Why did the Battle of Kula Bay take place?
War background
1943 In February, after the Guadalcanal War came to an end, the US military began to launch a counterattack in the South Pacific. According to the principle that the target of the next counterattack determined by the Pacific Fleet Command at the end of 1942 should not exceed the effective operational radius of shore-based aviation, William frederick halsey vice admiral, commander of the South Pacific Theater, chose New Georgia Island. 1At the end of February, 943, the US military first captured the Russell Islands and laid mines on the Japanese supply line, preparing to cut off the Japanese supply line in New Georgia Island. During the operation, the US military found that the defense on the island of Rendova, which is only 5 nautical miles from New Georgia, is weak. The U.S. military immediately realized that if it occupied the island, it could suppress the Monda airport on NSW Island by artillery. As a result, the US military changed its plan to land directly on New Georgia Island and moved forward. On June 30, it sent landing troops to land on the island of Rendova first.
The Japanese side also discovered the landing action of the US military on the island of Lundova, so it immediately ordered the 1 air base troops to attack the US military landing site and amphibious fleet with all their strength, and sent the heavy cruiser "Bird Sea" to lead five destroyers to come from the truck for emergency reinforcements. At the same time, the Japanese Lu Haijun agreed to immediately carry out anti-landing operations and use destroyers to transport troops to recapture the island of Rendova. On July 1 day, the Japanese army found that the US military transport team was loading and unloading heavy artillery on the island of Lundova. Considering that these guns would pose a great threat to the defenders of New Georgia Island, the Japanese army readjusted its plan and decided to send 2,500 to 4,000 additional troops to New Georgia Island before July 20. Later, its plan was rejected and revised several times. It was not until the early morning of July 3 that the Japanese army discovered that a large number of American landing ships appeared near the island of New Georgia. It hastily decided to launch a counterattack on the island of Rendova as soon as possible while ensuring the security of the Monda area. On the same day, Japan's New Georgia Island garrison staff meeting passed a resolution to launch a counterattack against the US military on the night of the 5th. On the 3rd night, the Japanese army officially issued an order to send 8 destroyers to transport 2,600 army soldiers and their equipment (including Dafa ship and fuel) to land in Kelon Bangala.
War process
After receiving the order from the transport army, the Japanese navy's fleet in the southeast sent light cruisers and destroyers to attack the US surface ships near Lundova Island, but it did not achieve good results. On the evening of July 4th, Japanese reinforcements led by Lieutenant Guo Jingang set out from Boone and headed for Kula Bay. This unit is loaded with the first batch of reinforcements of the army by four destroyers, 1.300 people, 15 boats, including independent rapid-fire gun brigade and other units. In the early morning of the 5th, when the destroyer convoy was heading south along the east coast of Kelon Bangala, the observation post on the formation ship found that the US naval support forces commanded by General ainsworth were entering Kula Bay. This US military formation * * * consists of seven fast transport ships modified from old destroyers, three light cruisers and nine destroyers. After careful consideration, Japanese commander Sanzuo Jingang judged that he was at a disadvantage, so he ordered a long-range torpedo attack under the cover of night and chose the hit-and-run tactic. Subsequently, the Japanese destroyer fired a torpedo and left the battlefield. At 6 o'clock the next morning, I returned to Boone safely. During this brief contact between the United States and Japan, the US military was unfortunately torpedoed because it did not find a Japanese formation at night, losing a destroyer "Strong" and killing 46 people.
