Posted on 08/06/2025 2:58:50 AM PDT by Jacquerie
"Gentlemen," Captain Kaju Sugiura, commander of Japanese Destroyer Division 12, began, "I am very happy to report that our last transport mission to Kolombangara was a complete success. Both the Navy and the Army high command are gratified. . . . They have also ordered that the mission be repeated the day after tomorrow. . . . We shall go through Vella Gulf and Blackett Strait again . . . exactly as we did last time."
Captain Tameichi Hara, commander of the destroyer Shigure, listened to the 4 August 1943 briefing in stunned silence. Before Sugiura had finished, Hara came to believe that his ship and those of the other commanding officers in attendance were unnecessarily being placed at grave risk. But the plan to resupply Japanese forces on Kolombangara, in the central Solomons, had been approved, and rigidity in the imperial command structure precluded meaningful dissent. Any public disagreement could have been considered treasonous. Hara was suspicious of optimistic damage assessments from the previous two missions and concerned about the possibility of an ambush. In a notable understatement, just prior to sailing the next day he told an acquaintance, "This operation, at best, is unreasonable."
Hara had good reason to worry. The Americans were indeed preparing a surprise attack in Vella Gulf. The tactics they planned to use would revolutionize American destroyer combat operations and set the stage for stunning future victories. Despite heavy losses during the early days of the war, the cream of American destroyermen had finally risen to the top; the strategic situation in the Pacific was about to change.
(Excerpt) Read more at usni.org ...
Amazing one sided battle.
Wow, great story, thank you for posting.
Excellent article. Thanks for adding to my knowledge of the history of US WWII Naval warfare.
Great article! Two officers who deservedly had US destroyers named after them, Burke and Moosebrugger, were the progenitors of “The Little Beavers”, a moniker I always loved. I remember seeing the logo painted on the superstructures of destroyers as a kid, and wondering about it where it came from! (my dad was on the USS Bristol and we lived in Newport, RI during the Cuban Missile crisis which was where I saw the logo)
And I recall reading about the shock (I think from the book “Japanese Destroyer Captain: Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal, Midway—The Great Naval Battles as Seen Through Japanese Eyes” by Tameichi Hara) the destroyer captains felt when given this assignment. They were shocked to be sent the same route they had gone the previous mission. He was sure they were going to be ambushed, as it states in the excellent article.
The Japanese destroyer captains were a tough, capable bunch. They had poor leadership. In the right hands, and given the same initiative leeway that Captains like Burke and Moosebrugger had been given, things might have turned out differently in some cases (although it is clear the end result would have been the same...)
Excellent video series on YouTube about the Pacific War:
Jon Parshall, Seth Paridon, and USN Capt. Bill Toti are the hosts. They are the best.
All 4 destroyers were hit, 3 were sunk. The one survivor had the torpedo go through its rudder and not explode or it too would have been sunk.
I saw that, I bet there was a lot of high fiving among the crews and officers on all the American ships, well, except that black culture hadn’t taken over America yet, so there was no high-fiving and other ghetto body antics.
The high five originated in Dodger stadium.
Here is the story:
The high five is believed to have originated in the United States during the late 1970s, with the most widely credited story pointing to a spontaneous moment in professional sports. The earliest documented instance occurred on October 2, 1977, during a Major League Baseball game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Houston Astros. Dodgers player Dusty Baker hit a home run, and as he rounded the bases, teammate Glenn Burke greeted him at home plate with a raised hand. Baker instinctively slapped Burke’s hand, creating what is considered the first high five. Burke, an openly gay player, is often credited with popularizing the gesture, which became a symbol of celebration and camaraderie within the Dodgers and spread across sports and popular culture.
The gesture likely drew from existing cultural practices, such as handshakes, low fives, or “giving skin” in African American communities, which involved slapping hands as a greeting or sign of agreement. These roots trace back to jazz culture in the mid-20th century, where musicians used similar hand gestures to connect. The term “high five” itself reflects the elevated hand position compared to the “low five.”
By the 1980s, the high five became widespread in sports, schools, and pop culture, with media like TV shows and movies amplifying its use. While other claims exist—such as college basketball players at the University of Louisville in the late 1970s—no earlier documented instance predates the 1977 Dodgers moment. The gesture’s simplicity and energy made it a universal symbol of shared excitement.
Right, it came from the time of the taking over of America culture with blackisms.
I didn’t care for that slide into tacky ghetto behavior and language, but it was “goin down”, it “wuz happenin”.
I come from a town where I regularly heard and saw cultural things like those—plus phrases and food from Irish, Polish, and Italians. I was one of few “Old New England Protestants” among my friends and classmates.
The culture of the 70’s was certainly more open about picking up African American mannerisms through music and movies.
I am thinking we will see a shift towards more influence from Hispanic culture before we die.
It’s just the way of this world.
But I agree that “proper English” should still be the language of business and government. It drives me nuts to hear people that are third generation “American” and they still speak Spanglish or heavily accented English. There is no excuse for there not being a common spoken language.
The media pushed everything black as dominant and hip starting in the late 60s, it really degraded America and was really trashy in the Army, and every young male and dad was pushing it onto their little kids.
But the 21” hole in the Shigure’s rudder wasn’t discovered until months later when it was in drydock. Captain Hara thought the Shigure was slow in answering the helm after the battle of Vela Gulf.
This is true, but he did get hit and if it had exploded it would have made him dead in the water and sunk like the other three.
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