I am indebted to Chris, John and Blake from G.G.G (Greensborough Guild of Gamers – just named that by me then) for most of the information and a number of photos.

Flak over the USS Enterprise

The rules that were used are John G’s Flat top rules which use some very unique but effective mechanisms.

Although played on the tabletop the position of the ships in relation to each other is irrelevant as the game is representing daytime attacks on opposing carriers out of sight of each other. What is important is the attacks by waves of planes on the enemies carriers.

1/1200th scale ships and planes were used for the refight, although the models may not be representative of the actual ships. The objective is to try and provide a simulation of naval action in the Pacific.

What the historians tell us happened

The Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands was fought 25–27 October 1942 in the waters northwest of the Santa Cruz Islands by forces of the Imperial Japanese Navy’s (IJN) Combined Fleet and the United States Navy’s (USN) Pacific Fleet. The battle resulted from a major Japanese offensive with the goal to drive the US forces from Guadalcanal.

The damaged flight deck of the Hornet.

The battle can be viewed as a tactical Japanese victory as they sank the American aircraft carrier Hornet and badly damaged the Enterprise (probably because its warp engines and photon torpedoes were not yet installed!), while suffering heavy damage to their own carriers Shokaku and Zuiho. In reality, the Japanese failed in their strategic objective to destroy American forces on and around Guadalcanal and suffered significant losses of experienced air crew.

The sinking Hornet.

Forces engaged.

Japanese forces:

Combat ships: 3 fleet carriers (Shokaku, Zuikaku, Juno), 1 light carrier (Zuiho) , 2 battle ships (Kirishima,Hiei), 4 battle cruisers (Atago, Takao, Myoko, Maya), 8 cruisers (Izuzu, Kongo, Haruna, Kumano, Suzuya, Tine, Chikumu, Nagara) , 25 destroyers Aircraft: 199

American forces:

Combat ships: 2 fleet carriers (Enterprise and Hornet), 1 fast battleship (South Dakota), 5 cruisers (Portland, San Juan, Port Hampton, Pensacola, San Diego, Juneau) , 14 destroyers Aircraft: 136

Losses Ships: IJN – none, USN – 1 fleet carrier, 1 destroyer Aircraft: IJN – 99, USN – 81

Now what really happened!

From the words of John G (AKA Vice Admiral Nobutake Kondo!!!)

The Japanese began another unsuccessful major attack on Henderson Field on Guadalcanal on 24 October, drawing in the carriers from both sides. Offshore, Enterprise (Steve) had only 64 aircraft (31 fighters, 23 dive bombers and 10 torpedo bombers) available for Santa Cruz. Hornet (Chris) added another 73 aircraft (33 fighters, 24 dive bombers and 16 torpedo bombers) for a total of 137. The four Imperial Japanese Navycarriers had 194 aircraft; Shokaku (Geoff) 63; Zuikaku (Blake) 61; Junyo (Guru AKA – Okada Tametsugu) 46; and Zuiho (John) 24.

IJN Junyo

Captain of the Junyo Okada Tametsugu

First strikes were launched early in the morning, some from 7.30am. The IJN managed far more coordinated strikes and as luck would have it the great bulk of them went after Hornet.

Santa Cruz – Hornet launching aircraft

Hornet was very heavily attacked by strike waves from all four IJN carriers. Despite heroic efforts from her outnumbered CAP pilots and her task force’s AA guns she was repeatedly hit and reduced to a still floating wreck by the end of the engagement. Her own bomber squadrons failed to have an impact.

Santa Cruz – Hornet smashed by dive bombers

Not all of the attacking planes hit the Hornet (but mine did….Go Guru!!). Shokaku’s torpedo bombers could only find her protecting destroyers. Despite them manoeuvering madly Geoff managed to sink the two.

The Destroyers meet their end.

Santa Cruz – Hornet wrecked by dive bombers, with destroyer sinking in the distance

Torpedo bombers prepare to attack the Hornet with the “Hand of Guru” readying to record the damage

The torpedoes are released (attack point cannot be placed within one inch of each other).

Three of the five hit their target after rolling a scatter die.

Enterprise then took up the mantle and launched all the aircraft she could, even managing a third strike though its bombers completely failed to find the enemy in a sudden squall. As had happened historically, the US again were unable to fully coordinate their airstrikes.

For all her trouble Enterprise was heavily damaged by the IJN third wave. Still afloat at the end of the day, she was likely to have been torpedoed and finished off the next morning.

Of the IJN carriers only the Junyo was hit, once, and she remained operational. No other IJN ships were hit. Of their aircraft Shokaku lost 31 of 63; Zuikaku 37 of 61; Junyo 25 of 46; and Zuiho 4 of 24.

Zuiho wasn’t attacked and failed to launch a second strike as her arrester gear had been damaged.

The US had lost Hornet wrecked and finished, 2 destroyers sunk, and Enterprise doomed as well. Of their 137 aircraft, Hornet probably lost 53 with 20 or so managing to get to Enterprise. She lost 32 of 64 aircraft. Despite the loss of their carriers many of the US survivors could have flown to Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, so most of the remaining 50 or so might have been saved.

The IJN won the battle more convincingly than in the real action, but like it, their aircraft losses had been so heavy (97 vs 99 in the actual battle) that their carriers would have been unlikely to intervene again at Guadalcanal.

The rules worked extremely well. Carrier captains had less decisions to make than normal as we were trying to represent the actual battle as close as possible. Normal decisions such as how many fighters to send to protect your own bombers versus how many to protect your carriers makes for an interesting decision.

Attacking planes don’t always arrive – it may arrive earlier or later than expected, often meaning fighters are too early or too late to protect your bombers, or attacks are uncoordinated, or on a different target ( the torpedo bombers attacking destroyers rather than the Hornet for example – I am sure they reported sinking two capital battleships!!!).

After getting through enemy fighters the remainder have to survive the anti-aircraft attacks and only then do they get to dive on their target, which they may still miss.

Excellent game system that does what it intends to do very well. It also demonstrates the need for rules writers to be very clear on what they are trying to achieve and not being diverted by superflous “fluff”.

Well done John, and thank the Commissariat for the sustenance.