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22-671: The Southeast Area Fleet was an operational command of the Imperial Japanese Navy combining the remaining surface elements of the IJN 8th Fleet with the IJN 11th Air Fleet , the No.5 Special Base Unit. The Southeast Area Fleet was established on December 24, 1942, during the waning weeks of the Guadalcanal campaign and was headquartered in Rabaul , New Britain . In February 1944, after heavy losses in

44-436: A liability due to their age and lack of crew training. Nevertheless, a stubborn staff officer of CruDiv18 managed to convince Mikawa to take them along. Only one destroyer ( Yūnagi ) was available at the time to escort the striking force. After assembling the warships, Mikawa sailed toward Guadalcanal. Furthermore, He sent four submarines of SubDiv7 ahead of his surface striking force. In the ensuing Battle of Savo Island in

66-526: A relativity minor damage to two heavy cruisers and one destroyer. Nevertheless, they failed to follow through and destroy the lightly protected American transports that were in the process of landing critical supplies for the Allied troops on the ground. While CruDiv6 was returning to Kavieng on 10 August, heavy cruiser Kako was torpedoed and sunk by US submarine S-44 . During the Guadalcanal Campaign ,

88-486: A week and, consequently, the deal was cancelled. The first recorded sighting by Europeans was by the Spanish expedition of Álvaro de Mendaña on 16 April 1568. More precisely the sighting was due to a local voyage done by a small boat, in the accounts the brigantine Santiago , commanded by Maestre de Campo Pedro Ortega Valencia and having Hernán Gallego as pilot. The Japanese occupied Tulagi on May 3, 1942, with

110-612: Is a small island in Solomon Islands , just off the south coast of Ngella Sule . The town of the same name on the island (pop. 1,750) was the capital of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate from 1896 to 1942 and is today the capital of the Central Province . The capital of what is now the state of Solomon Islands moved to Honiara , Guadalcanal , after World War II . The island was originally chosen by

132-701: The Solomon Islands campaign , most surviving Japanese surface and naval aircraft forces withdrew from Rabaul to Truk in the Caroline Islands . However, lacking transport, most of the headquarters staff of the Southeast Area Fleet was left abandoned on Rabaul, together with surviving elements of the Imperial Japanese Army IJA 8th Area Army , and was isolated until the end of the war. Commander in chief Chief of staff IJN 8th Fleet The 8th Fleet ( 第八艦隊 , Dai-hachi Kantai )

154-530: The 8th Fleet came under the operational authority of the Southeast Area Fleet . The 8th Fleet subsequently played a major role in Operation KE , the successful withdrawal of army forces from Guadalcanal during the first week of February 1943. Between 2–4 March eight destroyers from 8th Fleet under Rear Admiral Masatomi Kimura escorted a major reinforcement convoy from Rabaul to Lae on New Guinea . In

176-537: The 8th Fleet was responsible for bringing reinforcements and supplies to the island. For this purpose Reinforcement Unit was formed, which was centered around Destroyer Squadron 2 led by Rear Admiral Raizō Tanaka . On 31 August, Tanaka was temporarily replaced in this role by Rear Admiral Shintarō Hashimoto and his Destroyer Squadron 3. On 28 August 1942, the 8th Fleet also created the R-Area Air Force , which exclusively operated seaplanes in order to compensate for

198-522: The United Kingdom as a comparatively isolated and healthier alternative to the disease-ridden larger islands of the Solomon Islands archipelago . In October 2019, the government of Central Province signed a deal to grant the 75-year lease of the entire island of Tulagi to a Chinese company China Sam Enterprise Group. However, this was declared unconstitutional by the Solomon Islands parliament after

220-443: The early morning of 9 August, Admiral Mikawa's 8th Fleet defeated a numerically superior Allied Task Force 62.2, composed primarily of United States Navy vessels, but with a substantial Royal Australian Navy component, all under the command of British Rear Admiral Victor Crutchley . The striking force of the 8th Fleet sank four Allied heavy cruisers and additionally damaged one more heavy cruiser and two destroyers, in exchange for

242-439: The early morning of November 14, Maya and Suzuya were detached under Rear Admiral Shōji Nishimura to conduct a bombardment of the Allied position on Guadalcanal, before rendezvousing with Mikawa and the rest of the force after sunrise south of New Georgia . After that, they were repeatedly attacked by Allied aircraft throughout the morning, which sank Kinugasa and damaged Chōkai , Maya and Isuzu . On 24 December 1942

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264-637: The ensuing Battle of the Bismarck Sea the Japanese suffered a major defeat when Allied aircraft sank four destroyers and all eight transports. Shortly after this debacle, Vice Admiral Mikawa was relieved of the 8th Fleet command and replaced by Vice Admiral Tomoshige Samejima . Later in the war, the 8th Fleet headquarters staff was isolated on Bougainville Island with remnants of Imperial Japanese Army forces. Commander in chief Chief of staff Tulagi Tulagi , less commonly known as Tulaghi ,

