Status - John Skinner - USS O'Brien:
Task Force
17 merged into Task Force 61 on August 29th.
Operation Watchtower
The Japanese continued landing troops on Guadalcanal; they had begun to use destroyers, which were faster than transports, and continued despite the loss of one destroyer and damage to two others. The Japanese command had abandoned for the present any attempt to take Port Moresby on New Guinea, and concentrated on Guadalcanal, continuously building the force there for new attacks.
The American carriers stood off somewhat from Guadalcanal due to fear of attacks from submarines and land based aircraft, but still patrolled the Coral Sea and awaited the next attack from the Japanese fleet. The addition of the Hornet restored the Task Force to 3 carriers.
Destroyer Operations:
As the Task Force has now reached the battle area, there is obviously a heightened alert on all the ships, including O'Brien. To give some idea what it was like, here is an excerpt from the book Condition Red: Destroyer Actions in the South Pacific, by Frederick Jackson Bell. This describes the routine on the USS Grayson prior to the Battle of the Eastern Solomons. It would be very similar on the O'Brien once in Task Force 61:
"Several times each day the Enterprise launched and recovered planes, keeping a patrol around the formation, searching far out toward our van or flanks, then, when they came home, giving exercise to the Task Force in repelling air attacks. Heading as we were for the back door of the Solomons, it would be another week before we would expect to sight enemy aircraft, but not for a moment could we drop our guard for it was by no means improbable that the Japs were trying the same stunt as we, but in reverse. Certainly we could expect subs to be across our track. There were no idle hands, and few idle moments, as we continued on our way.
"The crew stood a watch in three; four hours on watch, eight hours off, an arrangement that while apparently giving them only eight hours on watch out of every twenty-four is by no means so simple. A man going off watch at midnight will be free until eight in the morning - except that he must go to his battle station when we go to General Quarters before dawn and remain there for an hour, until after sunrise, which allows him time for a bath and shave before breakfast at seven, and a few moments for a smoke before it is again time to go on watch. Men on the mid-watch (midnight to four a. m.) get no sleep the remainder of the night. During the forenoon they try to crowd in a little rest, but always there are drills, practice firings, or unexpected calls to G. Q. that keep them from their bunks. They welcome the watch ending at eight in the evening, for with any luck they can be turned in by eight-thirty, and sleep until half-past three, when again it is 'Rouse the watch. On deck the --- section', in the rolling, sleep-penetrating tones possessed by all good boatswain's mates. There is time for a cup of coffee and a cigarette -- a face wash if they are inclined -- and up to their battle station fifteen minutes before the hour. It is particularly hard on the engineers, especially in the tropics. Our engineers didn't know it at the time -- no more did I -- but we were to steam for four months before we could secure the plant and let the fires die out under the boilers. The future held many surprises of which we were happily unaware.
"Watches for the officers are equally restrictive, except for the Captain and the Executive. They have no regular watches, but the Executive Officer, in his capacity of navigator, has little chance for rest, and the Captain is fortunate if he has more than an hour's uninterrupted sleep at any time or if he can spend as many as five hours in his bunk in any twenty-four."
-- Frederick Jackson Bell, Condition Red: Destroyer Actions in the South Pacific, pp. 19-20.
U. S. Navy Task Forces:
- Task Force
16 (Enterprise) was returning to Pearl Harbor to repair battle damage to Enterprise.
- Combined
Task Force 61 remained on patrol in the Coral Sea near Guadalcanal.
- Task Force 17 (Hornet) -> TF 61
- Task Force 11 (Saratoga) -> TF 61
- Task Force 18 (Wasp) -> TF 61
More Information:
- Official Navy Chronology, pp. 245-247.
- The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign, John B. Lundstrom, pp 164-171.
- The Struggle for Guadalcanal, Samuel Eliot Morison, pp. 104-110.
- Neptune's Inferno, The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal, James D. Hornfischer, pp. 118-121
- Condition Red: Destroyer Actions in the South Pacific, Frederick Jackson Bell, pp. 19-20. .
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