Islands of Destiny: The Solomons Campaign and the Eclipse of the Rising Sun Read Free

Some of these persons have passed away, retired, or gone on to other things since I conducted this research. Jane Smith-Hutton, an elegant and fine lady, passed away in 2002. Phil Jacobsen left us four years later, my last letter to him never answered. I especially regret the passing in 2008 of archivist John Taylor, who merits extra mention as a tower of wisdom, insight, and knowledge of the source material for many generations of researchers. Another figure, John Ferris, has become a noted historian of intelligence. Ellen Pinzur read and edited the manuscript and extended her usual cheerful support. These persons, individually and together, have contributed much to what is good about this book. I alone am responsible for its faults and omissions.
    —John Prados
Washington, DC
July 2011

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS
AA
Antiaircraft
AIRSOLS
Allied air command for the Solomons (also used for commander, AIRSOLS)
Belconnen
Station name for U.S. Navy codebreakers in Australia, 1942–1945 (aka FRUMEL)
CAG
Carrier Air Group
Cast
Station name for U.S. Navy codebreakers in the Philippines, 1941–1942
C-in-C
Commander in chief (Japanese)
CINCPAC
Commander in chief, Pacific Ocean areas
COMINCH
Commander in chief (U.S.—also the chief of naval operations)
CUB
Navy Base Unit
FRUMEL
Fleet Radio Unit Melbourne
FRUPAC
Fleet Radio Unit Pacific
GC&CS
Government Code & Communications School (British)
GI
Government-issue (common usage for a U.S. soldier)
G-2
U.S. Army Intelligence (also Southwest Pacific Theater Intelligence)
HMS
His Majesty’s Ship (in a ship name)
Hypo
Station name for U.S. Navy codebreakers at Pearl Harbor, 1941–1943 (became FRUPAC)
ICPOA
Intelligence Center, Pacific Ocean area
IGHQ
Imperial General Headquarters
JNAF
Japanese Naval Air Force
MAG
Marine Air Group
NEGAT
Station name for OP-20-G codebreaking activities
NGS
Navy General Staff
ONI
Office of Naval Intelligence
OP-20-G
Codebreaking organization of the Office of Naval Communications (aka Station Negat)
SBD
Douglas Dauntless dive-bomber
SEFIC
Seventh Fleet Intelligence Center
SNLF
Special Naval Landing Force
SOPAC
South Pacific Command (also used for commander, South Pacific)
SOWESPAC
Southwest Pacific Theater command
TBF
Grumman Avenger torpedo plane
TBS
Talk Between Ships (low-frequency intership radio net)
USS
United States Ship (in a ship name)
VB
Navy carrier-based dive-bomber squadron
VF
Navy carrier-based fighter squadron
VMF
Marine fighter squadron
VMSB
Marine scout bomber squadron
VSB
Navy carrier-based scout bomber squadron

PROLOGUE
    THE JAPANESE AFTER MIDWAY
    The sky was fair, and aboard the battleship
Yamato
, flagship of the Imperial Japanese Navy’s vaunted Combined Fleet, sailors traded winter uniforms for summer ones. The heat could be brutal in the Pacific’s middle latitudes where
Yamato
cruised. Rear Admiral Ugaki Matome saw the desirability of lighter clothing, but he remained attired in his old gear. He had other concerns.
    As fleet chief of staff, Ugaki struggled to understand what had just happened. Only days before, the Navy, with a huge preponderance of force, had advanced on Midway Island, to be dealt a stinging defeat by Americans inferior in almost every respect. This day, June 10, 1942, offered an opportunity to review the debacle with senior officers of the First Air Fleet, the carrier task force that had suffered stunning losses, also known as the Nagumo Force for its commander, Vice Admiral Nagumo Chuichi, and by its operational nomenclature, the Striking Force, or
Kido Butai
. Light cruiser
Nagara
took advantage of a calm sea to approach the
Yamato
, lowering a boat to carry Nagumo across to the flagship. Officers were unceremoniously bundled into straw mats to be lowered to the waiting launch.
    For days since Midway little had gone well. Ugaki’s burdens were many. Fleet staff walked around in a daze. While serving the officers, steward Noda Mitsuharu noticed air staff officer Commander Sasaki Akira acting as if he were