Editing Guadalcanal campaign (section)

===Transport Division 12===
For six weeks, from early August to the end of September, the U.S. Navy largely avoided the waters off Tulagi and Guadalcanal, and was ordered not to resupply the Marines or provide escort duty for slow transport ships, as American naval commanders feared a repeat of the disastrous defeat at Savo Island suffered by Australian and American surface vessels on 9 August. Transport Division 12 (Trans Div 12), consisting of six obsolete World War I-era {{sclass|Wickes|destroyer|1}}s converted to [[High-speed transport#"Flush-deck" conversions|high-speed transports]], were the most heavily armed U.S. surface ships operating in Ironbottom Sound during this time. Their torpedo tubes were retrofitted to hold [[LCPL|landing craft boats]], enough to carry over 100 extra Marines for rapid transportation. They landed the first Marines onto Tulagi and later on Guadalcanal, conducted special operations missions with [[Marine Raiders]], participated in anti-submarine warfare, and provided covering fire for the Marines on Guadalcanal. They also directly delivered crucial supplies to the Marines that helped to construct Henderson Field and to maintain the aircraft stationed there.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1945/february/saga-unsung-destroyer-transports | title=Saga of the Unsung—The Destroyer Transports | first1=John W. | last1=Bernhardt | first2=Foster | last2=Halley | date=February 1945 | work=[[Proceedings (magazine)|Proceedings]] | publisher=U.S. Naval Institute | access-date=21 August 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2019/november/shoestring-logistics-lessons-guadalcanal | title=Shoestring Logistics Lessons from Guadalcanal | first=Eric | last=Schuck | date=November 2019 | work=[[Proceedings (magazine)|Proceedings]] | publisher=U.S. Naval Institute | access-date=21 August 2023}}</ref>

On 30 August {{USS|Colhoun|APD-2}} was bombed by Japanese high-altitude horizontal bombers and sank with the loss of 51 men. On 4–5 September, {{USS|Little|APD-4}} and {{USS|Gregory|APD-3}} had finished landing a complement of Marine Raiders back onto Guadalcanal and proceeded to patrol the area for submarines, which had been surfacing and shelling the Marines nightly. Three Japanese destroyers, which did not know that enemy surface ships were patrolling the area, positioned themselves to attack Henderson Field. They were spotted by two American destroyer-transports, and initially identified as a submarine. A U.S. patrol plane also misidentified the destroyers as an enemy submarine at nighttime and dropped flares over the area, inadvertently silhouetting ''Little'' and ''Gregory''. The Japanese destroyers immediately fired on and sank the overmatched American ships. 65 men from ''Little'' were killed and 24 men from ''Gregory'' were killed, including the commanding officer of Transport Division 12 and the commanding officers of both ships.<ref>{{Cite web |title=MaritimeQuest - USS Colhoun APD-2 Roll of Honor |url=https://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/us_navy_pages/destroyers/pages/alpha_pages/c/colhoun_dd85_roll_of_honor.htm |access-date=2023-10-01 |website=www.maritimequest.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=MaritimeQuest - USS Little APD-4 Roll of Honor |url=https://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/us_navy_pages/destroyers/pages/alpha_pages/l/little_dd79_roll_of_honor.htm |access-date=2023-10-01 |website=www.maritimequest.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=MaritimeQuest - USS Gregory APD-3 Roll of Honor |url=https://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/us_navy_pages/destroyers/pages/alpha_pages/g/uss_gregory_dd_82_roll_of_honor.htm |access-date=2023-10-01 |website=www.maritimequest.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=H-010-1 Operation Shoestring |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/about-us/leadership/director/directors-corner/h-grams/h-gram-010/h-010-1.html |access-date=2023-10-01 |website=NHHC |language=en-US}}</ref>