Talk:Haruna/@comment-25196231-20140731075158/@comment-23.28.25.108-20140801014603

"crippled" is too strong of a term for what was done to SoDak at Second Guadalcanal. Mission-killed yes, due to damage taken to fire control and radar, plus the circuit-breaker self-inflicted damage, but she was never in danger of sinking, with mobility, water-tight integrity and main battery (mostly) intact.

Hiei was facing cruisers and destroyers, and was hit in perhaps the only spot on the ship that an 8" shell could have done significant damage, the steering room.  Took a lot of airplane sorties to finish her off the next day, but a cripple near Henderson Field was a dead duck, BB or no.

Kirishima was ambushed at point-blank range by a much more powerful ship, and was turned into a shattered hulk in under ten minutes. She really didn't have a prayer of surviving the ~ 20 16" hits that she took.  (Lundgren has discovered the Japanese damage control documentation, which matches Dr. Ballard's discovery of the wreck, indicating that USS Washington did more than the nine hits that earlier sources gave her credit for.)

queek