page_title: Battle of Vella Gulf
section_title: Battle
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Vella Gulf / Battle
context_page_description: The Battle of Vella Gulf was a naval battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II fought on the night of 6–7 August 1943 in Vella Gulf between Vella Lavella Island and Kolombangara Island in the Solomon Islands of the Southwest Pacific.
  This engagement was the first time that American destroyers were allowed to operate independently of the American cruiser force during the Pacific campaign. In the battle, six American destroyers engaged four Japanese destroyers attempting to reinforce Japanese troops on Kolombangara. The American warships closed the Japanese force undetected with the aid of radar and fired torpedoes, sinking three Japanese destroyers with no damage to American ships.
context_section_description: On the night of 6 August, the Imperial Japanese Navy sent a force of four destroyers under Captain Kaju Sugiura—Hagikaze, Arashi, Kawakaze of Sugiara's own Destroyer Division 4 and Shigure of Captain Tameichi Hara's Destroyer Division 27—carrying about 950 soldiers and their supplies. The Japanese airfield at Munda on New Georgia, which the force at Vila was assigned to reinforce, was on the verge of being captured; it would actually fall later that day. The Imperial Japanese commanders expected that Vila would become the center of their next line of defense. The Japanese operational plan specified the same approach route through Vella Gulf as the three previous successful transport runs over the objections of Hara, who argued that repeating prior operations was courting disaster.
  The U.S. Navy Task Group 31.2 (TG 31.2) of six destroyers—USS Dunlap, Craven, Maury, Lang, Sterett, and Stack—commanded by Commander Frederick Moosbrugger, having been forewarned of the Japanese operation, was dispatched to intercept the Japanese force. The morale of Moosbrugger's crews was buoyed by the realization that at last they would be free of the combat doctrine that required them to stick close to the cruisers; on this night, they would be able to apply their own tactics. 
  The US ships made radar contact with the Japanese force at 23:33. Moosbrugger's battle plan divided his forces into two divisions.  Moosbrugger's own Destroyer Division 12 (Dunlap, Craven and Maury), whose ships  retained their full pre-war torpedo batteries, was to launch a surprise torpedo attack out of the shadow of Kolambangara Island. Meanwhile, Commander Roger Simpson's Destroyer Division 15 (Lang, Sterett and Stack), whose ships had exchanged some of their torpedo tubes for extra 40 mm guns, was to cover Moosburger's division from an overwatch position, turning to cross the enemy's course. The idea was that any attempt by the Japanese to turn into the first division's torpedo attack would expose their broadsides to torpedo attack from the second division.
  The two divisions could then switch roles if a repeat torpedo attack proved necessary, or alternate roles if barges were encountered, which could be dealt with by the second division's extra guns if necessary. Having learned the harsh lessons of naval combat at night after the Battle of Kolombangara, the Battle of Kula Gulf, and a previous PT boat skirmish, and having finally addressed the technical problems that had plagued their Mark 15 torpedoes since the beginning of the war, the American destroyers did not give away their position with gunfire until their torpedoes started striking their targets.
  Dunlap, Craven and Maury fired a total of 24 torpedoes  in the space of 63 seconds before turning to starboard and withdrawing at high speed, using the mountainous island to their east to help camouflage their movements.  The Americans were operating on the assumption that the Japanese had nothing to match their new centrimetric SG radar; they knew that their older meter band radars could not differentiate between the surface ships and the island and presumed Japanese radars were no better.  In the event, none of the Japanese ships present actually had radar and the looming mass of the island served to conceal the American ships from visual observation. Lang, Sterett and Stack turned to port to cross their opponent's T and opened fire as soon as the torpedoes started detonating.  All four Japanese destroyers were hit by American torpedoes. Hagikaze, Arashi, and Kawakaze burst into flames and either sank immediately or were quickly sunk by naval gunfire. The torpedo that hit Shigure was a dud that passed through her rudder without detonating, allowing her to escape into the darkness. Shigure fired eight torpedoes as Hara retreated from the scene, all of which missed their targets.
caption: New Georgia Islands. The Vella Gulf lies between Vella Lavella and Kolombangara on the western side of the chain.
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