The was a

naval battle Naval warfare is combat in and on the sea, the ocean, or any other battlespace involving a major body of water such as a large lake or wide river. The armed forces branch designated for naval warfare is a navy. Naval operations can be broadly d ...

of the Pacific campaign of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

fought on the night of 6 October 1943, near the island of

Vella Lavella Vella Lavella is an island in the Western Province (Solomon Islands), Western Province of Solomon Islands. It lies to the west of New Georgia, but is considered one of the New Georgia Islands, New Georgia Group. To its west are the Treasury Isla ...

in the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons,John Prados, ''Islands of Destiny'', Dutton Caliber, 2012, p,20 and passim is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 1000 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, t ...

. It marked the end of a three-month fight to capture the central Solomon Islands, as part of the

Solomon Islands campaign The Solomon Islands campaign was a major military campaign, campaign of the Pacific War during World War II. The campaign began with the Empire of Japan, Japanese seizure of several areas in the British Solomon Islands and Bougainville Island, B ...

. The battle took place at the end of the ground campaign on Vella Lavella, as the Japanese sought to evacuate the 600-strong garrison from the island. The garrison had become hemmed into a small pocket on the northern end of the island around Marquana Bay. While a force of around 20 auxiliary ships and barges evacuated the stranded soldiers, a force of 9 Japanese destroyers fought a short, but sharp engagement with 6 US Navy destroyers to the north of the island, thus diverting attention from the evacuation. As a result of the engagement, the Japanese evacuation effort was successfully concluded. Each side lost one destroyer sunk.

Background

After their defeats around Munda on

New Georgia New Georgia, with an area of , is the largest of the islands in Western Province (Solomon Islands), Western Province, Solomon Islands, and the List of islands by area, 203rd-largest island in the world. Since July 1978, the island has been par ...

and at sea in the

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 and Kolombangara in the Solomon Islands of the southwest Pacific. This engagement was the first time ...

, the Japanese began evacuating their garrisons in the central Solomons. Following the

Battle off Horaniu The Battle off Horaniu (Japanese: 第一次ベララベラ海戦) was a minor naval battle of the Pacific War, Pacific campaign of World War II, fought near Vella Lavella in the Solomon Islands. On the night of 17–18 August 1943, four U.S. N ...

, a staging post had been established at Horaniu on the north coast of Vella Lavella for the evacuation barges. After the Allies secured New Georgia in August, the Japanese withdrew the bulk of their forces to Kolombangara. Rather than directly assaulting this force, the Allies decided to bypass Kolombangara. Troops from the US and New Zealand subsequently landed on Vella Lavella in mid-August and began clearing the coastal areas, pushing the Japanese towards the northwest shore. The barge depot around Horaniu was captured by US forces, and by early October 1943, only 600 Japanese soldiers remained. The garrison was hemmed into a small pocket around Marquana Bay, where they were surrounded by troops from the New Zealand 14th Brigade. Following the evacuation of

Kolombangara Kolombangara (sometimes spelled ''Kulambangara'') is an island in the New Georgia Islands group of the nation state of Solomon Islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The name is from a local language, a rough translation of its meaning is ...

, the next major island in the New Georgia chain, lying between New Georgia and Vella Lavella, the Japanese decided to withdraw the troops stranded on Vella Lavella. On 6 October, an assortment of 20 auxiliary ships (including

subchaser A submarine chaser or subchaser is a type of small naval vessel that is specifically intended for anti-submarine warfare. They encompass designs that are now largely obsolete, but which played an important role in the wars of the first half of th ...

s, barges, and other small vessels) under Captain Shigoroku Nakayama, was dispatched from Buin, on

Bougainville Island Bougainville Island (; Tok Pisin: ''Bogenvil'') is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, which is part of Papua New Guinea. Its land area is . The highest point is Mount Balbi, on the main island, at . The much smaller Buk ...

, to rescue them. A force of three older destroyer-transports—, , and —escorted by six modern fully combat-ready destroyers—, , , , , and —was dispatched from Rabaul under Captain Matsuji Ijuin to cover the evacuation.

Battle

On the evening 6–7 October, the Japanese destroyer force under Ijuin was cruising northwest of Vella Lavella. Earlier, Ijuin had detached the three destroyer-transports along with ''Shigure'' and ''Samidare'' to proceed towards Marquana Bay. In response, US Admiral

Theodore Stark Wilkinson Theodore Stark "Ping" Wilkinson (December 22, 1888 – February 21, 1946) was a vice admiral of the United States Navy during World War II. He also received the Medal of Honor for his actions in Veracruz, Mexico. Early life and career After ...

