January 1943
In January 1943, Nicholas was one of the Tulagi-based "Cactus Striking Force" (Task Force 67) destroyers which resisted the Japanese last counterattack for Guadalcanal by pounding the newly built enemy air facilities at Munda (4–5 January); shelling their Kokumbona-Cape Esperance escape route (19 January), and blasting their Munda resupply area at Vila on Kolombangara (23–24 January). On 26 January, the executive officer, Lt.Comdr. Andrew J. Hill took command of Nicholas.
On 1 February, as the Japanese began Operation KE—the evacuation of Guadalcanal, Nicholas covered the 2nd Battalion, 132nd Infantry, landing at Verahue and supported them as they began their trek inland to seal off the Cape Esperance area to Japanese reinforcements. En route back to Tulagi Nicholas, in company with De Haven (DD-469) and 3 LCTs, was attacked by a formation of 14 Aichi D3A "Val" dive bombers. Three bombs hit De Haven and a fourth, a near miss, holed the hull. As her sister destroyer settled in the waters of Ironbottom Sound, Nicholas fought off eight planes, receiving only near misses which killed two of her crew and damaged the steering gear.
Following repairs, Nicholas resumed her varied duties. Escort assignments and two bombardments of the Munda-Kolombangara area of New Georgia took up March. In April, she joined Task Force 18 (TF18) for "Slot" patrol and on the 19th turned her bow toward Australia for an availability at Sydney. By 11 May she was once again with TF18 en route to Kolombangara. On the 13th, while firing on enemy positions there, her #3 gun jammed and exploded, with no casualties. After repairs at Nouméa, she took up antisubmarine patrol duties and at the end of the month resumed escort duties in the Solomons-New Hebrides area.
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“Here lies interred in the eternity of the past, from whence there is no resurrection for the days—whatever there may be for the dust—the thirty-third year of an ill-spent life, which, after a lingering disease of many months sank into a lethargy, and expired, January 22d, 1821, A.D. leaving a successor inconsolable for the very loss which occasioned its existence.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)