The Battle of the Komandorski Islands was a naval battle between American and Imperial Japanese forces which took place on 27 March 1943 in the North Pacific, south of the Soviet Komandorski Islands. The battle was a daylight surface engagement in which air support played no role and in which the inferior American force escaped greater damage after the Japanese chose to withdraw. Background When the United States became aware of Japanese plans to send a supply convoy to their forces on the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, U.S. Navy ships commanded by Rear Admiral Charles McMorris were sent to prevent this. The fleet consisted of the heavy cruiser , the light cruiser and the destroyers , , and . American intelligence estimated that the Japanese escort consisted of one heavy cruiser, one light cruiser, and four destroyers. However, the Japanese 5th Fleet had been reinforced by two more cruisers, so that the Japanese escort force actually consisted of the heavy cruisers Nachi and Maya, the light cruisers Tama and Abukuma, and the destroyers Wakaba, Hatsushimo, Ikazuchi, and Inazuma, commanded by Vice Admiral Boshirō Hosogaya. On the early morning of 26 March, the Japanese convoy was intercepted by the American picket line some 100 miles south of the Komandorski islands and 180 miles west of Attu, just to the west of the International Date Line. Because of the remote location of the battle and chance encounter on open ocean, neither fleet had air or submarine assistance, making this one of the few engagements exclusively between surface ships in the Pacific Theater and one of the last pure gunnery duels between fleets of major surface combatants in naval history. Although the Japanese cruisers heavily outgunned the American force, the engagement was tactically inconclusive. Both fleets suffered damage, with the U.S. Navy warships escaping greater damage after a Japanese misjudgment. With the Japanese fleet on the edge of victory, Admiral Hosogaya – not realizing the heavy damage his ships had inflicted and fearing American war planes would appear – retired without pressing his advantage. This amounted to a strategic victory for the US Navy, as it ended Japanese attempts to resupply the Aleutian garrisons by surface ship, leaving only submarines to conduct supply runs. Hosogaya was accordingly retired from active service after the battle and assigned to govern a group of South Pacific islands. Battle 0600: The United States ships were formed in