Naval Battle of Guadalcanal
In what would later be called the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal the heavily outnumbered US forces sighted the Japanese fleet headed toward Henderson Field to bombard it and cripple Allied air operations long enough to sneak in 11 of their transports to relieve their beleaguered comrades fighting on the island. The battle commenced at 0150 and within 30 minutes Monssen, which had been spotlighted in the darkness and hit by some 37 shells was reduced to a burning hulk. Twenty minutes later, completely immobilized in all departments, the ship was ordered abandoned. ... After daybreak Monssen was still a floating incinerator. Survivors whoo had previously abandoned ship reboarded the hulk and rescued eight men still aboard and alive, five of whom lived after reaching land. The survivors, 40 percent of the crew, were picked up and taken to Guadalcanal. The ship continued to blaze until early afternoon, when the waters of Ironbottom Sound closed over her.
