Battle of Empress Augusta Bay: "Night Engagement off Empress Augusta Bay" 1945 US Navy; World War II

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Originally a public domain film, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied.

The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Empress_Augusta_Bay

Wikipedia license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

The Battle of Empress Augusta Bay, on 1–2 November 1943 – also known as the Battle of Gazelle Bay, Operation Cherry Blossom, and in Japanese sources as the Sea Battle off Bougainville Island (ブーゲンビル島沖海戦) – was a naval battle fought near the island of Bougainville in Empress Augusta Bay. The naval battle was a result of Allied landings on nearby Bougainville in the first action in the Bougainville campaign of World War II and may also be considered as part of the Solomons and New Guinea campaigns. The battle was significant as part of a broader Allied strategy—known as Operation Cartwheel—aimed at isolating and surrounding the major Japanese base at Rabaul. The intention was to establish a beachhead on Bougainville, within which an airfield would be built.

The naval battle took place at the end of the first day of the landings around Cape Torokina, as the Japanese sortied a large force from Rabaul in an effort to replicate the success they had achieved at Savo Island in August 1942, in response to Allied amphibious landings in the eastern Solomon Islands. Ultimately, the covering force of US warships was able to turn back the Japanese force and the landings around Cape Torokina were successful...

On 1 November 1943, the US 3rd Marine Division landed at Cape Torokina in Empress Augusta Bay on Bougainville. Following in the wake of Allied successes in the Solomon Islands campaign, the landings were undertaken as part of an Allied plan to establish a number of airbases in the region, to project airpower towards the Japanese stronghold around Rabaul, the reduction and isolation of which was a key part of Operation Cartwheel. The bay had been chosen because it was at the outer limit of Allied fighter plane range, and because the numerically-superior Japanese 17th Army was concentrated at other, more strategic sites in the north and the south. The Marines were backed by Task Force 39, composed of cruisers and destroyers, commanded by Rear Admiral Aaron S. Merrill. Merrill's force was tasked with covering the vulnerable transports and minelayers from air attack and from attack from the sea...

The Americans made radar contact at 02:27 on 2 November. Merrill subsequently shook his force out into three columns...

The battle ended in a complete victory for the US naval force, in what author Leo Marriott describes as the "last major naval action...[of]...the Solomons campaign". Not only did they deflect the Japanese away from the vulnerable transport ships and landing craft around Cape Torokina, but they had also inflicted significant damage on their opponents. For the loss of 19 killed and 26 wounded, and three ships damaged, the US ships sank one light cruiser and one destroyer and damaged two cruisers and two destroyers. Japanese casualties have been reported as being between 198 and 658 killed. Up to 25 Japanese aircraft were shot down in the air attack following the naval action. The Japanese subsequently sent a submarine to locate survivors; none were found from Hatsukaze, but some were rescued from Sendai.

In the aftermath, the Japanese ships returned to Rabaul. There, they were joined by four cruisers and more destroyers from Truk for another attack on the Allied landing forces at Bougainville. On 5 November, however, two US aircraft carriers raided Rabaul, heavily damaging four heavy cruisers, which had to withdraw to Truk. This ended the Japanese warship threat to the Allied landing forces at Bougainville. Omori was later relieved of his command as a result of the failed action. Following this, US ground forces secured their beachhead around Cape Torokina and the perimeter was subsequently expanded. A PT boat base was established on Puruata Island and several airbases were built around the Cape Torokina perimeter. These were subsequently employed in the reduction of Rabaul. By the start of February 1944, the US had built up a force of over 400 aircraft on Bougainville; before the month ended the Japanese air defenses around Rabaul had been defeated...