Editing Guadalcanal campaign (section)

===Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands===
{{Main|Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands}}

At the same time that Hyakutake's troops were attacking the Lunga perimeter, a large Japanese naval force consisting of two fleet carriers (''Shokaku'' and ''Zuikaku''), two other light carriers, four battleships and various supporting vessels moved into a position near the southern Solomon Islands. Under the overall command of Yamamoto, this fleet was the largest that the Japanese had assembled since the Battle of Midway. Yamamoto's goal was to draw the bulk of Allied naval strength in the region, specifically the American aircraft carriers, into a decisive sea battle at the same time that Japanese troops on Guadalcanal were attacking the airfield in force. Allied naval carrier forces in the area, under the overall command of [[William Halsey Jr.]], also hoped to meet the Japanese naval forces in battle. Nimitz had replaced Ghormley with Admiral Halsey on 18 October after concluding that Ghormley had become too pessimistic and myopic to effectively continue leading Allied forces in the South Pacific Area.<ref>Morison, ''The Struggle for Guadalcanal'' pp. 199–207; Frank, pp. 368–378; Dull, pp. 235–237.</ref> Due to faulty reports from Hyakutake that his ground forces had seized the airfield over the night of October 25, Yamamoto ordered his task force to sail south and seek out the American fleet.

[[File:Japanese Nakajima B5N drops torpedo on USS Hornet (CV-8) on 26 October 1942.jpg|thumb|{{USS|Hornet|CV-8|6}} is torpedoed and fatally damaged by a Japanese carrier aircraft on 26 October.]]

The two opposing carrier forces confronted each other on the morning of 26 October, in what became known as the [[Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands]], the last carrier battle of the war in the Pacific until the Battle of the Philippine Sea nearly two years later. After an exchange of carrier air attacks, Allied surface ships were forced to retreat from the battle area with the loss of one carrier sunk (''Hornet'') and another ({{USS|Enterprise|CV-6|2}}) heavily damaged. The participating Japanese carrier forces, however, also retired because of high aircraft and aircrew losses and significant damage to two carriers. Although the Japanese had apparently secured a tactical victory in terms of ships sunk and damaged, their loss of almost 150 veteran carrier pilots provided a long-term strategic advantage for the Allies, whose aircrew losses in the battle were relatively low. Throughout the Guadalcanal campaign, Allied forces were far more successful in recovering downed pilots (both ground-based and carrier-based) than the Japanese. Japanese carriers would play no further significant role in the campaign.<ref>Dull, pp. 237–244; Frank, pp. 379–403; Morison, ''The Struggle for Guadalcanal'' pp. 207–224.</ref>