To shorten a destroyer's exposure near Guadalcanal, supplies were packed into cleaned drums with enough air to float and tied together by rope. A vessel or swimmer from shore could retrieve the free end and haul the load to the beach. The method reduced the time a destroyer had to remain near the island, but it did not create a dependable supply chain from the beach to the front. The proposal was ingenious, and its necessity showed that the campaign had exceeded what Japanese transport arrangements could sustain.
Notable Point · 20:29-22:29
The floating-drum supply method
Japanese destroyers were to release linked, buoyant supply drums for shore parties to recover, an inventive but desperate response to the supply problem.