Fanfic Excerpt: The First Naval Battle of Guadalcanal

At 0100 hours in the Pacific, Abe's battle group entered The Slot. The Japanese ships were prepared for battle.

0147 hours, November 13, 1942, Savo Sound, Solomon Islands, IJN Fast Battleship Kong-Class, Kirishima.

"Captain," one of the lieutenants reported, "One of our destroyers nearly collided with an American destroyer. Hiei and Akatsuki are turning on their searchlights."

In the distance two ships turned on their searchlights, and illuminated the American cruiser, Atlanta, which was leading the American ship column.

Seconds later, the night's silence was broken when several ships from both sides began bombarding each other at near-point blank range.

"Helmsman, I want flank speed now! Get us into a position to fire the big guns! Secondary and tertiary batteries, target any destroyers attempting to approach."

"There! The American ships!" Nagano pointed out the Atlanta, which was already taking heavy fire from destroyer torpedoes and Hiei's guns. All around, the formations of both sides were breaking as ships manoeuvred to fire at each other.

"Train main guns on that ship! Let's finish it off" the Captain ordered.

"Shall we turn on out searchlights, captain?"

"No. We'd make too big a target. Hiei is getting harassed by destroyers because of its searchlights. Use night sights."

"Guns are ready to fire!"

Before the captain could give the order, USS Atlanta, already drifting due to loss of engineering power, was hit repeatedly by the salvo of a ship behind it. The Atlanta had drifted into the USS San Francisco's line of fire and took heavy damage from the friendly fire.

"They fired on their own ship!" Nagano laughed, "Idiots!"

Atlanta was out of the fight, and the captain decided not to waste shells on it.

"Orders from Hiei, Captain," one of the radiomen spoke, "The American ship that hit their own is a heavy cruiser. The Vice Admiral is ordering us focus fire on that ship.

"All right, helmsman, adjust course. Lieutenant, order the guns to adjust. We're firing on that ship!"

Kirishima and Hiei opened up with their main guns, firing at USS San Francisco. Thetwo Japanese battleships were still equipped with fragmentation bombardment shells, and did not do much damage to San Francisco's hull, but the fragmentation shells managed to kill Rear Admiral Norman Scott and most of his bridge crew.

"Destroyer!" shouted one of the officers.

The Destroyer USS Laffey managed to get past their screen and make a pass on the two battleships, hitting Hiei with several shells from its 5-inch gun, as well as hitting both Hiei and Kirishima with machinegun-fire.

The destroyer's machineguns killed several men on the Kirishima before they started firing back with their machineguns and smaller gun batteries. At the same time, more Japanese ships trained their guns on San Francisco, disabling her steering controls.

San Francisco still managed to fight back, firing salvos at Kirishima and Hiei before steering away from the battle.

IJN Destroyer Akatsuki was the first Japanese ship lost in the battle, as its searchlights made it an easy target for the American destroyers. Akatsuki was lost with all hands.

USS Laffey escaped from Hiei and Kirishima only to be gutted by withering gun and torpedo fire from four Japanese destroyers. Laffey's keel was broken by a torpedo and the heavy bombardment from the Japanese destroyers caused fire to reach her ammunition magazines. Laffey exploded and was sent to the bottom of the sea.

IJN Cruiser Nagara pounded the destroyer USS Cushing with cannon fire, disabling Cushing's ship systems. Cushing's crew abandoned ship before she sank.

IJN destroyers Yudachi and Amatsukaze opened fire on the destroyer USS Barton, hitting her with two torpedoes, which quickly sunk the ship. Meanwhile, destroyer USS Monssen was destroyed by the same destroyers that had just sunk Laffey.

US destroyers Aaron Ward and Sterett sunk Yudachi, and USS Sterett was in turn disabled by destroyer Teruzuki.

USS Aaron Ward ended up alone in a confrontation with Kirishima.

"Destroyer sighted in range of main guns," Nagano reported.

"This one's easy pickings," the captain said, "Fire when ready!"

Aaron Ward and Kirishima engaged in a ship to ship duel, though it was very one-sided. The Kirishima's far superior night fighting ability, coupled with the fact that she was a battleship with much heavier guns than a destroyer, made the outcome of the battle a no-brainer.

Kirishima opened fire with its 14-inch guns, while the Aaron Ward could only reply with its 5-inch guns.

Aaron Ward was heavily damaged and was stopped dead in her tracks as she attempted to flee.

It took several hours, but now the battle was over. Unfortunately, sunrise was approaching, and Vice Admiral Abe could not risk continuing the bombardment lest his force be destroyed by American aircraft.

"We have new orders," the communication officer reported, "Hiei can barely steer herself; her steering engine rooms are flooded. Vice Admiral Abe was wounded in the destroyer attack. He's abandoning the bombardment mission."

"I assume we have to tow Hiei back?" asked the captain.

"Negative, Captain. These orders are from Admiral Yamamoto. He says to ignore Vice Admiral Abe should he ask you to tow that ship. It's almost sunrise and he does not want to risk losing both of the battleships to air attacks."

"What will happen to Hiei and the Vice Admiral?"

"His crew is being evacuated to other ships, and he's changing flagship, captain."

"Very good, then. Let's get out of here."

*Lazy day #3: This is a modified excerpt from a Touhou fanfiction of mine (check my page if you want to read it). By modified, I mean, everything that made it a fanfiction was removed and now it can stand on its own as a historical fiction story. The original story is about the character, not the war or any battle in the war, so by posting this excerpt on its own, the story becomes completely different. Mind you, this isn't even half of the chapter. Forgive me once again.