Cruisers and a carrier of the US Navy in battle, 1942
A battleship steams with the task force, flak fills the sky, gunners fire from the carrier, and deck crews heave at damaged planes.
A cruiser's bow ploughs through heavy spray; sailors in white caps stand in ranks on a dock for a Medal of Honor ceremony; a battleship with a tower bridge steams at speed; tracer and black shell bursts fill the sky over the sea, and wreckage burns on the water; gunners in helmets fire a many-barrelled mount from the carrier's gallery and stand in silhouette against the smoke; deck crews crowd round an aircraft lying askew on the flight deck and push another, marked B20, across the planks.
In the autumn of 1942 the American carriers fought off Japanese air attacks in the battles around the Solomon Islands; the cruiser San Francisco, which the source shows coming home through the Golden Gate, lost her admiral and captain off Guadalcanal in November. The newsreel withheld the carrier's name and called her Carrier X. The newsreel, released by MGM as News of the Day, told the war as its American audience was meant to see it.
Film A cruiser's bow ploughs through heavy seas
Film Sailors and officers assemble for a Medal of Honor ceremony
Film A battleship steams with the task force
Film Tracer and smoke trails streak the sky
Film Flak bursts over the sea and a distant ship
Film Wreckage burns on the water beneath the flak
Film Deck crews gather round a damaged aircraft on the flight deck
Film Anti-aircraft guns fire from the carrier's gallery
Film Helmeted gunners in silhouette against the smoke
Film