, commanding the US amphibious forces assigned to the New Georgia campaign, hurriedly rerouted two groups of three destroyers each to attempt to disrupt the evacuation. Only the first group arrived in time to engage in combat. At 22:30, the Japanese spotted the US force of three destroyers—, , and , commanded by Captain Frank R. Walker—approaching from Vella Gulf. A second division of three US destroyers—, , and —under Captain Harold O. Larson, had been detached from convoy duty further south in the Solomons with orders to join up with Walker. These three additional ships were making speed up the west coast of Vella Lavella towards his division. ''Shigure'' and ''Samidare'' subsequently sought to rejoin the four destroyers under Ijuin, who began battle preparations, while the three destroyer transports began to retire towards the

Shortland Islands The Shortland Islands is an archipelago of Western Province, Solomon Islands, at . The island group lies in the extreme north-west of the country's territory, close to the south-east edge of Bougainville Island, Papua New Guinea. The largest is ...

.Morison, ''Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier'', pp. 245–246 & 250. Walker did not wait for the three destroyers under Larson to come up, however, and attacked immediately. Both sides launched torpedoes and opened fire around 23:00. A tactical error by the Japanese commander resulted in his force losing the initial advantage and placing them at close range along the US ships' line of fire. ''Yūgumo'', first in the Japanese line, after charging the US destroyers and firing several torpedoes, was hit several times, knocking out her steering. She was finished off by a torpedo and sunk around 23:10. However, one of her torpedoes hit ''Chevalier'', detonating the forward magazine. ''OBannon'' then collided with the crippled ''Chevalier'', and for some time the two ships were locked together. ''Selfridge'' attacked alone, firing at both ''Shigure'' and ''Samidare'', but was hit by a torpedo at 23:06 and disabled. All three ships were severely damaged, and reinforcements were still 15 minutes away. The rest of the Japanese force turned away after patrol aircraft misidentified the three approaching US destroyers as cruisers. Ijuin ordered his force and the destroyer transports to withdraw back towards Rabaul while the auxiliaries completed the evacuation.

Aftermath

Larson's destroyer division arrived on the scene around 23:35 and subsequently began searching for the departing Japanese destroyers, briefly picking up a radar contact on ''Yugumo'' as she sank. Shortly after midnight, Larson began rescue operations. Wounded were cross-loaded from ''Chevalier'', and the crippled ship was scuttled around 03:00 with ''La Vallette'' firing a torpedo into ''Chevalier''s magazine and then destroying her bow with depth charges.Morison, ''Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier'', pp. 250–251. ''Selfridge'' and ''O'Bannon'', however, despite being heavily damaged, remained afloat and were subsequently withdrawn for repairs. The Japanese completed their evacuation mission, with Nakayama's force entering Marquana Bay around 01:10 while American attention was focused on the recovery and departing two hours later, withdrawing 589 troops to Buin. Casualties during the battle amounted to 67 killed, 47 wounded, and 36 missing for the Americans. Of these, 54 were killed on ''Chevalier'' and 13 on ''Selfridge''. Thirty-six were wounded on ''Chevalier'' and 11 on ''Selfridge''. All missing were from the ''Selfridge''. The Japanese lost 138 killed, with about 25 crew being rescued by boats from ''OBannon'', and another 78 by US PT boats.Morison, ''Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier'', p. 251. This ended the second phase of

Operation Cartwheel Operation Cartwheel (1943 – 1944) was a major military operation undertaken by the Allies in the Pacific theatre of World War II. The ultimate goal of Cartwheel was to neutralize the major Japanese base at Rabaul. The operation was di ...

—the reduction of the main Japanese base at Rabaul—with the Allied capture of the central Solomons after a three-month campaign that cost the Allies six ships; the Japanese lost seventeen. According to author Ian Toll, the naval battle of Vella Lavella was the last Japanese naval victory of the Pacific War.Toll, ''The Conquering Tide: War in the Pacific Islands, 1942–1944'', pp. 234–235.

Notes

References

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External links

Description
by Vincent O'Hara
Order of battle WW2DB: Solomons Campaign
{{coord, 7, 30, S, 156, 14, E, display=title

Vella Gulf Vella Gulf is a waterway in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands. It lies between the islands of Vella Lavella to the northwest, Kolombangara to the southeast, and Ghizo to the south. It connects New Georgia Sound ("The Slot") to the no ...