Naval Battle of Vella Lavella

Encyclopedia : N : NA : NAV : Naval Battle of Vella Lavella

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 Vella Lavella was a naval battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II fought on the night of October 6, 1943 near the island of Vella Lavella in the Solomon Islands.

Contents

1 Background
2 Battle
3 Aftermath
4 References

4.1 Books
4.2 External links

5 Notes

Background

After their defeats on New Georgia and in the battle of Vella Gulf, the Japanese had evacuated their garrisons in the central Solomons. A staging post had been established at Horaniu on the north tip of Vella Lavella for the evacuation barges. In October 1943 six hundred soldiers remained and a force of nine destroyers (Fumitsuki, Matsukaze, Yunagi, Akigumo, Isokaze, Kazegumo, Yugumo, Shigure, Samidare) was dispatched under Rear-Admiral Matsuji Ijuin to rescue them.

Battle

At 22:30 they spotted a U.S. force of three destroyers (Selfridge, Chevalier, O'Bannon) commanded by Captain Frank R. Walker, approaching from Vella Gulf. A second division of three U.S. destroyers (Ralph Talbot, Taylor, and La Vallette) was also sailing up the west coast of Vella Lavella. Walker did not wait for his other three destroyers to come up but attacked immediately. Both sides launched torpedoes and opened fire at about 23:00.

Yugumo, first in the Japanese line, was hit a number of times, knocking out her steering, and she was finished off by a torpedo, sinking at about 23:10. However, one of her torpedoes hit the Chevalier, detonating the forward magazine. O'Bannon then collided with the crippled Chevalier and for some time the two ships were locked together. Selfridge attacked alone and was hit by a torpedo at 23:06 and disabled. With all three ships severely damaged and reinforcements still fifteen minutes away things might have gone very badly for the Americans if the rest of the Japanese had not turned away, having perhaps misidentified the three approaching destroyers as cruisers.

Aftermath

The Chevalier could not be saved, and was sunk around 03:00. The Japanese completed their evacuation mission, ending the second phase of Operation Cartwheel with the Allied capture of the central Solomons after a three-month campaign that cost the Allies six ships and the Japanese sixteen.

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.