Battle of Blackett Strait

Encyclopedia : B : BA : BAT : Battle of Blackett Strait

Solomon Islands campaign
Guadalcanal – Savo I. – Eastern Solomons – Cape Esperance – Santa Cruz Is. – Naval Guadalcanal – Tassafaronga – Rennell I. – Blackett Strait – Operation Cartwheel – New Georgia – Kula Gulf – Kolombangara – Vella Gulf – Horaniu – Vella Lavella – Naval Vella Lavella – Treasury Is. – Choiseul – Empress Augusta Bay – Cape St. George – Green Is. – 2nd Rabaul – Bougainville

Solomon Islands campaign
Guadalcanal – Savo I. – Eastern Solomons – Cape Esperance – Santa Cruz Is. – Naval Guadalcanal – Tassafaronga – Rennell I. – Blackett Strait – Operation Cartwheel – New Georgia – Kula Gulf – Kolombangara – Vella Gulf – Horaniu – Vella Lavella – Naval Vella Lavella – Treasury Is. – Choiseul – Empress Augusta Bay – Cape St. George – Green Is. – 2nd Rabaul – Bougainville

The Battle of Blackett Strait was a naval battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, fought on 6 March 1943 in the Blackett Strait, between Kolombangara Island and Arundel Island in the Solomon Islands.

Contents

1 Background
2 Battle
3 Aftermath
4 References

4.1 Books
4.2 External links

5 Notes

Background

After the American victory in the battle of Guadalcanal, operations in the Solomon Islands shifted to the west, where the Japanese maintained a substantial garrison on Kolombangara. On the night of 5 March 1943 the Japanese destroyers Murasame and Minegumo, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Yōji Tanegashima took supplies to the Japanese base at Vila, on Kolombangara.

Battle

As they withdrew after landing their cargo, the two ships encountered the American Task Force 68 of three cruisers (Montpelier, Cleveland , and Denver) and three destroyers (Conway , Cony , and Waller) commanded by Rear Admiral Aaron S. Merrill, that had been bombarding Japanese positions at Vila.

In a short battle, both Japanese destroyers were sunk. Fifty-three survivors from Murasame and 122 survivors from Minegumo managed to reach Japanese lines. Two other survivors from Minegumo were later captured by U.S. forces.Nevitt, Combinedfleet.com. Murasame: [link] & Minegumo: [link].

Aftermath

On May 7, 1943, U.S. minelayers Gamble, Breese, and Preble laid mines across Blackett Strait in an attempt to interdict Japanese ship movements traveling through the strait. The next day, Japanese destroyers Oyashio, Kagero, and Kuroshio all hit mines in that area. Kuroshio sank immediately. Kagero and Oyashio sank later that day after being attacked and further damaged by U.S. aircraft from Henderson Field.

Another engagement occurred in Blackett Strait on 2 August 1943 in which the American torpedo boat PT-109 was sunk by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri. The captain of PT-109 was future U.S. president John F. Kennedy.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

[Special]

References

Books

External links

Notes

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.