The Shame of Savo: Anatomy of a Naval Disaster

For more than half a century, an air of innuendo, accusation and mystery has surrounded the Battle of Savo Island, fought off the southern Solomon Islands during the early morning hours of 9 August 1942. How was it that a powerful group of Allied cruisers had been surprised and almost annihilated by a Japanese striking force obliged to travel hundreds of miles through waters patrolled by Allied reconnaissance aircraft? And why - given the overwhelming air strength available to the Allies due to the presence of their aircraft carriers - were the Japanese able to escape afterwards practically unscathed, leaving more than a thousand Allied seamen dead in their wake? Who was to blame - if anyone was to blame - for such a monumental disaster? In this brilliant study, written by a retired senior Ausutralian naval officer, many of the myths and misunderstandings concerning this important naval action have been exposed and corrected. Bruce Loxton, then a midshipman, was seriously wounded on the bridge of HMAS Canberra when that heavy cruiser was disabled during the opening stages of the battle. For him, reaching the truth of this affair became the passionate culmination of a long naval career. Loxton's meticulous examination of American, Japanese and Australian records, presented with the forensic skill and verve of a detective thriller, will astound many readers as he strips away the layers of misinformation and half-truth to point to the wider causes of the Allies' stunning defeat. By the conclusion of this outstanding dissection of a disaster, there is little doubt where the shame attaching to this dismal moment in naval history truly lies.