Read that the Japanese Navy were masters of night time fighting . How true this is and actually, why if they were superior to the US Navy during night? Purely because of more practice??
Hello Kai, I am not as well versed as some of our other members, but I would ask the question “were they really superior to the US in night fighting?” In the battle of Salvo Island I thought the Japanese more than anything caught the US fleet off guard and started launching torpedos and shooting at ships that had their crews sleeping. When it came to the November naval battles at Guadalcanal, it came out much more even I think because to the US fleet was more or less ready and the Japanese did not have that element of surprise. I would say this would also apply to the “battle of Surgao Strait” at in October 44 during the Leyte Gulf battle. The US fleet shot very well “crossing the T” at night and making the Japanese break off their plan (temporarily if I remember correctly). Again, let the better experts like Takao chime in.
In the beginning, the Japanese were better trained & prepared for night combat. They had spent several years developing tactics and equipment for just such actions. They also employed optics with better light-gathering characteristics that allowed them to spot send my vessels at longer ranges than their enemies. The "Long Lance" torpedo was also a great help, but it's extreme range came from the IJN doctrine of out-ranging the enemy, day or night, and were not specifically designed for night combat. Savo was a "surprise", but it should not have been. Faulty reconnaissance misidentified the Japanese cruisers, and faulty arrangements did not allow a timely transfer of recon reports up the chain of command. The main American failure was the failure of the American picket destroyers to spot the Japanese fleet as it steamed between them - despite the Japanese clearly seeing those pickets. Had the American picket destroyers spotted the Japanese, Savo could have turned out quite differently. There were several other Allied failures that night, that compounded these two, but they are not directly associated to night fighting ability. The Americans seemed to get a handle on night fighting at the Battle of Cape Esperance, in early October, 1942, when a superior American force defeated an inferior Japanese one. Radar played a good bit here, as did a bit of luck. However, radar was still in it's infancy, sand did not have the reliability and trust that it would get in later actions. There would be several more bloody actions before the Americans would finally gain the upper hand in night actions. Still, night actions would remain confusing and questionable engagement until very late in the war.