At 1:42, Cushing saw Yudachi and Harusame to port, just 2,000 yards off, and events spun out of control. Cushing swung to port, and Commander Thomas M. Stokes, commanding the destroyer group that Cushing headed, asked Callaghan, ‘Shall I let them have a couple of fish?’ Callaghan was indecisive. He ordered Stokes to stand by to open fire, then to head north. The three destroyers behind Cushing veered left, and so did Atlanta. Callaghan asked Atlanta, ‘What are you doing?’

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‘Avoiding our own destroyers,’ answered Atlanta’s Captain Samuel P. Jenkins. Then Cushing turned north again and picked out Nagara. Now the Americans were about to pass around and between two Japanese battleships.

The Japanese were having their own difficulties. Hiei and Kirishima were ready to open fire on Guadalcanal when Yudachi signaled Abe: ‘Enemy sighted.’

Abe roared, ‘What is the range and bearing? Where is Yudachi?’

The admiral’s own lookout answered, reporting that he saw four black objects ahead to starboard and 9,000 meters away.

Yudachi was in trouble, too. Her captain, Kiyoshi Kikkawa, later admitted he was being overcautious after a fiasco in an earlier battle. This night, Abe’s moves left Yudachi out of position and lost. Kikkawa blundered into the American column, unready to fire, not knowing where the Americans or the other Japanese ships were. Kikkawa conned his ship back and forth, trying to find the other Japanese ships and the enemy, then headed into battle.

On Hiei, a shaken Abe, his voice faltering, ordered his men to switch from Type 3 shells to armor-piercing ordnance. The gunners tore Type 3 shells out of the breeches and hurled them out onto the decks while crews in the magazines scrambled to load armor-piercing shot. Hiei’s signal officers screamed hysterical orders over the radio to the Japanese ships, ignoring security measures.

Amatsukaze was calm, however. Hara told his men: ‘No sweat, boys. We are well prepared to engage when the distance is down to 3,000 meters.’

Crucial minutes passed as the two forces raced toward each other at a combined 40 knots, neither group alert, neither ready to fire. Callaghan realized he was surrounded by Japanese ships and signaled, ‘Odd ships fire to starboard, even ships fire to port.’ This incredible order took no account of his ships’ varied armament. Light cruisers armed with 6-inch guns were ordered to swap broadsides with Abe’s battleships, armed with 14-inch guns.

On Hiei, an exasperated Abe did not know where his ships were. He turned on his searchlight and pinned Atlanta 5,000 meters ahead.

Atlanta opened fire on the enemy searchlights, firing at barely 1,600 yards. She fired on three enemy destroyers, scoring hits on Akatsuki. The damaged Japanese ship hit back with a slew of torpedoes that blasted Atlanta’s thin armor and exploded in the forward engine room. Shells from Akatsuki started fires on Atlanta’s upperworks.

With her engine room flooded, the burning Atlanta drifted away from the action, taking on water. The battle now became what an American captain called ‘a barroom brawl after the lights went out.’

The point of the American column was the destroyer Cushing, and she was headed for Hiei, which was 1,000 yards to port. Cushing swung to starboard, spewing six torpedoes at the battleship. All missed. Cushing then opened up with 5-inchers and machine guns. The torrent of tracers and shells cascaded all over Amatsukaze. Hara was transfixed by the fireworks display, but his ship was untouched.

Meanwhile, Hiei fired a 14-inch salvo, and Cushing was blasted by 10 major hits. The destroyer lay hopelessly crippled under enemy machine-gun fire that cut down sailors at their posts. Helpless, the ship was abandoned.

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