5. PT boats dealt out punishment to Japanese resupply barges
Japan resupplied its island garrisons with troops, food, and fuel with barges which were relatively easy pickings for the American PT boats. In midsummer, the Japanese Navy began to use destroyers to deliver supplies and troops to their positions. American PT boats did not fare well against Japanese destroyers at that stage of the war. Unreliable torpedoes made attacks a risky operation with little chance of success. Japanese destroyers were also faster than the boats, though the PTs were more maneuverable at high speed. The fifteen boats launched against the five Japanese destroyers were to have been supported by American destroyers, which were late arriving at the scene.
The Japanese destroyers completed their missions and returned through the passage where the American PT boats which had not expended their torpedoes remained, Kennedy’s included. While waiting to sight the enemy destroyers, or to receive information on their whereabouts, Kennedy idled in the strait. PT boats (as well as other ships) created wakes when underway, which was phosphorescent, easily spotted from the air, as well as from the elevated bridge of an enemy destroyer. The Japanese destroyer Amagiri, returning from the island of Kolombanga, bore down on the American vessel, which was unaware of its presence.