Turn 3 Night to turn 4 night. The landings start

Day 3 Night (august 6)

The weather is fine

 Both Subs encounter and spot a carrier group. The first sub, the I-121 is spotted by escorts dives before it is able to fire. It is then depth chraged and sunk by the escorts, (I forgot to take photos)

The second sub, sights and reports the group but can't get into a firing position.

The landing forces arrive and prepare to land, they are sighted and the main Japanese forces withdraw to the jungle, The forces on the small islands are now trapped and will have to fight.

Vice Admiral Gunichi's forces also arrive and begin to move towards Guadalcanal, his forces are made up of 5 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers and 1 destroyer.

Day 4 (august 7)

The weather is windy

 Below blue circles are US fleets, 1-3 are carrier groups and 4 is the landing group. Blue dimonds are ground forces. Red circles are Japanese fleets, 1 being sub I-123 and 3 being Gunichi's forces. The red dimond is Japanese forces on land.

News of the landings reaches the Japanese forces based at Rabaul, but for some reason they fail to send any air craft to attack the ships as they land forces throughout the first day.

Gunichi's force gets closer and is spotted by US scout aircraft at long range.

The I-123 approaches the Task Unit from old TF 16 again. It fails to get into a good position but is not spotted due to the waves caused by the wind.

The marines move ashore and occupy the airstrip on Guadalcanal. The encounter resistance on Tulagi and Gavutu–Tanambogo and are forced to fight. (the battle will come later)

Below blue represents the US forces, 1 the marines on Guadalcanal and 2 the Marines on Tulagi and Gavutu–Tanambogo. Red is the Japanese base forces.

Day 4 night

There is heavy rain and wind

The I-123 looses the position of the Task unit it was following

Gunichi approaches the amphibious sections of the task forces, as he was spotted the day before the defences are tighter and more ships are precent but they still fail to spot him as he closes due to the weather and poor training and leadership. He easily locates the fleet lead by Rear Admiral V. A. C. Crutchley.

Gunichi decides to strike at the escorts rather than trying to sneak through to the transports. Meanwhile Crutchley has laid out his forces in a conservative fashion keeping his best ships closer to his transports. and clumped together.

The battle will be fought at night and in bad weather. The Smaller Japanese fleet has achived tactical but not strategic surprise and is heavily out numbered.

This battle could have a key effect on the future of the campaign.