Battle of Kolombangara The Battle of Kolombangara ( Japanese : コロンバンガラ島沖海戦 ) ( also known as the Second Battle of Kula Gulf ) was a naval battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II , fought on the night of 12 / 13 July 1943 , off Kolombangara in the Solomon Islands . Background . A Japanese " Tokyo Express " reinforcement force — commanded by " Sho - sho " ( Rear Admiral ) Shunji Izaki and comprising the light cruiser , the destroyer s , , , and and the destroyer transport s , , , and — made a run down " The Slot " from the upper Solomons to land troops at Vila on Kolombangara by way of Kula Gulf on the night of 12 July 1943 . An Allied force — commanded by Rear Admiral Walden L . Ainsworth and comprising the United States Navy light cruisers and and Royal New Zealand Navy light cruiser , and the destroyers , , , , , , , , , and — were deployed in a single column with five destroyers in the van followed by the light cruisers and then by five destroyers in the rear . The U . S . had landed troops of the 37th Infantry Division on New Georgia to attack Munda the week before and had just placed Marine Raiders ashore at Rice Anchorage on New Georgia ' s northern shore to seize Bairoko . Admiral Ainsworth ' s mission was to protect the north shore beachhead from attack by the " Tokyo Express " and if possible to prevent Imperial reinforcements from landing . Battle . At 01 : 00 on 13 July , the Allied ships established radar contact about east of the northern tip of Kolombangara at . Ainsworth assumed he had complete surprise , but the Japanese had been aware of the Allied force for almost two hours . The destroyers increased speed to engage the Japanese force while the cruisers turned to deploy their main batteries , but the Imperial destroyers had already launched Long Lance torpedo es and turned away . " Jintsu " engaged the Allied ships , but all Allied fire was concentrated on the largest ship . " Jintsu " was reduced to a wreck while " Leander " was struck by a torpedo and , severely damaged , retired from the battle escorted by " Radford " and " Jenkins " . " Jintsu " was finally broken in two by torpedo hits and sank at about 01 : 45 , with the loss of nearly her entire crew , including Vice Admiral Izaki . Ainsworth pursued the Imperial destroyers , but both " St . Louis " and " Honolulu " were struck by torpedoes and damaged , while " Gwin " was struck amidships and scuttled at 09 : 30 the next morning . Aftermath . " Honolulu " and " St . Louis " were out of action for several months , while " Leander " was under repair for a year and never returned to action during World War II . Except for " Jintsu " , the Japanese force escaped damage , and the transport destroyers successfully landed 1 , 200 men at Vila . The Emperor ' s men had won a tactical victory , but of the action the naval historian Samuel Eliot Morison wrote : " A string of such victories added up to defeat . " Though at a severe cost , Ainsworth also accomplished his mission of preventing an attack on the Marines , and combined with the earlier Battle of Kula Gulf , successfully deterred the Japanese from future use of Kula Gulf in reinforcing Munda . After the Battle of Kolombangara , the Japanese chose to use Vella Gulf , Blackett Strait , and the more constricted passage at Wana Wana , resulting in a series of nightly attacks by U . S . destroyers and PT boat s against their reinforcement efforts .