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“Our real enemy is Germany” and “We have gained”: Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins, 622. “Foresaw grave difficulties”: Tanaka, “Japan’s Losing Struggle for Guadalcanal,” part 1, 687, 690. Combat on Guadalcanal: Reeder, Fighting on Guadalcanal, 13; Merillat, Guadalcanal Remembered, 86. “A housefly’s attacking”: Tanaka, “Japan’s Losing Struggle,” part 1, 691. “We watched these awful machines”: Tregaskis, Guadalcanal Diary, 125. “We thought it was just”: Mangrum interview, 2.

11: A Function at the Junction

“Rough guess”: Wheeler, Kinkaid, 252. “Indications point strongly”: Quoted in Prados, Combined Fleet Decoded, 371. “Old Lexington and Yorktown”: Morison, The Struggle for Guadalcanal, 92. “First ones spotted”: Mustin diary, August 24, 1942. “Men on other ships”: Leavelle, “The Log of the Mighty A,” March 28, 1943. “First plane missed”: Mustin diary, August 24. Damage-control efforts on Enterprise: Stafford, The Big E, 164. “My worst fears”: Tanaka, “Japan’s Losing Struggle for Guadalcanal,” part 1, 693–694. “Everyone is withdrawing but the Marines”: Merillat, Guadalcanal Remembered, 114. “Consider situation critical”: Ghormley to Nimitz, August 25, 1942 (0330). “We have made good start”: Nimitz to King, August 25, 1942 (2241). “Until the strength” and “For the present”: Ghormley to Nimitz, August 29, 1942 (0310). On August 30, Vandegrift informed Ghormley that F4Fs were the only planes that could meet Japanese bombers effectively at altitude. He had just eight of them. Ghormley, “The Tide Turns,” 18. “Surface craft, unless heavily protected”: Ghormley to Stark, June 11, 1941. “It is apparent that landing”: Ugaki, Fading Victory, 193. “Greatest immediate threat to success”: Ghormley to MacArthur, August 25, 1942 (0320). “Perfect failure”: Ugaki, Fading, 197. Japanese reinforcements: General Headquarters, Far East Command, Monograph No. 98, 17–19. “Like a house in a severe earthquake”: Lundstrom, Black Shoe Carrier Admiral, 471–472. “Sounds like there’s a function at the junction”: Leavelle, “The Log,” March 28, 1943. “What saved Guadalcanal”: Merillat, Guadalcanal Remembered, 112.

12: What They Were Built For

“It seemed we were on the fringe”: Barham, The 228 Days of the United States Destroyer Laffey (DD-459), 56–57. Cactus Air Force operations: Smith interview, 3–4, 13; Mangrum interview, 9–10, 14. “They come right up”: Fike interview, 12. “Certainly the means”: Ibid., 6–7. “So dumbfounding”: Tanaka, “Japan’s Losing Struggle for Guadalcanal,” part 1, 696. “It was difficult”: Mangrum interview, 9–10. “Let’s give Cactus the wherewithal”: Nimitz to King, September 1, 1942 (2331). “Appears enemy is building up”: Vandegrift to Turner, September 1, 1942 (2313). “Leaves much to the initiative” and “Keep in mind that”: Ghormley to SOPAC task force commanders, September 9, 1942 (1018). “I cling to the fond hope”: Mustin diary, September 9, 1942. “A tremendous step forward”: Musicant, Battleship at War, 10. “I have to spill this to somebody”: Ghormley to Nimitz, September 7, 1942, Ghormley Papers. “What could I say” and “Jim, you’ve got a bad case”: Albion and Connery, Forrestal and the Navy, 105–106. “Boys, I’ve got a surprise”: Halsey, Admiral Halsey’s Story, 108. “Criticism of basic concepts”: Hara, Japanese Destroyer Captain, 119. “Unless Guadalcanal is settled”: Ugaki, Fading Victory, 200. “Situation as I view it today”: Ghormley to Nimitz, September 11, 1942 (0516). Battle of Edson’s Ridge: Frank, Guadalcanal, 237–241. “Sharks were everywhere”: Richardson, “My War,” unpaginated. “They didn’t want anybody to know”: Weschler interview, 101–102. “I guess he and Captain Gatch”: Backus interview, 133–134.

13: The Warriors

Norman Scott: U.S. Naval Academy, Lucky Bag, 1911. “Made things so miserable”: Morison, The Struggle for Guadalcanal, 148 n. “Kind of like a junior Halsey”: Graff interview. Gunnery exercises: Chief of Naval Operations to Commander, Battleships, Battle Force, January 19, 1942; Crenshaw, South Pacific Destroyer, 39–40. “I did not know, from actual contact”: Ghormley, “The Tide Turns,” 24. “It was