destroyers answered with ragged and inaccurate fire. Six minutes after action had commenced, Murasame broke in two from an "extremely violent" explosion, the victim of a combination of torpedoes and gunfire from Waller and her mates. Minegumo, too, came in for her share of attention and was soon reduced to junk although she stubbornly remained afloat for a short while. Leaving the Japanese in their wakes, the American force swung westward at 01:14 and soon thereafter commenced their scheduled bombardment of Vila. The six American ships pounded the air strip for 16 minutes before breaking off action and leaving a number of fires burning brightly in the darkness. Waller was ordered to dispatch Minegumo but the blazing wreck sank before the American destroyer could get to do the job. The Vila raid and the Battle of Blackett Strait evoked the praise of Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, who with glowing understatement called the exploit a "creditable performance." Nimitz cited the exemplary way in which TF 68 had picked up two enemy ships by radar, despite a close-by land background; promptly obtained a fire control set-up, sank the enemy vessels in a "businesslike manner" and then proceeded to conduct their planned bombardment mission approximately on schedule. "The Operation had all the precision of a well-rehearsed exercise by veteran ships—which these were not." Waller continued her operations in the Solomons through the end of 1943 and into 1944. As the Japanese sought to resupply their trapped garrisons on islands like Vella Lavella, Arundel, and Kolombangara, they utilized destroyers as transports and supply ships in what became known as the "Tokyo Express". These ships clashed with American cruisers and destroyers in a series of sharp, bitter night actions. The Americans, meanwhile, kept up the pressure on the Japanese, subjecting their islands to nearly continual harassment from the sea and from the air. On the night of 29–30 June 1943, Waller, in company with three other destroyers and four cruisers, bombarded Vila-Stanmore plantation, Kolombangara, and the Shortland Islands. Much of the firing was done in the teeth of a driving rainstorm which obscured visibility and precluded claims of damage to Japanese installations. Kula Gulf, July 1943 Soon thereafter, on 6 July, a task group of three cruisers and four destroyers under Rear Admiral W. L. "Pug" Ainsworth, tangled with 10 Japanese destroyers carrying troops and supplies to Kolombangara in the Battle of Kula Gulf. In