| USS Enterprise (CV-6) Flight deck damage caused by a bomb explosion during the August 24, 1942, Battle of the Eastern Solomons. Photographed a few days later, after the ship had returned to port. The naval Battle of the Eastern Solomons took place on August 24-25, 1942 and was the 3rd carrier battle of the Pacific campaign and the 2nd major engagement fought between the United States Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Guadalcanal campaign. As at the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway, the ships of the 2 adversaries were never within sight of each other. Instead, all attacks were carried out by carrier-based or land-based aircraft. At 1629 Hours, the Japanese dive bombers began their attacks. Although several attempted to set up to attack USS Saratoga (CV-3), they quickly shifted back to the nearer carrier, USS Enterprise. Thus, Enterprise was the target of almost the entire Japanese air attack. In a desperate attempt to disrupt their attacks, several Wildcats followed the Aichi D3A “Val” dive bombers into their attack dives, despite the intense anti-aircraft artillery fire from USS Enterprise and her screening warships. As many as 4 Wildcats were shot down by American anti-aircraft fire, as well as several Aichi D3A dive bombers. Because of the effective anti-aircraft fire from the United States Navy ships, plus evasive maneuvers, the bombs from the 1st 9 D3A dive bombers missed Enterprise. The 2nd division, which was led by Lieutenant Keiichi Arima (January 24, 1909 – March 29, 1998), managed to score 3 hits. Initially, the lead D3A dive bomber, piloted by Petty Officer Kiyoto Furuta (1914 – ????), scored a hit with a 250-kilogram (551 pound) semi-armor-piercing, delayed-action “ordinary” bomb that penetrated the flight deck near the aft elevator and passed through 3 decks before detonating below the waterline, killing 35 men and wounding 70 more. Incoming seawater caused Enterprise to develop a slight list, but it was not a major breach of hull integrity. Just 30 seconds later, the next Aichi D3A dive bomber, piloted by Petty Officer Tamotsu Akimoto (???? – ????), planted its 241-kilogram (531 pound) high-explosive “land” bomb only 15 feet (4.6 meters) away from where the 1st bomb hit. The resulting detonation ignited a large secondary explosion from 1 of the nearby 5-inch (127 millimeter) guns’ ready powder casings, killing 35 members of the nearby gun crews and starting a large fire. The 3rd and last bomb, dropped by an aircraft piloted by Kazumi Horie, who died in the attack, hits Enterprise, causing minor damage. Smoke from the 1st 2 bomb hits can be seen in the upper left of the picture. About a minute later, at 1646 Hours, a 3rd and last bomb (also a 241-kilogram, 531 pound “land” bomb), dropped by Petty Officer Kazumi Horie (???? – August 24, 1942), hit Enterprise on the flight deck forward of where the 1st 2 bombs hit. This bomb exploded on contact, creating a 10-foot (3 meter) hole in the deck but causing no further damage. 7 Aichi D3A dive bombers — 3 from Shokaku and 4 from Zuikaku — then broke off from the attack on USS Enterprise to attack the battleship USS North Carolina, but all were shot down by anti-aircraft fire or United States Navy F4F Wildcat fighters. The attack was over at 1648 Hours, and the surviving Japanese aircraft reassembled in small groups and returned to their ships. Both sides thought that they had inflicted more damage than was the case. The United States Navy claimed to have shot down 70 Japanese aircraft, even though there were only 37 aircraft in all. Actual Japanese losses — from all causes — in the engagement were 25 aircraft, with most of the crews of the lost aircraft not being recovered or rescued. The Japanese, for their part, mistakenly believed that they had heavily damaged 2 United States Navy carriers, instead of just 1. The United States Navy lost 6 aircraft in the engagement, along with 5 pilots. Although Enterprise was heavily damaged and on fire, her damage-control teams were able to make sufficient repairs for the ship to resume flight operations at 1746 Hours, only 1 hour after the engagement ended. At 1805 hours, the Saratoga strike force returned from sinking Ryūjō and landed without major incident. The 2nd wave of Japanese aircraft approached the United States Navy carriers at 1815 Hours but was unable to locate the United States Navy formation because of communication problems and had to return to their carriers without attacking any United States Navy ships. It lost 5 aircraft from operational mishaps. Most of the United States Navy carrier aircraft launched just before the 1st wave of Japanese aircraft attacked failed to find any targets, but 2 Douglas SBD Dauntlesses from Saratoga sighted Kondo’s advanced force and attacked the seaplane tender Chitose, scoring 2 near-misses which heavily damaged the unarmored ship. The United States Navy carrier aircraft either landed at Henderson Field or were able to return to their carriers after dusk. The United States Navy ships retired to the south to get out of range of any approaching Japanese warships. In fact, Imperial Japanese Navy Admiral Hiroaki Abe’s (March 15, 1889 – February 6, 1949) “vanguard force” and Imperial Japanese Navy Admiral Nobutake Kondō’s (September 25, 1886 – February 19, 1953) “advanced force” were steaming south to try to catch the United States Navy carrier task forces in a surface battle, but they turned around at midnight without having made contact with the United States Navy warships. Nagumo’s main body, having taken heavy aircraft losses in the engagement and being low on fuel, also retreated northward. | |
| Image Filename | wwii1893.jpg |
| Image Size | 1.51 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 5740 x 4652 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | United States Navy |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | August 30, 1942 |
| Location | Pearl Harbor |
| City | Oahu |
| State or Province | Hawaii |
| Country | United States |
| Archive | Naval History and Heritage Command |
| Record Number | 80-G-K-413 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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