US Marine Corps - The Black Vault

344 Amphibians Canze To Conquer
specific heavy gunfire support tasks were sunk within 48 hours of the landings.
The only remaining United States Navy heavy cruiser, the cbicago, did
not have a specific gunfire support task. So gunfire support was not even
mentioned in her WATCHTOWER action report. The Vincenne~ (CA-44)
skipper, in a report written from memory after his ship sank, wrote that the
ship had bombarded only native villages where “possible presence of enemy
had been previously reported.” 48
The B.uckanan (DD-484) reported that her preparatory and covering
fire on Blue Beach, Tulagi, was carried out at ranges of 6,OOOto 7,OOOyards,
but by afternoon the Buchanan had moved in to a range of 1,100 yards in
delivering call fire on Tanambogo. The Helm (DD-388) delivered 5-inch
fire support at 9,OOOyards on Tulagi.4’
The other destroyers and destroyer-types were equally reticent in com-
menting on their firing although the Hovey (DMS- 11) remarked that the
bombardment carried out by the high speed minesweepers was ‘