On the night of August 6–7, 1943, six American destroyers steamed into Vella Gulf two hundred miles northwest of Guadalcanal and laid an ambush for the Japanese destroyers that nightly ferried reinforcements into the Solomon Islands. Within forty-five minutes, three enemy ships were on their way to the bottom of the gulf, a fourth limped away, and the U.S. Navy’s tin cans scored what was hailed as “an attack that every destroyer sailor dreams about,” “a little classic of naval warfare,” “a perfect American victory.” From the admirals at their charts to the sailors on deck, from the devastating torpedo strikes to the blazing gun salvoes, Ambush at Vella Gulf reconstructs this turning point of World War II in the Pacific.
A year and a half into the war, the U.S. Navy struggled to gain the upper hand against Japan’s battleships, cruisers, and destroyers, and especially so at night. Rigidly held old-school doctrine, combined with badly flawed torpedoes, took a terrible toll on the fleet. By the summer of 1943, the Americans were ready for a bold move. Bolstered by hard-bought experience and improved torpedoes and forced by the loss of cruisers to consider new tactics, naval commanders finally saw fit to unleash the destroyers, which had traditionally been used to screen the larger capital ship at the core of the U.S. battle fleet.
When, in early August 1943, intelligence was received of another expected run of four Japanese destroyers, American admirals turned their own destroyers loose. Days earlier, the navy had attempted to intercept the Japanese with a flotilla of PT boats, with disastrous results, especially for Lt. John F. Kennedy and his PT-109. Now destroyers set a trap in Vella Gulf. As the four Japanese destroyers approached, three American tin cans launched a massive torpedo salvo while another three followed up with their guns. Soon the lead enemy ships were ablaze. Three Japanese destroyers went down, and the fourth steamed off with a hole through its rudder. The Americans suffered not a single casualty—the perfect victory indeed. (INCLUDES 63 B&W PHOTOGRAPHS.)