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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 November 26, 1943 Location Near Buka Island, north of Bougainville Result U.S. victory Belligerents  United States  Empire of Japan Commanders Arleigh Burke Kiyoto Kagawa† Strength 5 destroyers 5 destroyers Casualties and losses None 3 destroyers sunk, 647 killed[1]

Solomon Islands campaign 1st Tulagi – Guadalcanal – Blackett Strait – Cartwheel – Vengeance – New Georgia – Kula Gulf – Kolombangara – Vella Gulf – Horaniu – Vella Lavella – Naval Vella Lavella – Treasury Is. – Choiseul – Bougainville – Rabaul air raids – Cape St. George – Green Is.

The Battle of Cape St. George was a naval battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II fought on November 26, 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 November 1, 1943. This posed a threat to the Japanese base on Buka Island to the west, and 900 Japanese Army troops were loaded on the destroyer transports Amagiri, Yugiri, Uzuki and sent together with the destroyers Onami, Makinami under the command of Captain Kiyoto Kagawa to reinforce the garrison.

The United States Navy learned of the convoy and sent the five Fletcher-class destroyers Charles Ausburne, Claxton, Dyson, Converse, and Spence under the command of Captain Arleigh Burke to intercept it.

Battle

The Japanese destroyers landed the 900 troops and supplies, embarked an equivalent number of Navy personnel (that the Army troops replaced), and were returning to Rabaul when at about 01:40 they were spotted on radar by the U.S. warships. Superior radar allowed the American ships to approach 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, disabled, and then sunk by gunfire. The transport destroyers fled in different directions; Burke pursued Yugiri and sank her about 03:30.

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.

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): 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

• McComb, David W. (2008). "Battle of Cape St. George". Destroyer History Foundation. http://www.destroyerhistory.org/desron23/bat_capestgeorge.html. Retrieved 2008-04-16. 
• Parshall, Jon; Bob Hackett, Sander Kingsepp, & Allyn Nevitt. "Imperial Japanese Navy Page (Combinedfleet.com)". http://www.combinedfleet.com/kaigun.htm. Retrieved 2006-06-14. 
• Description by Vincent O'Hara
• Order of battle
• WW2DB: Solomons Campaign