on moonless nights for greater concealment,
and they developed a strategy to ambush his
convoys en route. American warships were
equipped with primitive but functional radar,
and they intended to detect the Japanese ves-
sels in the dark, launch a silent torpedo attack,
and then finish off the survivors with gunfire.
Such was the case on November 30, 1942,
when Task Force 67 under Adm. Carleton
Wright, consisting of four heavy cruisers, one
light cruiser, and six destroyers, lay in wait off
Savo Island. At length they detected a Japa-
nese convoy of eight ships approaching and
closed for the kill. Tanaka was aware of Amer-
ican attempts to destroy him, and he always
sailed close by the islands to obscure their
radar with ground clutter. The tactic worked.
When American torpedoes were launched and
went astray, the fleet had to open fire at long
range, sinking the destroyer Takanami.How-
ever, Wright had seriously underestimated Ja-
panese skill in nighttime optics—and the ef-
fectiveness of their Long Lance torpedoes. In
fact, the Japanese surface fleet, destroyers in
particular, were well versed in and equipped
for nocturnal combat. Guided by the flashes of
American guns, Tanaka’s ships fired several
volleys of torpedoes at their assailants with
deadly effect. They ripped through the Ameri-
can squadron, sinking the heavy cruiser USS
Northamptonand heavily damaging two oth-
ers. As the enemy vessels burned, Tanaka then
expertly disengaged, completed his mission,
and slipped away into the night. His victory at
Tassafaronga was the last major naval engage-
ment of the long and grueling Guadalcanal
campaign—a stunning triumph for the out-
numbered Japanese.
Tanaka continued various resupply efforts
until December 11, 1942, when his ship was hit
off Tulagi and he was wounded. But despite his
best efforts, and the wanton sacrifice of thou-
sands of soldiers and sailors, Japanese posses-
sion of Guadalcanal was essentially doomed.
Nobody knew this better than Tanaka himself.
Previously, he had diplomatically suggested to
superiors that the island should be abandoned
to prevent further loss. Now he vociferously
demanded it and roundly criticized the overall
conduct of the High Command. Such outspo-
kenness resulted in his dismissal from De-
stroyer Squadron Two, with reassignment back
to Japan. Officially disgraced, Tanaka was
forced to accept a series of token commands
in the homeland before being transferred to
Burma. Assignment to this naval backwater
was the equivalent of political exile, a good in-
dication of what superiors thought of him.
Tanaka was promoted to vice admiral in 1944,
but with no ships to command, it was simply a
hollow gesture. He had little else to do than
await the conclusion of hostilities, and he fi-
nally surrendered to British authorities at
Bangkok, Thailand, on January 11, 1946.
After the war, Tanaka returned to civilian
life but subsequently joined the Japan Self-
Defense Force in the 1950s. He also visited
the United States and befriended the Ameri-
can officer who vied with him for the title of
outstanding naval tactician of World War II—
Arleigh A. Burke. As Japan’s finest exponent
of torpedo warfare, his official exile consti-
tuted a terrible waste of military talent. “Tena-
cious” Tanaka died in Japan in 1969.Bibliography
Crenshaw, Russell S. The Battle of Tassafaronga.Balti-
more: Nautical and Aviation, 1995; Dull, Paul S. A Bat-
tle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy,
1941–1945.Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press,
1978; Evans, David C. Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and
Technology of the Imperial Japanese Navy,
1887–1941.Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press,
1997; Evans, David C., ed. The Imperial Japanese
Navy in World War II in the Words of Former Japa-
nese Naval Officers.Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute
Press, 1981; Howarth, Stephen, ed. The Fighting Ships
of the Rising Sun: The Imperial Japanese Navy,
1895–1945.New York: Atheneum, 1983; Lambert,
John W. Assault on an Empire: Stemming the Tide of
Conquest, 1942–1943.St. Paul: Specialty Press, 2000;
O’Connor, Raymond, ed. The Japanese Navy in
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Russell, Jack D. Derailing the Toyko Express.Har-
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