Kula Gulf
Liversedge's force landed at the Rice Anchorage, about past the mouth of the Wharton River, in the Kula Gulf area early on 5 July, having sailed from aboard several high speed transports and minesweepers at Guadalcanal the previous day. The landing force was escorted by a naval group including nine destroyers and three cruisers that were assigned to a covering force and a bombardment force. This force carried out a pre-assault bombardment of Kolombangara and Bairoko around midnight on 4/5 July. Prior to the landing, an Australian coastwatcher, Flight Officer John Corrigan, and US Marine Captain Clay Boyd had organized a local labor force to begin clearing the landing beach, as well as a bivouac site and trails from Kula Gulf towards Enogai; they later marked the landing site with canoes and beacons to aid the landing craft and rubber boats that brought the troops ashore. During preliminary operations, one of the covering destroyers, "USS Strong", was fatally torpedoed by a Japanese destroyer group operating in the Kula Gulf.