The Battle of Kula Gulf was a naval battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, fought in the early hours of 6 July 1943, between United States and Japanese ships off the coast of Kolombangara in the Solomon Islands.

On 5 July, Task Group 36.1 , commanded by Rear Admiral Walden L. Ainsworth , and consisting of light cruisers Helena, Honolulu, and St. Louis, plus four destroyers, had received word of another Tokyo Express run down "the Slot", and proceeded northwest past New Georgia.

At 01:06 off Kolombangara the task group came into contact with a Japanese reinforcement group of ten destroyers loaded with combat troops, commanded by Admiral Teruo Akiyama.

The American ships opened fire at 01:57 and quickly sank the destroyer Niizuki and killed Admiral Akiyama. But the Japanese ships launched their Long Lance torpedoes and sank the Helena. Nagatsuki ran aground while Hatsuyuki was damaged and both forces began to withdraw from the area. One Japanese and two American destroyers remained in the area to rescue survivors and, at about 05:00, Japanese destroyer Amagiri and USS Nicholas exchanged torpedoes and gunfire. Amagiri was hit and retired and Nagatsuki, abandoned by her crew in the morning, was bombed and sunk by US planes.

Radford and Nicholas both stayed behind to rescue survivors from Helena. While rescuing over 750 men, Radford and Nicholas had to reengage the enemy three times and were awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for their heroic rescue. Amagiri got away and later was the ship that cut PT-109 in half in Blackett Strait.

External links

• Description by Vincent P. O'Hara
• Order of battle