Battle of Vella Gulf

Battle of Vella Gulf Part of the Pacific Theater of World War II The U.S. destroyer Sterett. Date 6–7 August 1943 Location Near Kolombangara in the Solomon Islands Result United States victory Belligerents  United States  Empire of Japan Commanders and leaders Frederick Moosbrugger Kaju Sugiura Strength 6 destroyers 4 destroyers Casualties and losses None 3 destroyers sunk, 1,210 killed[1]

Solomon Islands campaign Southern Solomons Japanese Invasion of Tulagi Guadalcanal Campaign Operation Cartwheel Operation I-Go Operation Vengeance Central Solomons New Georgia Campaign Vella Lavella Northern Solomons Treasury Islands Raid on Choiseul Bombing of Rabaul Bougainville Campaign Green Islands

Coordinates: 7°54′S 156°49′E / 7.90°S 156.82°E / -7.90; 156.82 The Battle of Vella Gulf (ベラ湾夜戦, Berawan yasen) 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.

Background

After their victory in the Battle of Kolombangara on 13 July, the Japanese had established a powerful garrison of 12,400 around Vila on the southern tip of Kolombagara island in an attempt to block further island hopping by the American forces, which had taken Guadalcanal the previous year. Vila was the principal port on Kolombangara, and it was supplied at night using fast destroyer transport runs the Americans called the "Tokyo Express". Three supply runs on 19 July, 29 July, and 1 August were successfully completed. However, by 1 August the Americans were driving the Japanese out of the airfield on New Georgia Island just south of Kolombangara and the Japanese decided to send a fourth transport run to Vila with reinforcements

Battle

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.^[2] 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 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.^[3]

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 was lying in wait, and it made radar contact with the Japanese force at 23:33. Moosebrugger's battle plan divided his forces into two divisions: Moosebrugger's own Destroyer Division 12 (Dunlap, Craven and Maury) were to launch a surprise torpedo attack out of the shadow of Kolambagara Island while Commander Roger Simpson's Destroyer Division 15 (Lang, Sterett and Stack) covered them from an overwatch position, turning to cross the enemy's course so any attempt by the Japanese to turn into the first division's torpedo attack would expose their broadsides to a torpedo attack from the second division.^[4] Keeping the enemy formation inside the wide "V" created by the diverging courses would also help prevent the "friendly fire" incidents that had plagued US Navy formations in previous night battles. The two divisions could then switch roles if a repeat torpedo attack proved necessary. Having learned the harsh lessons of naval combat at night after the Battle of Tassafaronga, 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 36 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 actual event not all of the Japanese ships present actually had radar and the looming mass of the island served to conceal the American ships from visual observation.^[5] 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.

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 and clever coordination of his forces 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 USS Vella Gulf (CVE-111), in commission from 1945 to 1946, and the Ticonderoga class guided-missile cruiser USS Vella Gulf (CG-72), in commission since 1993, were named for this battle.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Battle of Vella Gulf.

Notes

Lieutenant Commander, Captain Clifton Iverson of the USS Dunlap was awarded the Navy Cross due to valor in this battle. ^[6]

References

• Brown, David (1990). Warship Losses of World War Two. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-914-X. 
• Calhoun, C. Raymond (2000). Tin Can Sailor: Life Aboard the USS Sterett, 1939-1945. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-228-5. 
• Crenshaw, Russell Sydnor (1998). South Pacific Destroyer: The Battle for the Solomons from Savo Island to Vella Gulf. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-136-X. 
• D'Albas, Andrieu (1965). Death of a Navy: Japanese Naval Action in World War II. Devin-Adair Pub. ISBN 0-8159-5302-X. 
• Dull, Paul S. (1978). A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1941-1945. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-097-1. 
• Hara, Tameichi (1961). Japanese Destroyer Captain. New York & Toronto: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-27894-1. -Firsthand account of the battle by Japanese squadron commander aboard Shigure.
• Hone, Thomas C. (1981), "The Similarity of Past and Present Standoff Threats", Proceedings of the U.S. Naval Institute, Annapolis, Maryland (Vol. 107, No. 9, September 1981), pp. 113–116, ISSN 0041-798X 
• Kilpatrick, C. W. (1987). Naval Night Battles of the Solomons. Exposition Press. ISBN 0-682-40333-4. 
• Morison, Samuel Eliot (1958). Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier, vol. 6 of History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. Castle Books. ISBN 0-7858-1307-1. 
• Roscoe, Theodore (1953). United States Destroyer Operations in World War Two. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-726-7. 
• Stille, Mark (2012). USN Destroyer vs. IJN Destroyer: The Pacific 1943. Oxford: Osprey Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84908-624-0. 

External links

• Parshall, Jon; Bob Hackett; Sander Kingsepp; Allyn Nevitt. "Imperial Japanese Navy Page (Combinedfleet.com)". Archived from the original on 13 June 2006. Retrieved 2006-06-14. 
• McComb, David W. (2008). "Battle of Vella Gulf". Destroyer History Foundation. Archived from the original on 13 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-16. 
• Description by Vincent O'Hara
• Order of battle