1943 Battle of Kula Gulf

As the Allies advanced through the Solomons island chain, a pattern evolved - US troops landed on a new island, Japanese destroyers - the infamous "Tokyo Express" - were redirected to new port to ship supplies and reinforcements. Exactly this happened on the night of 6 July, 1943, when a group of American cruisers and destroyers intercepted a convoy of 10 destroyers. The confused night battle did see sinking of two Japanese destroyers, while USS Helena fell victim to torpedoes after she expended all her flashless powder supplies and in turn was the most visible.

USS Helena and USS St. Louis in action.

• Cover Force (Radm Akiyama Terou)
  • Niizuki (Flagship) - sunk
  • Suzukaze - damaged
  • Tanikaze
• 1st Transport Group
  • Mochizuki - damaged
  • Mikazuki
  • Hamakaze
• 2nd Transport Group
  • Nagatsuki - damaged, beached, later destroyed by air raid
  • Satsuki
  • Amagiri - damaged
  • Hatsuyuki - damaged

• Task Group 36.1 (RAdm Ainsworth)
  • Cruiser Division 9
    • USS Honolulu (CL-48) (Flagship)
    • USS St. Louis (CL-49)
    • USS Helena (CL-50) - sunk
  • Destroyer Squadron 21
    • USS Nicholas (DD-449)
    • USS Radford (DD-446)
    • USS O'Bannon (DD-450)
    • USS Jenkins (DD-447)