1943-07-06
Battle of Kula Gulf
Kula Gulf, between Kolombangara and New Georgia
Nicholas and O'Bannon led the American column. Astern of them were the light cruisers Honolulu, Helena, and St. Louis, then Jenkins and Radford. Akiyama was bringing ten destroyers down to land troops at Vila. His support group was Niizuki, Suzukaze, and Tanikaze. The first transport group was Mochizuki, Mikazuki, and Hamakaze. The second was Amagiri, Hatsuyuki, Nagatsuki, and Satsuki. The American guns sank Niizuki, and Akiyama was lost with her. Suzukaze and Tanikaze launched torpedoes and turned away. Three of those torpedoes hit Helena. The hit is not pinned to one of the two destroyers. The second transport group was caught coming back to help. Amagiri and Hatsuyuki were damaged and got away. Nagatsuki ran aground, and Allied aircraft destroyed her later that day. Satsuki was not hit. The first group had already put its troops ashore. Mikazuki and Hamakaze were not in the gunfight. Mochizuki came back through the gulf, and Nicholas and Radford fired on her. Accounts disagree on whether she was hit. Nicholas and Radford stayed for Helena's men, more than 700 between them. Nicholas took 291 aboard.
A diagram of how this fight went will go here.
