Naval Battle of Guadalcanal: second night

14–15 November 1942, West of Savo Island

American victory

On 14 November aircraft from Henderson Field and Enterprise sank the heavy cruiser Kinugasa and caught Admiral Tanaka's eleven transports coming down the Slot, sinking seven. Tanaka pressed on with the other four. That night Vice Admiral Nobutake Kondō came to shell the airfield with Kirishima and his cruisers, and found Rear Admiral Willis Lee waiting with Washington and South Dakota, the first time the Americans had risked battleships in these waters. Japanese torpedoes and gunfire quickly sank or crippled all four of Lee's destroyers. Then an electrical failure left South Dakota unable to fire or see, and lit by searchlights she took 26 hits. But the Japanese never noticed Washington. Closing in by radar, she hit Kirishima with at least nine 16-inch shells and many 5-inch in about seven minutes, and the Japanese battleship was scuttled before dawn. Kondō withdrew. Tanaka's four transports ran themselves ashore at Tassafaronga, where aircraft, artillery and a destroyer destroyed them and most of their supplies. Over the three days about 1,700 Americans and 1,900 Japanese sailors died. Japan never again tried to retake Guadalcanal in force.