August 5, 1942 - Wednesday - 80 years ago today

 Status - John Skinner - USS O'Brien: 

O'Brien had joined Task Force 17 at  Pearl Harbor.

Operation Watchtower  .

The invasion force (now Task Force 61) moved toward the Solomons from the 1st to the 5th, and on August 5th, were about 400 miles from Guadalcanal and Tulagi.  The next day the task force would come within the normal search range of Japanese land-based planes. 

U. S. Navy Task Forces:

• Task Force 17 (Hornet) was at Pearl Harbor.  Extensive training was being done during this time.
  
• Combined Task Force 61 was approaching the Solomon Islands to carry out the planned invasion on August 7th.
  
• Task Force 16 (Enterprise) -> TF 61
  
• Task Force 11 (Saratoga) -> TF 61
• Task Force 18 (Wasp) -> TF 61

More Information:

• Official Navy Chronology, pp. 237-238.
  
•  The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign,  John B. Lundstrom, pp 30-33.
• Coral Sea, Midway and Submarine Actions, Samuel Eliot Morison, pp. 280-282.
• Neptune's Inferno, The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal, James D. Hornfischer, pp. 32-43.
  

 

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