikawa absolutely made the right call based on the information he had. The Allied forces were absolutely devastated thanks to terrible decisions and worse communication.

80 years ago tonight. My grandfather Robert Owen Rexroad served aboard the USS Vincennes and lucky for my sake survived! Every year I would call him on the night of August 8 to make sure he stayed dry that night. I miss him terribly.

And so, Montemayor begins his long and arduous siege against the history of Guadalcanal.

when the world needed him most, he returned

I’m in awe at the effort put into this. I’ve been an avid naval history hobbyist for 43 years and read/listened/viewed a dozen accounts of the battle and the events leading up to it. This was so clear and detailed yet concise and entertaining. I haven’t seen all these details in one place and molded together so seamlessly while being delivered so effectively. I could have heard this back when I was first starting out and it wouldn’t have been overwhelming. So well done. The care and passion for the topic come through. “If you made it this far…”. There was no way I wasn’t going to catch every second and every second was a grim, solemn joy.

When I met my wife's uncle in 1959 he never talked about the battles he fought in in World War II but as I was a World War history buff, I researched some of the battles both on land and at sea. I learned about her uncle being on two ships that were sunk in the Pacific and one day while I was a book store I picked up a magazine with an article in it about the battle of Savo Island and it had some pictures of the battle and one picture of the search lights from a Japaneese ship. So I invited her uncle to go with me to the book store so I could show him the magazine. After he looked at the article and the pictures I asked him to tell my about his experience on the Astoria. He told me that after Pearl Harbor, he joined the navy and was sent to Pearl Harbor where he was assigned duty on the Astoria. He told me that his Gereral Quarters was in fire control which I thought it was about putting out fires but told me it was controlling the firing of the big guns. He told me that on the night of the battle he had just gotten off watch and heard the hits being made on the ship from the Japaneese ships. He said after general quarters was announced he finally made it to his station and saw body parts from a few of the men after some hits from the Japaneese and he looked at me and I saw tears in his eyes and he tried to tell me about what happend and he started crying and he shut up and told me that he didn't want to talk about anymore. I felt so ashamed that I asked him to tell me about the battle and I never asked him about it again. After he passed away a few years later, his daughter was dating a man that was stationed at Scott Air Force Base nearby and he made up a glass case with some of the awards from the U S Navy and he was represented by the military by pallbearers and they played taps at his burial and I was proud to be there and to just know him.

"Two months later, we will see how Americans had surprise on their side..." Is that a promise of a video on Cape Esperance in two months?

Indy Neidell: We'll get to the Battle of Savo Island in a few weeks Montemayor: Challenge accepted

Based on what Mikawa knew, he made the right decision. He had actually accomplished his mission in that the transports withdrew shortly after the battle.

When I was about 12 years old I idolized Admiral Nimitz and I developed a monomania for the war in the Pacific. I made regular trips to the secondhand bookshop to buy true combat paperbacks covering all the major battles. I hung a huge map of the Pacific on my wall and marked the movements and actions of each side. I built plastic models of every ship and plane from the era that I could find at Kmart. Now, 40 years later, watching your videos not only makes me super nostalgic for those days, but I find I'm developing a deeper understanding even than I had back then. I've watched all of your videos. Great job!

"In order to lighten the weight, they got rid of their lifeboats." Bugger me.

This is a channel that is quality over quantity. And I’m not complaining, can’t wait to watch!

Dude you need to keep uploading. Your videos are some of the most informative, captivating, and well put together videos on the subject I have ever seen. If you keep putting out quality videos like this, I'm sure you will continue to be successful! Great work!

I spent a little over 25 years in the USN. You videos are very informative in regards to naval warfare. Most people have no clue how epic in scale some naval battles have been. Well Done!