July 1943
On 5 July she participated in another bombardment of Kolombangara. In the early morning hours of the 6th she made contact with enemy surface vessels in Kula Gulf. In the ensuing battle, Helena (CL-50) was lost. Nicholas, while rescuing 291 survivors, took the Japanese ships under torpedo and gunfire. Nicholas and Radford (DD-446) were later awarded Presidential Unit Citations for their persevering performance during the Battle of Kula Gulf—a token, Admiral Chester Nimitz told the crew, of "the respect and esteem which this ship, her officers and men have well earned throughout the Navy."
On the 12th and 13th she participated in the Battle of Kolombangara; on the 15th covered the rescue of remaining Helena survivors from Vella LaVella; and on the 16th returned to Tulagi to resume escort duties. In early August, she joined Task Unit 31.5.1 (TU31.5.1) and on the 15th screened the advance transport group during landings on Barakoma, Vella LaVella. Back at Tulagi on the 17th, she, with O'Bannon (DD-450), Taylor (DD-468), and Chevalier (DD-451), was sent out to intercept four Rabaul-based Japanese destroyers as they headed for Vella LaVella to cover the establishment of a barge staging area at Horaniu.
Racing up the "Slot", the American destroyers picked up their Japanese counterparts on surface radar at 00:29, 18 August, 11 miles away. To the west the radar showed a barge group. At 00:50, the American quartet feinted toward the barges. At 00:56, they swung back toward the Imperial Navy's destroyers, now five miles (nine kilometers) to the northwest. The brief engagement off Horaniu, in which the Japanese "crossed the T" of the American forces but failed to press their advantage, was broken off by the Japanese at 01:03. The American force pursued, scored on Isokaze, and finally dropped behind, engineering problems in Chevalier limiting them to 30 knots (56 km/h). They then turned their attention to the scattering barge group, destroying two subchasers, two motor torpedo boats, and a barge.
Nicholas returned to Vella LaVella on 19 and 20 August to conduct barge hunts and on the 24th and 25th to cover mine operations. At the end of the month she steamed to Nouméa thence to New Guinea and Australia. Back in the Solomons by October, she conducted another search for barge traffic and on the 6th covered the unloading of APDs at Batakoma. Then, 22 October, she steamed to Efate to resume escort duties.
On 11 November Nicholas departed Nadi, Fiji Islands, with Task Group 50.1 (TG50.1) for raids on Kwajalein and Wotje, after which she headed east, arriving at San Francisco 15 December for overhaul. Comdr. Robert T. S. Keith took command on 10 December.
Read more about this topic: USS Nicholas (DD-449)
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—Martha Shelley, U.S. author and social activist. As quoted in Making History, part 3, by Eric Marcus (1992)