Ambush at Vella Gulf

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 thirty-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, The Perfect Victory reconstructs this turning point of World War II in the Pacific.

A year and a half into the war, success against Japan’s battleships, cruisers, and destroyers eluded the U.S. Navy, which rigidly held to old-school doctrine while its badly flawed torpedoes sputtered. By the summer of 1943, the Americans were ready for a bold move. Bolstered by hard-bought experience and better torpedoes, and forced by the loss of cruisers to consider new tactics, naval commanders finally saw the offensive possibilities of destroyers, which had traditionally been used to screen the big battleships at the core of the U.S. battle fleet.

When radar picked up four Japanese destroyers in early August 1943, 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.

Rex A. Knight is a writer and researcher who was a longtime contributor to World War II magazine, where he wrote on naval history. He lives in southern Indiana.