Early Battles

On August 7, 1942, Allied Forces invaded the southern Solomon Island of Guadalcanal, where the
Japanese were building an airfield. The Japanese quickly launched a night naval counter-attack,
and in a violent sea battle off Savo Island, sank four heavy cruisers and damaged a fifth.

The Americans, however, extracted a modest revenge through the actions of the U.S. submarine S-44.
As the returning Japanese task force neared its home base on the island of New Ireland, S-44 torpedoed
and sank the Japanese heavy cruiser Kako.