His boots seemed to stick to that battleship the first time he set foot on the New Hampshire, and soon he found himself working his way up the ranks, from destroyers to cruisers, until he landed as the Executive Officer of the battleship Pennsylvania. Now he could practice that straight shooting with those big 14-inch guns, and naval gunnery became his new love. So when Nimitz decided he wanted to move Fletcher back to help square away the new carriers scheduled to arrive at Pearl, he looked around for someone to take over his battleship squadron, and found the perfect man for the job.
Now a Vice Admiral and assistant to his Chief of Staff, the man he picked was Willis Augustus Lee, a descendant of the famous Confederate General Robert E. Lee. He had always loved the Pacific, and Asia and China were a personal fascination for him. So with a famous last name that sounded Chinese, the men came to simply call him “Ching.” Now he was planting his flag on the USS Washington, Battleship Division 6, one of the three fast battleships that had moved to Pago Pago in Mid-1942 to support operations in defense of the Fijis. Lee’s division was getting new orders that day, and a new member of the club as well.
The latest arrival, heaving to at Tongatapu, was the USS Indiana, a South Dakota Class battleship that would square off his division with the thunder of its nine 16-inch Guns. Ching had those two ships, along with North Carolina and Washington, a total of 36 big guns at his disposal. It would not be long before he would get the chance to use them.
It was MacArthur that started things, restless, demanding, impatient, still sitting in Brisbane reading about the war through typed message transcripts. Krueger was doing all the fighting on Fiji, and Big Mac had been pondering how and when to reinforce him, waiting on Halsey to clear out the waters around the islands and provide him with adequate cover. It was 1500 nautical miles from Brisbane to Suva by the most direct route, but that was cut right in the middle by the sword like island of New Caledonia. The Japanese outpost at Noumea was right at the half way mark, and with enemy planes based there, the convoy would have to detour well south, extending the sea journey to nearly 2000 nautical miles. Since many of the transports available to lift the division had a top speed of just 12 knots, that was at least a full week at sea.
MacArthur wasn’t happy. There were no more than a few destroyers and the cruiser Chester to serve as escorts, and he began bawling that the Navy was dropping the ball again. In justifiable anger, Halsey moved to a position midway between Efate and Noumea, and let both ports have it. The French battalions on Efate got a bruising, and then he ripped into the harbor at Noumea, shaking things up there so badly that Yamamoto ordered most of the idle transport and capital ships to move into the Coral Sea and attempt to avoid another such attack. Halsey could have stayed there and raised hell, effectively neutralizing Noumea with the remaining power of his carrier air wings, but MacArthur had other ideas.
“We ought to simply take the place,” he said. “We would be seven days at sea to move the 41st Division to Fiji, and I’m not entirely sure it will be needed there now. Krueger is pushing the Japanese very hard, so I still believe we should direct our next blow right at Noumea.”
“Well and good,” said Nimitz. “But we’re still fighting on Efate with the French, and the Japanese have been moving in more air power through Tulagi to Luganville on Espiritu Santo. They also landed troops on Ndeni at Malo Bay and took the airfield at Matamotu, so it’s clear they aren’t going to take our invasion at Efate lying down. They could mount a counterattack there at any time, which means Halsey has to keep carriers close by to cover them and prevent that. Now you suggest we mount an entirely new amphibious operation? We had planned to move that division to Suva on cargo ships at Brisbane, not APs. And there are still enemy planes at Noumea.”
“Halsey rattled them up a few days ago. Have him do that again. Don’t you see? He’s in the perfect position to cover my move to Noumea right now.”
“You realize we just got taken to the cleaners by the Kido Butai? We lost the Wasp, along with two small scout carriers. And both CVEs we had in theater are now heading pierside for repairs. That leaves us Halsey’s group, four fleet carriers, unless I move a couple more CVEs down from Pearl, and they’re still cutting their teeth in sea trials.”
“Well shouldn’t four fleet carriers be sufficient? The Japanese didn’t seem to want to hang around when Halsey moved on Efate. The Marines should finish up there in a few days. Now’s the time to move on Noumea. Why move the 41st Division 2000 miles to Suva when we can take Noumea with it instead? We’ve already cut it off with the landing at Efate, now it’s time for the main event. Its only 780 nautical miles from Brisbane to Noumea, just three days at sea. We’ve got the division loaded. Why not take it right to the enemy’s main support base. Once we take Noumea, they’ll have no choice but to abandon their position in the Fijis. They’ll be completely overextended.”
“True, but we could find ourselves in the same situation if we don’t plan this well. We’ll need to move Seabees, aviation support and supplies to Efate so we can get those airfields up and running. Trying to do that and also supply a full division on New Caledonia will tax the shipping we have available. We lost three good ships when the Japanese hit the landing site at Mele Bay.”
“Don’t tell me that we have to continue sitting on our thumbs in Brisbane with three divisions because the Navy can’t find adequate shipping.”
“Oh, we could find it,” said Nimitz. “But if we move too hastily it could all end up at the bottom of the Coral Sea.”
It went on like that between them for some time, MacArthur pressing for action, wanting to seize the day and knock out the main Japanese support base threatening Fiji, New Zealand and Australia. When he learned Vice Admiral Lee would now have four fast battleships, he was even more encouraged.
“Lee could stand off Noumea under Halsey’s air cover and pound the Japanese garrison to dust.”
“For a few days, then we’d have to pull them to replenish all that ammo. I need their flak defense for my carriers, so that creates another problem. And another thing—since when is the 41st Division trained to make an opposed landing assault from the sea? That’s work for our Marines.”
“Where are they then? Perhaps if you had left them on Viti Levu, we’d have the place by now.”
“1st Marine Division needed R&R, but we’ve still got them in the bullpen. In fact, we were planning to send another regiment to Efate along with those Seabees, and we’ve been looking over Luganville.”
“On Espiritu Santo? Why would you put good assault troops in there when we could take Noumea?”
“Because it puts a choke hold on the Japs in both that place and Fiji. It also gives us a perfect springboard into the Solomons.”
MacArthur shook his head. “You can’t be serious about that. You want to fight your way, one jungle ridden island after another through the Solomons? We could bypass the whole lot after we take Noumea, and then I could take back Port Moresby and start planning the push into New Britain. Rabaul is the key. After we take that, all their positions in the Solomons will fall like rotten fruit. It’s their main supply base, aside from Truk.”