referred picture's comments explain it better, but basically Shigure and Kawakaze were on the same transport run to reinforce the Japanese airfield at Munda, New Georgia (near Kolombangara) with ~1000 troops + supplies before it could fall to US hands (it did later the same day anyway). Six US destroyers hid behind mountains of a nearby island to hide their locations on radar, ambushed the IJN convoy, and hit all four IJN destroyers with torpedoes, sinking all but Shigure, who only got away because the torpedo that hit her in the rudder ended up being a dud, and Shigure was forced to fall back and abort transport run
TL;DR: Battle ends up being known as the Battle of Vella Gulf. More like a slaughter if anything, and Shigure gets scarred even more because she only got away due to luck when she should've probably died too. As one of the comments on referred pic states it best,
