Battle of Savo

[?]etters To The Editors

What Might Have Been at The Battle of Savo

Sir, —The reconquest of the Dlomon Islands from the Japa jse is of interest to Australians

id of the many bitterly fought

:tions in those waters, the battle

I Savo, when the heavy US

misers Vincennes, Astoria,

uincy and HMAS Canberra ere sunk, ranks as the worst ffeat we suffered.

VITH all information now avail able, Richard F. Newcomb has told the story well in “Savo”, which as reviewed by P/M in December.

To those familiar with the history : the naval war in the Pacific, New )mb’s account adds little to what is ready known of this sad story of )or reporting by aircraft of surface lip sightings, of inefficient trans ission of this intelligence, of faulty valuation of it when received, of isunderstanding between American id British officers owing to different stems in use in handing over com and temporarily, of too much trust radar, of trusting assumption that ly craft sighted would be friendly, ; unreadiness to meet the enemy

when he arrived; in short, what Admiral Nimitz called lack of battle mindedness.

But one factor which Newcomb does not stress sufficiently to my mind is that in the rise of importance of aircraft, officers lost sight of the elementary axiom that each ship must, in the final analysis, keep its own lookout.

So most of the ships sunk had aircraft on board which could have been used to search and warn, air craft which became flaming torches under fire and contributed materially to the loss of the American heavy cruisers.

Newcomb mentions that there was a general expectancy of Japanese surface attack and hints that there a re P ort (rom a <-oastwatcner.

But I know there was no such report.

When the Japanese ships passed through Bougainville Strait, it was too late in the day before they came £ to Paul Mason’s arc of vision for £ im to A ee t J iem - .f P fiP ty j cou ld not see f ar m d l6 dark, The sinking of four heavy cruisers was a severe set-back but it did not itself cause the withdrawal of the transports from Guadalcanal before

OING HOME SOON: Dr. Ailao Imo, of estern Samoa, seen here with an un entified partner at a recent Polynesian ssociation function in Sydney, has been sing a year's post-graduate course in fdney. He expects to return to Apia in [?]bruary. Dr. Imo graduated in medicine Dunedin University, New Zealand, in 1958.—Telephotos.

eir unloading was complete. The ithdrawal of the carriers caused at, and the “shoestring” on which e Marines subsisted in their subse lent battles to hold Guadal.

But if Admiral Mikawa had gone i and attacked the transports at eir anchorages after sinking the uisers, the result would have been lamitous. Guadalcanal could not ive been held and the war would ive lasted at least another year.

This was another occasion (as at Dral Sea and Leyte Gulf) when the panese High Command failed to e the advantage it had gained to flict far more grievous losses than did. This is one of the riddles of e war in the Pacific, particularly len contrasted with the high iciency of the Japanese fighting ips.

There were many lessons to be irnt from the defeat at Savo and our great benefit, the Yanks did ?t that. In Newcomb’s words, the :ret of American success was the ility immediately and honestly to sess mistakes and correct them.

Long may they continue to do so.

Yours, etc.

Eric Feldt.

isbane, jeensland.

The King Is Dead. Long Live The Queen!

Sir, —I agree with Tolala (Dec.) at New Guinea people do have an predation of the concept of a aeen or a King (as the case may ).

When I was stationed in Manus st after the war ended, there were lite a few Cargo Cult type move ents and the leaders were referred by their followers as Kings. And ere was one all powerful King— Ling Pera” who controlled every ing—it took us months to realise ey meant Canberra!

And about Queens. Mick Foley, >w District Officer, Mt. Hagen, told e that when he was at Talasea a cal rabble rouser named Mope ferred to himself as King Mope.

A\ King Mope, mi bos bilong ipela”.

Mick heard Mope saying this one iy and said “Olesem Wonem Mope, ipela inogat King nau emi dai nis mipela igat Kiwin nau”. Mope plied; “Maski I orait mi Kiwin tope!”

Yours etc.,

M. B. Orken

and Titles Commission, oroka, NG.

"One For The Road" In Fiji , . , Sir,—The annual meeting on tourism was held in Suva a few weeks ago, and some of the broader issues were discussed, but one of the main aspects was totally ignored.

Tourism depends almost entirely on a healthy and prosperous chain of hotels around the island. The hotels in small village communities depend almost entirely on their “bar trade” to enable them to keep their bedrooms, lounges and cuisine in a befitting manner, for overseas guests who stay in these hotels mostly travel on a rigid budget, and purchase little outside of their board and lodging.

Some even smuggle in their liquor re quirements in their suitcases.

M Tt _..., . 4 ,

Under Fiji s antiquated liquor laws no traveller can get a drink before 11 a.m., and most buses and travel agency cars leave both Suva and Lautoka between 7 and 8 a.m., pass m.g all the hotels on their journey without the passengers having a chance of that friendly drink that tends to ease the tensions of travel ing over our second-class, tortuous, liilly gravelled and dusty roads. The hotels thus miss that small, but vital, s ,° ur c e of income that can either make or break them, Outside of that morning traffic,

3st of the country hotels receive ry little custom from the scattered rabitants, as the Government has anted club licences in every district, d all the big, and some of the lall stores are licenced to sell one ttle of every kind of liquor from a.m. until closing time in the even l. Previously stores were allowed sell only in wholesale lots of a nimum of one dozen and one.

This loosening of restrictions on all t hotels can only result in higher iffs to tourists and locals, if the tels are to pay their way.

It is time that the tourist agencies, tel owners, and the general public proached their elected Council rep jentatives to have the laws lended, and allow local and over js tourists to drink “One for the >ad” on their uncomfortable jrneys.

Yours, etc.,

H. S. Faddy.

idroga, ji

• Samoan Harbours: Con

uction of new wharves and har iurs at Apia and at Asau, on vaii. Western Samoa, could start thin six months, according to UN viser Mr. Harry Spence, speaking Apia in December, He said gotiations were still going on to range long term loans. About 'O,OOO dollars worth of equipment, eluding a dredge, were needed, he id. The Apia newspaper Samoana ported that the equipment would ter be used for reclaiming land near pia, including the filling of Vaiusu iy to form a new airport close to pia. About 35 acres of land would so be reclaimed near the new Apia liarf.