Battle of Vella Gulf The 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 destroyers were allowed to operate independent of the cruiser force during the Pacific campaign . In the battle , six American destroyers — , , , , , and — engaged a group of four enemy destroyers attempting to reinforce Japanese troops on Kolombangara . The American warships closed the enemy undetected with the aid of radar and fired torpedoes , which sank " Hagikaze " , " Arashi " , and " Kawakaze " with no damage to American ships . Background . The American forces were in a campaign of island hopping their way towards Japan . They had taken Guadalcanal the past year . After their victory in the Battle of Kolombangara on 13 July , the Japanese had established a powerful garrison of 12 , 400 around Vila at the southern tip of the island . This was the principal port on that island , and it supplied at night using fast destroyers as transports known as the " Tokyo Express " . Three supply runs on 19 July , 29 July , and 1 August were successful deliveries . However , by 1 August the Americans were driving the Japanese out of the airfield on New Georgia Island just south of Kolombangara . The last of these runs resulted in an unsuccessful skirmish for the Americans - one which does not merit a name from naval historians . It would become the noted topic of magazine articles , books , motion pictures , and political campaigns when of fifteen PT boat s ( which did not score a single sinking ) , the destroyer rammed and sank " PT - 109 " , commanded by future U . S . President John F . Kennedy . Battle . On the night of 6 August , the Imperial Japanese Navy sent a force of four destroyers under Captain Kaju Sugiura — , , , and — 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 commanders expected that Vila would become the center of their next line of defense . The U . S . Navy Task Group 31 . 2 ( TG 31 . 2 ) of six destroyer s — , , , , , and — commanded by Captain Frederick Moosbrugger was lying in wait , and it made radar contact with the Japanese force at 23 : 33 . Having learned the harsh lessons of naval combat at night after the Battle of Tassafaronga , the Battle of Kula Gulf , and the previous PT boat debacle , the American destroyers did not give away their position with gunfire , but rather , they waited until they had all their torpedoes in the water . The U . S . Navy destroyers fired a total of 36 torpedoes in the space of 63 seconds . Four American ships — including USS " Craven " — used the mountains of the main island to their east to help camouflage their position . The radar possessed by the Japanese was not as advanced as the American radar , and it could not differentiate between the surface ships and the island . All four Japanese destroyers were hit by American torpedoes . " Hagikaze " , " Arashi " , and " Kawakaze " burst into flames and were quickly sunk by naval gunfire . The torpedo that hit " Shigure " was a dud that did not explode , damaging her rudder only , and she escaped into the darkness . Many of the Imperial soldiers and sailors left floating in the water after their ships sank refused rescue by American ships . Over 1 , 000 Japanese soldiers and sailors were lost , mostly by drowning . 300 of them reached Vella Lavella and they were later transferred to Kolombangara Island . During this entire battle , not one U . S . ship was struck by so much as a single bullet or shell . Moosbrugger ' s wise usage of radar resulted in the battle being nearly a " clean sweep " of Vella Gulf by the U . S . Navy . Aftermath . The battle — coming less than one month after the night action at the Battle of Kolombangara — was the first U . S . Navy victory in World War II in a torpedo duel . The six destroyers had accomplished what a squadron of 15 American PT boats could not shortly before : sink the Tokyo Express with torpedoes with no American or friendly navy losses . The Empire of Japan could no longer supply their garrison on Kolombangara Island , and the Allies bypassed it , landing instead on Vella Lavella to the west . The Japanese Army soon abandoned Kolombangara . Namesakes . The escort aircraft carrier , in commission from 1945 to 1946 , and the Ticonderoga class guided - missile cruiser , in commission since 1993 , were named for this battle .