persistent Japanese planes, picking up on her radar eight torpedo planes heading in at low level. Director-controlled gunfire from the main battery 5 inch spat out fiery steel at the incoming Nakajima B5N "Kates" but knocked none down. On the evening of 17 August, a Japanese air attack caused Waller and Philip (DD-498) to collide while undertaking evasive action; and Waller eventually steamed out of the combat area to undergo needed repairs. However, in October, she was back in the thick of the fighting. Solomons campaign, October 1943 – February 1944 On the night of 1–2 October, Waller entered waters off Vella Lavella in an attempt to cut off the evacuation of Japanese troops from the island. Waller shot up six landing barges that night and four on the following, wreaking heavy destruction, along with her mates, on the smaller-sized "Tokyo Express". All told during this period, 46 enemy craft of this type met destruction at the hands of American destroyers, cruisers, and PT boats.Waller continued her convoy escort and support functions into the fall months. On 17–18 November, as American forces pushed towards Bougainville, Waller screened the 5th echelon of transports and supply ships. The total American force consisting of six destroyers, eight APDs, a fleet tug, and eight LSTs was crossing Empress Augusta Bay, off the coast of Bougainville, when 10 Japanese torpedo planes swooped in low and fast at 03:00. The ships quickly put up a tremendous barrage of antiaircraft fire to discourage the Japanese attackers. Flares and float lights dropped by the Japanese planes lit up the scene with an eerie light. Destroyer gunfire sent tracer streaks across the night sky, and one "Betty" spun into the sea off the port bow of (DD-477). Another attacker, roaring in low and fast at 03:30, flew into a veritable hail of flak and crashed, trailing flames into the sea astern of Conway (DD-507). The torpedoes launched by the doomed aircraft failed to hit their mark and sped off past the American ships. Two minutes later, however, another "Betty" drew blood from the American force by torpedoing (APD-5), which later sank. When the smoke of battle had cleared, Waller picked up eight Japanese aviators. The warship soon was back off Torokina, Bougainville, on the shore of Empress Augusta Bay, with the 7th echelon of support ships. On 23 November, she shelled Marine Island. She and her sister ships bombarded