On 8 November,
Juneau departed
Nouméa,
New Caledonia as a unit of
TF 67 under the command of Rear Admiral
Richmond K. Turner to escort reinforcements to Guadalcanal. The force arrived there early morning on 12 November, and
Juneau took up her station in the protective screen around the transports and cargo vessels. Unloading proceeded unmolested until 1405, when 30 Japanese planes attacked the alerted United States group. The AA fire was effective, and
Juneau alone accounted for six enemy
torpedo bombers shot down. The few remaining Japanese planes were in turn attacked by American fighters; only one
bomber escaped. Later in the day, an American attack group of cruisers and destroyers cleared Guadalcanal on reports that a large enemy surface force was headed for the island. At 0148 on 13 November, Rear Admiral
Daniel J. Callaghan's relatively small Landing Support Group engaged the enemy.[SUP]
[4][/SUP] The Japanese force consisted of two battleships, one light cruiser, and nine destroyers.
Because of bad weather and confused communications, the battle occurred in near pitch darkness and at almost point-blank range as the ships of the two sides became intermingled. During the melee,
Juneau was struck on the port side by a torpedo launched by
Japanese destroyer Amatsukaze,[SUP]
[6][/SUP] causing a severe list, and necessitating withdrawal. Before noon on 13 November,
Juneau, along with two other cruisers damaged in the battle —
Helena and
San Francisco — headed toward
Espiritu Santo for repairs.
Juneau was steaming on one screw, keeping station 800 yd (730 m) off the starboard quarter of the likewise severely damaged
San Francisco. She was down 12 ft (4 m) by the bow, but able to maintain 13 kn (15 mph, 24 km/h).
A few minutes after 1100, two torpedoes were launched from
Japanese submarine I-26.[SUP]
[4][/SUP] These were intended for
San Francisco, but both passed ahead of her. One struck
Juneau in the same place that had been hit during the battle. There was a great explosion;
Juneau broke in two and disappeared in just 20 seconds.[SUP]
[4][/SUP] Fearing more attacks from
I-26, and wrongly assuming from the massive explosion that there were no survivors,
Helena and
San Francisco departed without attempting to rescue any survivors. In fact, more than 100 sailors had survived the sinking of
Juneau. They were left to fend for themselves in the open ocean for eight days before rescue aircraft belatedly arrived. While awaiting rescue, all but 10 died from the elements and shark attacks, including the five
Sullivan brothers. Two of the brothers apparently survived the sinking, only to die in the water; two presumably went down with the ship. Some reports indicate the fifth brother also survived the sinking, but disappeared during the first night when he left the raft and got into the water.[SUP]
[7][/SUP] On 20 November 1942,
USS Ballard recovered two of the ten survivors. They were found in separate rafts around five miles apart.[SUP]
[8][/SUP][SUP]
[9][/SUP] One of the survivors recovered by
Ballard stated he had been with one of the Sullivan brothers for several days after the sinking.[SUP]
[10][/SUP]
RIP to those brave sailors.....
