Battle of Cape St. George

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 loaded on the destroyer-transports JAPANESE DESTROYER Amagiri, JAPANESE DESTROYER Yugiri and JAPANESE DESTROYER Uzuki and were sent, escorted by the destroyers JAPANESE DESTROYER Onami and JAPANESE DESTROYER 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 USS Charles Ausburne (DD-570), USS Claxton (DD-571), USS Dyson (DD-572), USS Converse (DD-509), and USS Spence (DD-512)—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 Yuguri and after a long stern chase sank her about 03:00; Uzuki was also hit but escaped with severe damage.

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.