activities upon which he predicated his actions were actually movements preparatory to a Japanese withdrawal. Instead, at the battle of Rennell Island, the enemy subjected TF 18 to a scathing air attack. On the evening of 29 January, enemy Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" bombers attacked TF 18 with torpedoes. The ships brushed off the first attack with antiaircraft fire, suffered negligible damage, and raced on to rendezvous with the other elements of the covering force. After a concerted effort, the Japanese fliers finally scored a crippling torpedo hit on (CA-29). When (CA-28) took the stricken cruiser in tow, Taylor helped to screen the retiring ships as they steamed out of range of enemy aircraft. The following day, more enemy planes appeared and attacked. After Chicago took four more torpedo hits, her crew and the warships covering her abandoned the heavy cruiser to her watery fate and returned to Efate. Feb. – April 1943 On 4 February, Taylor and the other ships of DesRon 21 were transferred to TF 67, Rear Admiral Walden L. Ainsworth's cruiser-destroyer force. Soon thereafter, TF 67 became TF 18, and the former TF 18 became TF 19. In any event, during February and March, Taylor screened Ainsworth's cruisers—St. Louis (CL-49), Honolulu (CL-48), and Helena (CL-50)—during operations between Espiritu Santo and Guadalcanal. During the night of 15–16 March, she joined Nicholas (DD-449), Radford (DD-446), and Strong (DD-467) in the fourth bombardment of the Vila-Stanmore Plantation located on Kolombangara Island in the central Solomon Islands. On 26 March, the destroyer cleared Espiritu Santo to escort Kanawha (AO-1), Aloe (YN-1), and six coastal transports to Guadalcanal. The ships reached Tulagi on the 29th; and, while Kanawha discharged cargo, Taylor resumed operations at sea with Ainsworth's cruisers. On the nights of 4, 5, and 6 April, she joined them in sweeps up "the Slot" before being ordered back to Tulagi on the 7th to pick up Kanawha. When the destroyer was just about to enter Tulagi, a strong Japanese air raid cancelled her mission by severely bombing Kanawha before the old oiler could clear the harbor completely. With Kanawha disabled, Taylor rang up 30 knots and cleared the area via Sealark Channel. During her transit of the channel, the warship claimed the destruction of three enemy planes and hits on two others. For much of the month, Taylor escorted convoys in the Solomons and between those islands and Espiritu Santo. On