Despite the undeniable Japanese victory, it was an incomplete triumph. The escape of Enterprise prevented the battle from being a total American disaster and stopped the Japanese from turning a tactical success into a strategic one. Enterprise’s survival was key as she was repaired enough to return to the campaign in November when she played a key role in repelling the next (and final) Japanese onslaught. The terrible attrition exacted by the Americans against Japanese carrier aviators meant that the Japanese were not able to follow up their advantage by using their decimated air groups to attack American airpower on Henderson Field.
Another result of the battle was effectively to remove the Japanese carrier fleet from the Guadalcanal campaign. Shokaku and Zuiho were forced back to Japan for repairs, and the Japanese elected to send back Zuikaku as well to rebuild her air group. This was a further demonstration of the inflexibility of the Japanese carrier air group system which prevented the shuffling of aircraft from one ship to another. Taking into account surviving aircraft from both Shokaku and Zuikaku, added to the largely unaffected air group from Hiyo, sufficient aircraft clearly existed to give Zuikaku a full air group, had the Japanese decided that her continued presence in the area was critical. Since Hiyo was still immobilized at Truk, this left only Junyo for the next phase of the campaign. It is hard to understand why Yamamoto continued like this, unless he truly believed that the claims of three American carriers sunk at Santa Cruz were authentic and that he would not face any carriers in the next phase.
Henderson Field on Guadalcanal pictured in 1942. Possession of this airfield gave the Americans control of the waters around Guadalcanal during the day and eventually decided the entire campaign in their favor. (Naval History and Heritage Command)
The failure of the Japanese effort to reinforce Guadalcanal in November was decisive. Shown here is one of the transports, Kinugawa Maru, lost in the attempt. The Japanese evacuated the island soon thereafter. (Naval History and Heritage Command)
Santa Cruz was the forgotten carrier battle of 1942. Despite the myth, the Japanese carrier force was not destroyed at Midway – proven by the fact that the Japanese were able to gain a tactical victory at Santa Cruz and came very close to scoring a strategic one. The results of the battle were generally favorable for the Japanese, but they paid a very high price in aircraft and aircrew which prevented them from following up their victory. Santa Cruz was the best performance of the Japanese carrier force during the war. However, it came at such a cost that the next time the Japanese carrier would enter battle was June 1944. The price paid by the Americans was high, but ultimately necessary. The next and decisive phase of the Guadalcanal campaign in November was fought without the threat of a large Japanese carrier force. Possession of Henderson Field was ultimately the key to victory and the Japanese inability to neutralize or seize the airfield eventually forced them to admit defeat and evacuate Guadalcanal in February 1943.