After "Amatsukaze" returned to Japan for repairs Hara was promoted to captain and given the command of Destroyer Division 27, flying his flag aboard . While this was technically a four-ship formation the demands on the Imperial navy were such that Hara's ships rarely operated together. While serving aboard "Shigure", Hara was involved in several fierce naval engagements during the latter part of the Solomon Islands Campaign. While on a re-supply mission through Blackett Straight on 2 August 1943, Hara noticed a fireball exploding near leading destroyer "Amagiri" and ordered "Shigure's" crew to shoot at the burning wreckage of Lt. John F. Kennedy's Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109. During the Battle of Vella Gulf on 6–7 August "Shigure" was the only one of four Japanese destroyers to escape, though she was later found to have been hit by a torpedo that failed to explode.