We almost lost. The Japanese attack came very close to capturing a battery of US howitzers. If they had they could have turned those guns on the defenseless support ships that were anchored beneath them. At Guadalcanal the Japanese might have won if their Navy had been a bit more aggressive. They bombarded Hickman Field and Marine positions with WW I battleships. About six miles beyond, the American supply fleet lay defenseless at anchor. The Japanese commander fearful of air attacks from an American carrier ( that had been withdrawn) did not press the attack. Japanese army commanders often with foolish bravado sacrificed their troops in massive frontal attacks. Other than a few commanders, the Japanese Navy did not demonstrate the same aggressive spirit.
You are correct. Not until it was too late to make any difference (Leyte Gulf, Okinawa) did the Imperial Japanese Navy throw in its capital ships - by which time the air and Naval superiority of the USN was overwhelming and the Japanese ships became target practice for it ... but you are right - the same spirit at Guadalcanal could have won that battle - and prolonged the war in the Pacific by a year, in all likelihood ... with the same inevitable outcome ... but even more lives lost on both sides ...
One of those more aggressive commanders was Tanaka Raizō, who commanded destroyers. Known as "Tenacious Tanaka," he ran the "Tokyo Express," as the convoys that supplied the Japanese at Guadalcanal were called, and defeated the US Navy in the Battle of Tassafaronga in 1942. But he was less successful when it came to Japanese naval politics, and found himself assigned to shore duty shortly after the Guadalcanal campaign.
That would be Henderson Field.
In the earliest stage of the Guadalcanal campaign the IJN sank 4 cruisers in the battle of Savo Island with no losses. The USN withdrew all shipping, combat and support and left the marines to forage abandoned japanese supplies for food for months.
Other major sea battles followed and the US lost more cruisers and 2 carries in addition to destroyers. The japanese did most of their attacking at night because they trained for it. We had the advantage of radar and totally misused it for most of the battles.
The japanese did retire out of range of Henderson during the day and most of their shipping losses were due to air attack. That sounds more tactical, not timid to me.
From their POV, their ships were the personal property of the emperor. Sort of a big sword hanging over their heads if they lost their command.
The commander of the IJN destroyers that were trying to supply the IJA troops on Guadalcanal was pretty PO'd at being used as little more than a transport/supply group. Especially when he found out "The Tokyo Express" was the US name used to refer to his battle group's operations.
It’s Hickam Field, not Hickman Field.