Wikipedia:Today's featured article/October 27, 2017
_under_attack_by_dive_bombers_during_the_Battle_of_Santa_Cruz_Islands_on_26_October_1942_(80-G-20989).jpg)
The Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands (25–27 October 1942) was the fourth aircraft carrier battle fought between the navies of the United States and Japan during World War II. It was part of the Guadalcanal Campaign, through which the Allies sought to parry and reverse Japanese advances in the southwest Pacific. The Japanese Army, in an attempt to drive Allied forces from Guadalcanal and nearby islands and end the stalemate there, planned a ground offensive for 20–25 October. In support, carriers and other large warships were moved into position near the southern Solomon Islands, where they hoped to engage and defeat any Allied naval forces responding to the offensive. As in the battles of the Coral Sea, Midway, and the Eastern Solomons, almost all attacks by both sides were mounted by or against carrier- or land-based aircraft. Allied surface ships were forced to retreat after one carrier was sunk and another heavily damaged, but the veteran pilots lost by the Japanese proved to be irreplaceable. (Full article...)
Part of the Guadalcanal Campaign featured topic.