The Shiratsuyu-class destroyers were a class of ten 1st Class destroyers of the Imperial Japanese Navy in service before and during World War II, during which all ten were sunk.

The Battle of Vella Gulf was a naval battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II fought on the night of 6–7 August 1943 in Vella Gulf between Vella Lavella and Kolombangara in the Solomon Islands of the southwest Pacific.