Naval Battle Of Guadalcanal Over At Last

SUN 15 NOV 1942
Pacific
Naval Battle of Guadalcanal ends as TF 64 repulses Vice Admiral Kondo's force. Battleship South Dakota (BB-57) is damaged by gunfire of Japanese battleship Kirishima and heavy cruisers Atago and Takao; destroyer Benham (DD-397), damaged by torpedo, is scuttled by destroyer Gwin (DD-433) in Savo Sound, Solomons; Gwin is damaged by gunfire. Gunfire from Admiral Lee's flagship, battleship Washington (BB-56), sinks Kirishima and destroyer Ayanami southeast of Savo Island, 09°10'S,159°52'E.

Navy SBDs (VS 10) and TBFs (VT 10), USMC SBDs (VMSB 132), Marine and Army coast artillery, and gunfire from destroyer Meade (DD-602) sink four Japanese merchant transport/cargo ships off the northern coast of Guadalcanal: Kinugasa Maru, Hirokawa Maru, Yamazuki Maru, and Yamura Maru. Meade also rescues survivors from sunken destroyers Walke (DD-416) and Preston (DD-379) (see 14 November).

Although the United States suffers the greater loss in warships in the savagely fought series of engagements on 12-15 November, the Japanese withdraw and never again send large naval forces into the waters around Guadalcanal; the ultimate outcome of the struggle for that island is decided.

USAAF B-17s bomb Japanese shipping at Rabaul, sinking supply ship No.3 Unkai Maru, 04°12'S, 152°00'E, and damaging transport Azuma Maru.

Mediterranean
Off North Africa, cargo ship Electra (AK-21) is torpedoed by German submarine U-173, 33°45'N, 07°52'W; cargo ship Almaack (AK-27) is torpedoed by U-155, 36°19'N, 07°52'W.

Atlantic
French submarine Le Tonnant, having been damaged by U.S. warships off Casablanca, French Morocco, is scuttled off Cadiz, Spain.

Caribbean
Unarmed U.S. schooner Lucy Evelyn is shelled by what she believes to be an enemy submarine at approximately 12°00'N, 75°00'W; apparently undamaged, she reaches Baranquilla, Colombia, soon thereafter, having suffered no casualties among the seven-man crew.