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| Location The Battle of Karavia Bay occurred during the night of February 17, 1944 to February 18, 1944 in Karavia Bay in East New Britain Province in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Wartime History On February 17, 1944 during the night, U.S. Navy (USN) Task Group 38.4 (TG 38.4) composed of the destroyers USS Farenholt (DD-491), USS Buchasnan (DD-484), USS Lansdowne (DD-486), USS Lardner (DD-487) and USS Woodworth (DD-460) steamed to East New Britain near Rabaul to conduct an overnight shore bombardment. On February 18, 1944 at 1:24am torpedoes were fired through the center of the mine field across the entrance to Karavia Bay. They fired on gun batteries at Praed Point (141 rounds) and a gun battery at Raluana (56 rounds). Heavy gun fire was observed from Simpson Harbor and Karavia Bay. At 1:26am to to the south into Vunapopo bivouac and supply area (244 rounds), cleared Credner Island. At 1:36am observation plane dropped a stick of bombs on Cape Gazelle shore batteries. At 1:37am ceased firing Vunapopo area, shifted to Cape Gazelle shore battery (firing 284 rounds) which had opened fire on the formation. At 1:40am opened fire on Cape Gazelle shore batteries, then passed the center of channel between Duke of York Islands and Cape Gazelle. At 2:00am on the fantail of USS Lardner, the bloomer on the No. 4 gun had caught fire from the heat generated while firing and was quickly extinguished. At 2:30am an unidentified plane reported. Until 5:15am, “bogies” were reported at intervals, singly and in groups (about four) one dropped flares on starboard beam at about 3:10am. One “bogie” approached as close as as 3 miles. Due to heavy overcast and rain squalls, the Squadron Commander felt reluctant to allow the ship to return fire and reveal our presence, at 3:35am cleared St. George's Channel. During the destroyer attack, at least one A6M Zero piloted by Komachi took off from Tobera Airfield armed with two 60 kg wing bombs and made several strafing runs on the first destroyer and made a bomb and strafing run on the second destroyer until all his ammunition was expended then departed. References Siege of Rabaul (1996) page 24 Imperial Japanese Navy Aces (1998) page 33 South Pacific Air War (2024) pages 534 (February 18, 1944) Contribute
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