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August 6, 1943. As the moon disappeared below the horizon, the Solomon Sea was plunged into total darkness. Six US Navy destroyers sliced through the waves, their engines muffled to avoid detection. No longer relegated to providing a screen for larger ships, for the first time in the entire Pacific campaign, these destroyers had been let loose on their own to show what they were really made of.
On board USS Dunlap, Commander Frederick Moosbrugger boldly led the task group into the Vella Gulf. Nestled between enemy-held islands, it was practically the Japanese backyard. But the opportunity was too good to pass up. Heading their way was the infamous Tokyo Express, the elusive convoy that had been stealthily supplying and reinforcing the Japanese in the southwest Pacific.
Freed from sailing in the shadows of cumbersome and easily-spotted cruisers, Moosbrugger could finally take full advantage of the destroyers' diminutive size and superior agility to implement a cunning plan. He carefully maneuvered the vessels in front of the mountainous coast of Kolombangara, where enemy radar would almost certainly be unable to distinguish between the ships and the island.
Suddenly, the tense silence was broken. Four Japanese destroyers had been spotted nearby. This was the moment Moosbrugger had been waiting for. With rain squalls pouring down, visibility had dropped to just 2,000 yards. If the US ships could stay hidden just long enough, they would be able to pull off one of the most perfect naval ambushes of all time…