_Native guides lead 2d Raider Battalion Marines on a combat/reconnaissance patrol behind Japanese lines. The patrol lasted for less than a month, during which the Marines covered 150 miles and fought more than a dozen actions._]
On 12 November, a multifaceted Japanese naval force converged on Guadalcanal to cover the landing of the main body of the _38th Division_. Rear Admiral Daniel J. Callaghan’s cruisers and destroyers, the close-in protection for the 182d’s transports, moved to stop the enemy. Coastwatcher and scout plane sightings and radio traffic intercepts had identified two battleships, two carriers, four cruisers, and a host of destroyers all headed toward Guadalcanal. A bombardment group led by the battleships _Hiei_ and _Kirishima_, with the light cruiser _Nagura_, and 15 destroyers spearheaded the attack. Shortly after midnight, near Savo Island, Callaghan’s cruisers picked up the Japanese on radar and continued to close. The battle was joined at such short range that each side fired at times on their own ships. Callaghan’s flagship, the _San Francisco_, was hit 15 times, Callaghan was killed, and the ship had to limp away. The cruiser _Atlanta_ (CL 104) was also hit and set afire. Rear Admiral Norman Scott, who was on board, was killed. Despite the hammering by Japanese fire, the Americans held and continued fighting. The battleship _Hiei_, hit by more than 80 shells, retired and with it went the rest of the bombardment force. Three destroyers were sunk and four others damaged.
Department of Defense (Navy) Photos 80-G-20824 and 80-G-21099
_In the great naval Battle of Guadalcanal, 12-15 November, RAdm Daniel J. Callaghan was killed when his flagship, the heavy cruiser_ San Francisco _(CA 38) took 15 major hits and was forced to limp away in the dark from the scene of action._]
The Americans had accomplished their purpose; they had forced the Japanese to turn back. The cost was high. Two antiaircraft cruisers, the _Atlanta_ and the _Juneau_ (CL 52), were sunk; four destroyers, the _Barton_ (DD 599), _Cushing_ (DD 376), _Monssen_ (DD 436), and _Laffey_ (DD 459), also went to the bottom. In addition to the _San Francisco_, the heavy cruiser _Portland_ (CA 33) and the destroyers _Sterret_ (DD 407) and _Aaron Ward_ (DD 483) were damaged. Only one destroyer of the 13 American ships engaged, the _Fletcher_ (DD 445), was unscathed when the survivors retired to the New Hebrides.