The failure of the first Japanese transport mission did not affect the Japanese action. On the 5th, the Japanese army discovered that the US landing formation had landed in Rice Bay. The commander of the Southeast Army stressed the need to reinforce the front line immediately, so the Japanese army made a new plan and put in 10 destroyers belonging to four expulsion teams to implement the transportation plan. This motorcade transported 2,400 army soldiers and 180 tons of materials. In order to effectively command and coordinate these troops, Major General Akiyama Kyo, commander of the Third Mine Team, personally boarded the "New Moon" and took command in the town. Moreover, the "New Moon" also installed new radar early warning equipment. At 19: 30, the Japanese fleet left Shortland Island and approached the New Georgia Islands south. Due to the bad weather along the way, the US patrol aircraft did not find the Japanese army. At 0: 00 the next day, the Japanese formation arrived at 20 nautical miles north of Kelon Bangala. At this time, the 1 transport team left the queue as planned and headed for the landing point on the east coast of kolombangara, and the rest of the ships continued southward. 1: 05, Japan's flagship "Crescent" found an American surface ship. Major General Akiyama immediately ordered the formation to be vigilant and move on. 13 minutes later, it was ordered to turn around and head north. But this time, the Japanese army made a mistake, because what he observed was not an American ship, and the strategic decision he made at this time was to let the Japanese army get closer and closer to a real American fleet. 1: 43, Major General Akiyama felt that everything was safe. He told the Second Transport Team to leave the queue and go to the landing site. He led the cover team to continue northward and served as a guard at the mouth of Kula Bay. Five minutes later, the formation of American warships (***3 light cruisers and 2 destroyers) suddenly appeared in the Japanese vision. 1: 52, Major General Akiyama ordered all personnel to gather, accelerate to 30 knots, 40 degrees left rudder, and head north. The curtain went up.
As for the U.S. military, in fact, as early as when the Japanese destroyers assembled on Shortland Island, they had already discovered the movement of the Japanese army. General Halsey immediately ordered Major General ainsworth's formation to quickly complete the supply, went out to sea to intercept the Japanese formation, and sent destroyers Radfort and Jenkins for reinforcements. In this way, Major General ainsworth led a combat formation consisting of three light cruisers and four destroyers, loaded with materials, and set sail to pursue the Japanese formation. At midnight, when the American formation sailed along the northwest route to the north of Kula Bay, the Japanese formation had entered Kula Bay and sailed south. Originally, the US military would not have found them prematurely, but they were exposed to the US military radar because of the operation of returning to the north mentioned above. 1: 40, the US SC radar received the reflected signal of the target 24,700 yards away-the Japanese formation was found. Then, Major General ainsworth immediately ordered the navigation formation to be changed to the battle formation, ready to fight. The destroyer lifted the circular alert and changed to a column to accompany the cruiser. 1: 42, while changing the formation, the heading was changed from 292 to 242 to shorten the distance from the target, and the speed was still 25 knots. At 1: 49, Major General Ainsworth asserted that there were two enemy ships, 7-9 in total. In order to maintain the most favorable position for the attack, he ordered the course to be adjusted to the right by 60 and restored to 302. At the same time, ainsworth decided to use radar to guide medium-distance artillery fire. 1: 54, he lit the fire. Later, he found that the big ship (the 2nd Transport Team) which was relatively close to the US fleet 1000 yards did not exist. So he ordered all the artillery of the cruiser to concentrate on attacking the closer formation. 1: 57, "Helena" found Akiyama's ship and began to attack. In fact, the Japanese destroyer was in an excellent aiming point at that time, but the "New Moon" failed to launch a deadly torpedo in time, and the US ship completely suppressed it for the first time. The bridge of the Japanese ship "Crescent" was destroyed by American artillery shells and soon sank. After firing 16 49-section spear torpedoes at the U.S. gun muzzle, the "Cold Wind" and "Gu Feng" which did not indicate their directions retreated to the northwest. However, just when ainsworth was proud of almost destroying the enemy fleet, the Japanese Second Transport Team arrived and immediately fired spear torpedoes at the US military. At about 2: 07, the USS Helena was hit by three spear torpedoes in succession, and the bow, cabin and bottom of the ship burst in turn, and seawater quickly poured into the hull, and the USS Helena sank.
