Not Friday The Thirteenth

TUE 13 JUL 1943
Pacific
Battle of Kolombangara is fought in the darkness off Kolombangara, Solomons, as three light cruisers and ten destroyers of TG 36.1 (Rear Admiral Walden L. Ainsworth) engage Japanese light cruiser and five destroyers (Rear Admiral Izaki Shunji) escorting troop-carrying destroyers. Japanese torpedoes damage U.S. light cruisers Honolulu (CL-48), 07°31'S, 157°19'E, and St. Louis (CL-49), 07°37'S, 157°16'E; and New Zealand light cruiser HMNZS Leander (which has replaced the lost Helena (CL-50)). Destroyer Gwin (DD-433), damaged by torpedo, is scuttled by Ralph Talbot (DD-390), 07°41'S, 157°27'E. Destroyers Woodworth (DD-460) and Buchanan (DD-484) are damaged by collision, 07°40'S, 157°14'E. Japanese light cruiser Jintsu is sunk by cruiser gunfire and destroyer torpedo, 07°38'S, 157°06'E; and destroyer Yukikaze is damaged.

Indian Ocean
Second group of survivors of freighter Sebastian Cermeno, torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-511 on 27 June 1943, reaches Durban, South Africa (see 14, 23 and 27 July 1943).

RAF Catalina rescues one group of survivors from U.S. freighter Alice F. Palmer, torpedoed, shelled and sunk by German submarine U-177 on 10 July 1943, 60 miles southeast of Madagascar (see 25, 26 and 30 July 1943).

Atlantic
Aircraft (VC 13) from escort carrier Core (CVE-13) sink German submarine U-487, 720 miles south-southwest of Fayal, Azores, 27°15'N, 34°18'W.

Brazilian destroyer Maranhao rescues survivors of U.S. freighter African Star, torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-172 off the coast of Brazil the previous day.

Mediterranean
German air attacks continue on invasion shipping off the beaches at Sicily; off Avola, freighter Timothy Pickering, hit by a bomb, catches fire. The blaze spreads with a rapidity that denies escape to those on board: 127 of 128 embarked British troops perish, as do 22 of the 43-man crew and 16 of the 23-man Armed Guard. Timothy Pickering is scuttled by a torpedo from a British destroyer.

Naval Advanced Base, Gela, Sicily, is established.