World War II Database

With Lieutenant Commander William E. Hank in command, Laffey held her shakedown cruise off the west coast of the United States. She headed for the South Pacific in mid-1942, arriving at Efate on 28 Aug 1942. On 6 Sep, she joined Task Force 18. On 15 Sep, she helped rescuing survivors from the sunken carrier Wasp. On 18 Sep, she joined Task Force 64. She first saw battle in the Battle of Cape Esperance on 11 and 12 Oct 1942, where she helped to repulse a Japanese bombardment group. On 12 Nov, while escorting transports, she underwent a heavy air attack. On the next day, she was engaged in the First Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, in which she was one of the eight destroyers and five cruisers under the overall command of Admiral Daniel J. Callahan. During the battle, Laffey followed destroyer Cushing on a torpedo run, followed by destroyer Sterett. After Cushing fired her spread of six torpedoes at battleship Hiei (which all missed), Cushing drew attention of the Japanese big guns, and was sunk by 14-inch shells. Laffey followed suit with her torpedoes, while her 5-inch guns roared at the direction of Aoba. Like Cushing's, Laffey's torpedoes also failed to hit Hiei, but unlike Cushing's torpedoes which simply went wide, Laffey's torpedoes were fired too close to Hiei, therefore there was not enough time for the torpedoes to become armed. After expending her torpedoes, she found herself trapped by two Japanese battleships and two destroyers. Her 5-inch guns and other smaller weapons fired toward port side at Kirishima's superstructure as she attempted to make her way out of the envelopment, killing Japanese Chief of Staff Masakane Suzuki as her machine guns raked Kirishima's bridge. Suddenly, two consecutive salvos from Kirishima rained down all around her, with at least one 14-inch shell hitting her on her midships superstructure. A moment later, she was hit at the stern by a torpedo from destroyer Teruzuki. Dead in the water, the order to abandon ship was given, but before most of the men able to evacuate, a violent explosion in her after ammunition magazines ripped the destroyer apart, causing her to sink immediately. Her wreck is now about half-mile below the surface of Iron Bottom Sound, upright and largely intact except for her after third.

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