the anchorage at Lengo Channel. The Solomons-Bismarcks area was to be her theater of operations until late February 1944. On 28 August, she stopped at Tulagi; then, steamed on to patrol the entrance to Kula Gulf, between Kolombangara and New Georgia, and returned the next day to Port Purvis on Florida Island. During the first week in September, Stanly sailed between Port Purvis and Tulagi; then, on the 8th, escorted a convoy out of Purvis Bay. The destroyer parted company with the convoy on 10 September and headed on to New Caledonia. Arriving in Nouméa on the 13th, she underwent boiler repairs, exchanged ammunition and torpedoes, fueled, and departed on 29 September. She escorted another convoy from New Caledonia to Guadalcanal in October, leaving it off Lunga Point on the 5th. After stopping at Espiritu Santo on 8 October, Stanly returned to Post Purvis to fuel and pick up another convoy. For the rest of October, she continued to guard the convoys from Florida Island to various islands in the Solomons. On the last day of the month, she stood out of Purvis Bay and joined Task Force 39 (TF 39). During the following evening and night, Stanly fought off an attack by Japanese motor torpedo boats while the task force pounded Buka Island. The Japanese lost at least three boats during the action. Later that night, Stanly joined the rest of the task force in shelling the Shortlands, located just off the southern tip of Bougainville, in support of the landings farther north at Empress Augusta Bay. Late on 1 November, TF 39 sighted an enemy surface force, but was unable to engage it until early the next morning when it sallied forth to harass the landing area at Empress Augusta Bay. Radar contact was made at 02:30 on 2 November; and Stanly, along with the other three destroyers in the van, opened the battle with a torpedo attack. Though the cruisers of Rear Admiral Aaron S. Merrill's TF 39 were the star of the ensuing battle, Capt. Arleigh Burke's "Little Beavers", Stanly included, contributed by finishing off the destroyer Hatsukaze and by showering a hail of 5 inch shells on the enemy. The Battle of Empress Augusta Bay claimed one enemy cruiser, Sendai, and the destroyer already mentioned, but, more importantly. Admiral Sentaro Omori retired northward without accomplishing his mission, the landing of reinforcements at Cape Torokina. As