US Marine Corps - The Black Vault

536 Amphibians Came To Conquer
when TOENAILS was just hot on the griddle and half cooked, nor Rear
Admiral Wilkinson, who, on the 15th of July, became the chief line backer
rather than the quarterback for TOENAILS, ever submitted an Operational
Report on TOENAILS. To polish off the report picture a final bit, Vice
Admiral Ghormley, the immediate senior in command, did make an operational
report on WATCHTOWER, but Vice Admiral Halsey, the immediate
senior in command, made none on TOENAILS. So the top level reports and
seasoned judgments regarding TOENAILS from the naval operational commanders
at the time of the assault are more than a bit scanty. They are
nonexistent.4
THE WEATHER
Bad weather was a major hindrance for military operations in the Central
Solomons on 30 June 1943, D-Day for TOENAILS. Commander Aircraft
Solomons (COMAIRSOLS) had reported late on the 29th that he could
carry out no bombing operations on the 30th, “unless the weather clears,”
and that his information of enemy movements in the area was Iimited.s
LCI (L) -333, the day before the actual landing, reported “sea rough; wind
force 9“ and that there were heavy swells, which would indicate that some
young man was vastly underrating what a force 9 wind would and could do.
Rear Admiral Turner, in his War Diary, wrote:
Weather enroute to Rendova—low ceilings, moderate showers, poor visibility
in showers, surface wind SE, force four, shifting and gusty in showers,
choppy seas.
Logs of the larger ships participating in the TOENAILS landings on 30
June show that it rained hard off and on during the night, then poured
during the landings and on into the morning.
Stormy and rainy weather continued to plague the landing craft during
the early days of TOENAILS. On July lst, 2nd, and 3rd the seas were
moderate to heavy with a force 4 wind. LCT-129 lost its ramp in the heavy
seas and arrived back at the Russells with three feet of water on her tank
deck. The LCIS had to reduce their speed from 12 knots to 8.5 knots due to
head-on seas on the 2nd of July.
Task Unit 31.3.24, made up of LCIS and LCTS, was dispersed by the storm
‘ Commander Third Fleet, Narrative Account of the South Pacific Campaign, Ser 021 of 3 Sep.
1944.
6 COMAIRSOLS to CTG 36.2,290835 Jun. 1943.