Fewer naval actions in history have better illustrated the intersection of technology, tactics, and sheer firepower than the night battle between USS Washington (BB-56) and Japanese battleship Kirishima during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. It was more than the turning point of the Pacific War, but an aggressive display of how radar-directed gunnery and creative battleship design could dominate even the most disorganized maritime battles.
Commissioned in 1941, USS Washington was a North Carolina-class battleship and the height of US naval engineering. Built within the constraints of the Washington Naval Treaty, she offered a smart compromise between armor, firepower, and speed. Measuring 728 feet in length and displacing over 44,000 tons when loaded to her maximum, Washington mounted nine 16-inch/45 caliber guns, which fired 2,700-pound projectiles over huge ranges.
Backing up these primary guns were twenty dual-purpose general-purpose 5-inch/38 caliber guns, used by ships and planes. Her main belt was 12 inches thick, and her armored deck was from 1.5 to 6 inches thick to withstand heavy enemy fire. Steam turbines provided the power for Washington’s top speed of 28 knots, enabling her to sail economically and stay with carrier task forces.
Opposite Washington stood the Kongo-class battlecruiser Kirishima, which was commissioned in 1915 and greatly refitted in the 1930s. The refits turned her into a powerful battleship, with enhanced armor, power installations, and weapons. She had eight 14-inch guns in her main battery, augmented by 6-inch secondaries, anti-aircraft protection, and torpedo tubes. This combination of firepower and speed made Kirishima a force to be reckoned with, engaged in significant battles from Pearl Harbor to the Solomon Islands.
The fight took place during the very hard fight for Guadalcanal, between August 1942 and February 1943. Control of the island—and the most importantly, Henderson Field—was pivotal. For the Allies, airbase control protected important supply lines between the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand while projecting airpower into enemy-held sea. For Japan, the occupation or capture of Henderson Field guaranteed supply routes and checked the Allied advance.
In mid-November of 1942, the Japanese launched a concerted attack to bomb Henderson Field and reinforce their troops. Kirishima’s task force included two heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, and nine destroyers. Vice Admiral William F. Halsey responded aggressively by dispatching Washington and South Dakota, which were pulled out from carrier escorts, and four destroyers under Rear Admiral Willis A. Lee, a naval gunnery and radar expert.
The. November 14-15, 1942, the night battle was a frenzied and furious one. Japanese ships overwhelmed the American destroyers simultaneously, sinking two and putting several out of commission. USS South Dakota, uncovered by fire from blazing wreckage, took 26 hits and received severe damage. Washington, on the other hand, remained concealed, employing darkness and debris to her advantage.
Concealment enabled Washington’s superior technology to prevail. Equipped with radar, she was able to pick up and blast her enemies with lethal precision even in conditions of complete blackout. As Kirishima approached to within about 8,500 yards, Washington’s radar-directed gunners delivered a ruinous broadside from her 16-inch guns. Naval historian Samuel Eliot Morison has chronicled how Washington “opened fire on Kirishima and scored as many as 20 hits with her 16-inch guns.” The outcome was devastating: Kirishima was burned, taken out of commission, and sank, while Japanese efforts at retaliation with Long Lance torpedoes failed. Other Japanese ships retreated, abandoning the Kirishima and a lone destroyer to their fate.
The sinking of the Kirishima was more than a tactical victory—it severely crippled Japan’s Pacific fleet. Losing one of its few remaining battleships further made Japan’s ability to vie for Allied control around Guadalcanal even more difficult. The fight also foreshadowed increasing reliance on radar and night-fighting technologies, heralding a future departure from the old daylight fleet battles based on purely visual sighting.
Outside of this particular battle, the war saw the progression of naval warfare. Fire control by radar, battleship design innovation, and technological fire control were the deciding elements. Washington’s destruction of Kirishima demonstrated that technology, coupled with good tactics, could do irreparable damage to disrupt the balance of naval power.
The lessons of Guadalcanal shaped warship design and naval strategy and accelerated the shift from battleship-based fleets to carrier-based task forces and air-sea combined operations. The legacy of the victory at Washington continues to stand as a lasting testament to how innovation, flexibility, and strategic competence allowed the Allies to prosper in the Pacific.