Battle of Cape St. George

Battle of Cape St. George
Part of the Pacific Theater of World War II
U.S. destroyer Charles Ausburne operating in the Solomon Islands around 1943.
Date 25 November 1943 Location Near Buka Island, north of Bougainville Result U.S. victory
Belligerents
United States	Empire of Japan
Commanders and leaders
Arleigh Burke	Kiyoto Kagawa†
Strength
5 destroyers	5 destroyers
Casualties and losses
None	3 destroyers sunk, 1 destroyer damaged, 647 killed[1]

The Battle of Cape St. George was a naval battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II fought on 25 November 1943, between Cape St. George, New Ireland, and Buka Island (now part of the North Solomons Province in Papua New Guinea). It was the last engagement of surface ships in the Solomon Islands campaign.

Background

Americans had landed troops on Bougainville on 1 November 1943. This posed a threat to the Japanese base on Buka Island to the north, and 900 Japanese Army troops were embarked on the destroyers Amagiri, Yūgiri and Uzuki under the command of Captain Katsumori Yamashiro and were sent to reinforce the garrison, escorted by the destroyers Ōnami and Makinami under the command of Captain Kiyoto Kagawa. The United States Navy learned of the convoy and sent Captain Arleigh Burke's Destroyer Squadron 23 composed of Destroyer Division 45 (Charles Ausburne, Claxton, and Dyson) under Burke's direct command and Destroyer Division 46 (Converse and Spence) under the command of Commander B Austin to intercept it.

Battle

The Japanese battle plan divided their force into two columns, with the three transport destroyers trailing the two escort destroyers by approximately 10,000 meters: far enough apart to make simultaneous attacks on both columns unlikely but close enough that each could come to the other's assistance or flee if necessary. The American battle plan also divided their force into two columns using tactics devised by Burke and first employed successfully by Commander Frederick Moosbruger at the Battle of Vella Gulf the previous August. One column would make a torpedo attack while the other took up a supporting position ready to open gunfire as soon as the first column's torpedo attack struck home.

The Japanese destroyers landed the 900  troops and supplies and embarked an equivalent number of Navy aviation personnel being withdrawn. The Japanese force was returning to Rabaul when Kagawa's two screening destroyers were spotted on radar by USS Dyson at about 01:40; poor visibility prevented the Japanese from spotting the American ships in turn. Burke elected to use his own division for the torpedo attack. Superior radar allowed the American ships to approach within 5,500 yards and launch their torpedoes at about 01:55 before the Japanese sighted them. Onami was hit by several torpedoes and sank immediately. Makinami was hit by one torpedo and disabled.

Burke's force gained radar contact with the rest of the Japanese force at 13,000 yards soon after launching their torpedoes and turned to pursue; Yamashiro's three transport destroyers fled North under pursuit by Burke's division while Converse's division finished off the disabled Makinami with torpedoes and gunfire. Burke's three destroyers steadily gained on the three heavily laden Japanese destroyers so they split up at 02:56 and fled in different directions. Burke chose to pursue Yuguri with his entire force and sank her at about 03:28 after a fierce engagement, though USS Dyson continued firing at the other two for as long as her guns would bear. Uzuki was hit by one dud shell and escaped without significant damage. Amagiri escaped untouched ^[2]

Aftermath

The battle marked the end of the Tokyo Express and the end of Japanese resistance in the Solomon Islands, and the success of Allied efforts to achieve superiority in night combat using radar. There were no more surface engagements in the Pacific War until the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign began with the invasion of Saipan in June 1944.

Namesake

The U.S. Navy Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Cape St. George (CG-71), in commission since 1993, was named for this battle.

See also

• Destroyer Squadron 23

Notes

References

• Brown, David (1990). Warship Losses of World War Two. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-914-X. 
• D'Albas, Andrieu (1965). Death of a Navy: Japanese Naval Action in World War II. Devin-Adair Pub. ISBN 0-8159-5302-X. 
• Dull, Paul S. (1978). A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1941-1945. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-097-1. 
• Hara, Tameichi (1961). Japanese Destroyer Captain. New York & Toronto: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-27894-1. 
• Hone, Thomas C. (1981), "The Similarity of Past and Present Standoff Threats", Proceedings of the U.S. Naval Institute, Annapolis, Maryland (Vol. 107, No. 9, September 1981), pp. 113–116, ISSN 0041-798X 
• Jones, Ken (1997). Destroyer Squadron 23: Combat Exploits of Arleigh Burke's Gallant Force. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-412-1. 
• Kilpatrick, C. W. (1987). Naval Night Battles of the Solomons. Exposition Press. ISBN 0-682-40333-4. 
• McGee, William L. (2002). "Bougainville Campaign". The Solomons Campaigns, 1942-1943: From Guadalcanal to Bougainville--Pacific War Turning Point, Volume 2 (Amphibious Operations in the South Pacific in WWII). BMC Publications. ISBN 0-9701678-7-3. 
• Morison, Samuel Eliot (1958). Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier, vol. 6 of History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. Castle Books. ISBN 0-7858-1307-1. 
• Potter, E. B. (2005). Admiral Arleigh Burke. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-692-5. 
• Roscoe, Theodore (1953). United States Destroyer Operations in World War Two. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-726-7. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Battle of Cape St. George.

• McComb, David W. (2008). "Battle of Cape St. George". Destroyer History Foundation. Archived from the original on 15 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-16. 
• Parshall, Jon; Bob Hackett; Sander Kingsepp; Allyn Nevitt. "Imperial Japanese Navy Page (Combinedfleet.com)". Archived from the original on 13 June 2006. Retrieved 2006-06-14. 
• Description by Vincent O'Hara
• Order of battle
• WW2DB: Solomons Campaign