286-605: The intention of establishing a seaplane base nearby (see Japanese Tulagi landing ). The ships in Tulagi harbor were raided by planes from USS  Yorktown the following day in a prelude to the Battle of the Coral Sea . Allied forces, primarily the 1st Marine Raiders , landed on August 7 and captured Tulagi as part of Operation Watchtower after a day of hard fighting. After its capture by United States Navy and Marine Corps forces ,

308-507: The island hosted a squadron of PT boats for a year, which included LTJG John F. Kennedy 's PT-109 as well as other ancillary facilities. A small 20-bed dispensary was operated on Tulagi until its closure in 1946. The island also formed part of Purvis Bay , which hosted many US Navy ships during 1942 and 1943. The present-day Tulagi has a fishing fleet . Tulagi offers numerous scuba diving locations. The wrecks of USS Aaron Ward , USS Kanawha , and HMNZS Moa are close by, and

330-531: The lack of land bases in the Solomon Islands area. The unit's primary mission was to protect resupply convoys headed for Guadalcanal and to conduct aerial reconnaissance . Since regular resupply runs by destroyers only could not deliver heavy equipment (such as artillery ) to the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) on Guadalcanal, the 8th Fleet's Reinforcement Unit started using seaplane tenders Chitose and Nisshin as high-speed transports. To cover

352-399: The loss of Furutaka and one Japanese destroyer, in exchange for the loss of one US destroyer. Furthermore, Rear Admiral Gotō was also mortally wounded in the battle. Nevertheless, the convoy managed to successfully unload the supplies and equipment on Guadalcanal. Two of its destroyers, while retreating from Guadalcanal, were sunk by air attacks the following day. Another major resupply run

374-586: The minelayer Tsugaru , the seaplane tender Kiyokawa Maru , and the 2nd Air Group were initially assigned to the 8th Fleet, where the latter was soon transferred to the 25th Air Flotilla of 11th Air Fleet in August 1942. On 25 July, Vice Admiral Mikawa led the fleet to Truk in Caroline Islands . From there he then moved to Rabaul on New Britain and arrived on 30 July, where he established his headquarters. He detached CruDiv6 under Rear Admiral Gotō to Kavieng on New Ireland , in order to move them out of

396-495: The range of Allied aircraft. When the news of Allied landings on Guadalcanal and Tulagi reached the 8th Fleet headquarters on August 7, Mikawa promptly decided to make a night-time counter-attack with his available surface naval forces, despite the presence of American carriers. He ordered CruDiv6 to leave Kavieng to meet his flagship Chōkai . Initially, Mikawa did not want to take the two available old light cruisers from CruDiv18 ( Tenryū and Yūbari ), since he deemed them as

418-450: The unloading of supplies by the convoy on 11 October, the 8th Fleet assigned CruDiv6 with heavy cruisers Aoba , Kinugasa and Furutaka and two destroyers under Rear Admiral Gotō to bombard the Allied position on Guadalcanal. On the night of 11/12 October they were ambushed by two heavy cruisers, two light cruisers and five destroyers under Rear Admiral Norman Scott , which resulted in the Battle of Cape Esperance . The battle accounted for

440-522: Was a fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) established during World War II . The 8th Fleet was established on 14 July 1942 and was given the operational title of Outer South Seas Force, which reflected its mission of guarding conquests in the South Pacific . In this respect, it essentially replaced the 4th Fleet , which was then given the operational title of Inner South Seas Force, and

462-502: Was conducted on the night of 14/15 October by Nisshin , while Vice Admiral Mikawa with Chōkai and Kinugasa shelled Allied position on Guadalcanal to cover the cargo unloading process. The 8th Fleet was also involved in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal , where Vice Admiral Mikawa led a naval force that consisted of heavy cruisers Chōkai , Kinugasa , Maya , Suzuya , light cruisers Isuzu and Tenryū , and four destroyers. In

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484-807: Was primarily tasked with defending the Mandates . Vice Admiral Gunichi Mikawa was appointed as the first commander of the 8th Fleet. Initially, the 8th Fleet included the Takao -class heavy cruiser Chōkai as its flagship , Cruiser Division 6 (CruDiv6) under Rear Admiral Aritomo Gotō with the entire Furutaka and Aoba classes of four older and somewhat smaller heavy cruisers ( Aoba , Kinugasa , Kako and Furutaka ), Cruiser Division 18 (CruDiv18) under Rear Admiral Mitsuharu Matsuyama with three old light cruisers ( Tenryū , Tatsuta and Yūbari ), eight old destroyers , and Submarine Squadron 7 (SubDiv7) with five submarines . In addition,

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