Battle of Vella Gulf 1943
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Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 6 August 1943 – 7 August 1943 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1943 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
| Era | World War II era (1939–1945) | derived from year |
| Nearest landmass | At sea (nearest continent: Oceania) | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Oceania | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | World War II | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | -7.9000, 156.8200 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
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 and Kolombangara 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 had intelligence that a Japanese group was coming to Vella Gulf on that night, and laid in wait for them. 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.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Vella Gulf (revision 1374111882), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle off Horaniu 1943 · 25 km
- Battle of Vella Lavella (land) 1943 · 28 km
- Battle of Kula Gulf 1943 · 28 km
- Battle of Arundel Island 1943 · 48 km
- Battle of Kolombangara 1943 · 59 km
- Battle of Bairoko 1943 · 60 km
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Browse more: battles at sea · Oceania · World War II era battles