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 at night in Empress Augusta Bay near Bougainville Island. The naval battle was a result of Allied landings at Cape Torokina with the bay 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.
^Morison 1958 p. 322.
^ abDull 1978, p. 302; Hara 1968, p. 242; Morison 1958, p. 322.
^ abParshall, Jon; Bob Hackett; Sander Kingsepp; Allyn Nevitt. "Imperial Japanese Navy Page (Combinedfleet.com)". Archived from the original on 13 June 2006. Retrieved 14 June 2006.
Cite error: There are <ref group=Note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=Note}} template (see the help page).
and 19 Related for: Battle of Empress Augusta Bay information
EmpressAugustaBay is a bay on the western side of the island of Bougainville Island, within the Autonomous Region of Bougainville in northeastern Papua...
and supplies to New Guinea and she played a role in the Battle of EmpressAugustaBay in early November where she damaged the destroyer USS Spence. A few...
cruisers (Agano and Sendai) with six destroyers steaming towards EmpressAugustaBay. At 02:31, Spence made radar contact at 16 miles (26 km). While closing...
Shigure) Battle of Vella Lavella, 6 October 1943, the last Japanese naval victory of the war (on Shigure) BattleofEmpressAugustaBay, 1–2 November 1943...
Lavella: August–October 1943 Naval Battleof Vella Lavella: October 1943 BattleofEmpressAugustaBay: November 1943 Battleof Cape St. George: November 1943...
reinforced with various supporting elements, landed at EmpressAugustaBay, on the western side of Bougainville. Situated well away from the main Japanese...
retake Bougainville in the Solomon Islands. The day after the BattleofEmpressAugustaBay (2 November), Noshiro departed Truk with Sentai 4's Atago, Takao...