well above her waterline. The destroyer returned to Espiritu Santo 8 July for repairs. Repairs completed 22 July 1943, Chevalier operated throughout the Solomons on patrol and escort duty until 14 August. On 15 August the destroyer covered the landings at Vella Lavella, Solomon Islands. On the 17th Chevalier and three other destroyers were dispatched to intercept four Japanese destroyers and several enemy barges who were attempting to reinforce Kolombangara. After a brief encounter between the destroyers, in which neither side suffered to any great extent, the Japanese destroyers departed the area, abandoning the barges. The American forces turned their attention to this objective and sank or severely damaged all of them and sank two submarine chasers (Cha-5 and Cha-12). The destroyer returned to Espiritu Santo 29 August and during September made an escort voyage to Sydney, Australia. On 6 October 1943 Chevalier, O'Bannon, and intercepted nine Japanese destroyers and destroyer transports attempting to evacuate troops from Vella Lavella, Solomon Islands. Although greatly outnumbered, the American destroyers attacked. After firing half of their torpedoes and scoring several hits with gunfire, the group continued to steam into the line of fire of enemy torpedoes in order to keep their own guns bearing. At approximately 22:05 Chevalier was struck on the port bow by an enemy torpedo which tore her bow off to the bridge, throwing the ship entirely out of control. The destroyer O'Bannon which was following Chevalier could not avoid the damaged destroyer and rammed her in the after engine room, flooding that space and stopping Chevaliers port shaft. While making preparations to abandon ship, Chevaliers skipper ordered the torpedoes in her tubes to be fired at the Japanese destroyer . The burning Japanese ship blew up soon after. By 23:26 it was apparent that Chevalier could not be saved and the order was given to abandon ship. Her crew was picked up by O'Bannons boats, and Chevalier was sunk the following day by a torpedo from . Her severed bow was located about a mile to the west and was sunk with depth charges. Chevalier lost 54 killed, and suffered 36 wounded. Honors Chevalier received three battle stars for World War II service. References Bibliography Brown, David. Warship Losses of World War Two. Arms and Armour, London, Great Britain, 1990. . External links USS Chevalier website at Destroyer History Foundation navsource.org: USS Chevalier hazegray.org: USS Chevalier ASailorsDiary.com First-hand account