US Marine Corps - The Black Vault

Success, Then Cliff Hanging 337
One ship reported that over 90 percent of the officers and 42 percent of the
men were members of the Naval Reserve.zg
Admiral Turner remembered that he was incredulous that at Guadalcanal
the initial landing at Red Beach was unopposed and it added to his pleasure
that on the Tulagi side, the initial landings at Haleta and Halavo were
unopposed, and at Blue Beach unopposed except for a limited number of
snipers.so
Not that everything at either landing had gone perfectly.
. . . the Nevdle experienced a period of waiting of 41 minutes between
the time all boats were in the water and time to commence loading troops.
The APDs were idle 1> minutes. . . .3’
The seven-mile approach to the Line of Departure for Gavutu “in a
choppy head sea thoroughly drenched all personnel and equipment.” 32
MINESWEEPING
Since there had been many aerial photographs taken of Japanese naval
and merchant ships in various anchorages off Lunga Point and off Tulagi
in the weeks before the landings, it was known that there were generous
unmined areas in these waters. So despite the fact that the operation order
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