At the same time that the "Helena" was struck by lightning, the US military successfully completed its turn. 18, at 2: 00, Major General Ainsworth ordered a volley of the first ship of Japan's second transport team, which was located in the south and southwest 1 1600 yards. Seeing that the Japanese fleet was turning right, three minutes later, he ordered to turn to 1 12. Through this maneuver, he obtained the T-head position of the Japanese formation. All Japanese ships were under the fire of all US warships, and only the first Japanese ship could fight back. At this time, the US military immediately launched a fierce artillery fire. The Japanese ship "Tianwu" was quickly hit by four 6-inch shells, and the front radio room and circuit system were damaged. Then it turned right and hid in the smoke. The first snow struck three times, which damaged the shooting director and communication equipment, damaged the bridge cab, and 1 boiler and 1 main fuel pipe were punctured; The torpedo tube was twisted, three torpedoes were destroyed and five people were killed. The "Long Moon" and "Pound Moon" behind them walked through the gunfire because they couldn't see the American troops. At 2: 20, they arrived at Villa Anchorage and unloaded the soldiers. During the unloading process, "Long Moon" was hit by 1 6 inch shells. 14 minutes later, "Tianwu" and "Chuxue" came to meet. Subsequently, all Japanese troops withdrew from the battlefield. At 2: 35, ainsworth turned to the southeast and headed for tulagi Military Port.
However, just as ainsworth was beating the Japanese army through the bay top, some Japanese transport teams had sent goods and 65,438+0,600 soldiers to Villa. By the time the American cruisers withdrew from the battlefield, the Japanese only paid the price of 1 destroyer. However, the "Long Moon" ran aground when it left Bambari Port, five miles north of Villa, at 2: 46 without radar guidance. The "Poundmoon" failed in its attempt to tow, and abandoned the ship at 4 a.m. to accompany the injured "Chuxue" to retreat from the blackett Strait full of mines. Spacecraft 2 successfully returned to Boone base. In addition, the flagship "Tianwu" of Japan's second transport team chose a somewhat bold direction. It left the anchorage at 4: 45 and sailed north along the coast of Galardon, Colombain. 5: 15, it heard the call of the survivors of the "new moon" and saw them struggling in the oil pollution, so it stopped to rescue. Meanwhile, Nicholas and Radfort are rescuing American sailors at the northwest 13000 yards. Although both sides respect their opponents, this is not a gentleman's war. The radars of two American destroyers found each other before the "Tianwu" stopped. At 5 o'clock 18, they were also discovered by the "Tianwu". Sugino Hideyoshi ordered to stop the rescue operation and sail to the northwest at maximum speed. McInerney took the same deployment two minutes ago, and all the weapons were aimed at the target. At 5: 22, Nicholas fired half the torpedo at a distance of 8000 yards. At 5: 30, the Tianwu returned fire in the same way. They are all very lucky. American torpedoes passed from the beginning to the end of the "Tianwu" and Japanese torpedoes passed from the stern of the "Radfort" 15 feet, and no one took advantage. At 5: 34, the Japanese army opened fire. Under the guidance of the flare launched by Nikolai, the American army hit the central part of Tianwu Block, destroying the shooting control circuit and the radio transmitting room. The Japanese captain dared not fight, so he quickly let out smoke and retreated. At the same time, the "Three Sunmoons" and "Feng Bin" of another transport team watched warily the fire and explosion in the distant sky when unloading materials and personnel. They also retreated through the blackett Strait. However, the Japanese ship "Wang Yue" took more than 65,438+0 hours to unload. When it retreated along the route of Kula Bay near the coast of Galla, Collombon, it was discovered by the US military, and the two sides opened fire on each other at 6: 65,438+00. At 6: 15, the turret and torpedo tube of "Looking at the Moon" were injured, so after launching the 1 torpedo, it disappeared into its own smoke. In order to prevent further air strikes, the US military turned to the southeast at 6: 0017 and headed for tulagi at high speed. 10, 10, American1SBD dive bomber and 10 TBF torpedo attack plane, under the cover of 15 fighter plane, came to attack the target on the beach, and the Japanese "Long Moon" which lost its combat effectiveness was hit. At this point, the naval battle was completely over.
War results and evaluation
The Battle of Kula Bay is one of a series of light ship formation battles in the battle for islands in the South Pacific. In this campaign, the US military, which has the advantage of military strength, failed to fully realize the campaign idea of intercepting the Japanese maritime transport team, but suffered heavy losses. Japan's destroyer fleet basically completed the transportation task after paying a certain price. Judging from the achievement of the purpose of the campaign, the Japanese army is slightly better; In terms of tactical losses, the US military sank 1 light cruiser, Japan lost two destroyers, and the US military was slightly inferior in tonnage; Generally speaking, the performance of the US military is not satisfactory, which can be described as a minor setback.