US Marine Corps - The Black Vault

Tough Toenails Paring 545
Our reconnaissance party, on Rendova Island since 16 June, was to make
navigation easier for the two destroyer-transports and their landing craft by
placing on Bau Island a white light, showing to seaward and marking
Renard Entrance. Each of these destroyer-transports had on board not only
two members of the very valuable Australian coastwatchers organization,
but also Solomon Islanders, all presumably knowledgeable or qualified as
pilots for the Rendova area.
Despite all these assists, the Rendova Advance Unit managed to get
started off on the wrong foot, and to stay on it.
The Water~, scheduled to have troops on the beach by 0540, logged her
landing craft as just leaving her side at a very tardy 0606, and the I?ent
logged an even later departure of troops at 0615. Neither ship logged the
fact that their presumably highly knowledgeable pilots did not guide their
Barracudas in the landing craft to the correct beach areas on the first try.
The result of these nautical derelictions was that the specially trained
Barracudas arrived at the specified assault beaches on Rendova Island after
the regular troops from the large transports who were put ashore right on
time and at the correct beaches.
Since neither the Water.r nor the Dent submitted an action report on their
performance in TOENAILS, the cause of the delay in getting their landing
craft away or how they missed the correct beaches by miles is unrecorded in
the oflicial records. An excuse, which would be hard to accept, would be
‘flow visibility and rain squalls.”
When Rear Admiral Turner, in the McCawley, learned of the great delay
of the destroyer-transports in getting their Barracudas away and to the
correct beach areas, he immediately gave the troops in the leading landing
craft from the large transports (by voice radio from the flagship at 0646)
the surprising message:
You are the first to land, you are the first to land. Expect opposition.l”
THE MAIN RENDOVA LANDINGS
The four large transports and two cargo ships, with the 6,3oo embarked
troops that made up the 1st Echelon Landing Force at Rendova, mostly
had the benefit of a rehearsal period, although not of an over-all TF-31 dress
rehearsal. They had had a rainy, gusty but uneventful passage from Guadal-
‘0CTF 31 War Diary, 30 Jun. 1943.