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| History of services October 1940 Participated in the annual Imperial Naval Review. Emperor Hirohito aboard the HIEI. 7 December 1941 Attack on Pearl Harbor - HIEI & sister ship KIRISHIMA belong to BatDiv 3, section 1. They formed part of the Admiral Nagumo's force in escorting the carriers. 17 January 1942 Operation R - The invasions of Rabaul & Kavieng. BatDiv 3 with CarDiv 1 and CarDiv 5 ZUIKAKU pursuit Vice-Admiral Halsey's TF 8 and TF 17. February 1942 Supported the Carrier Strike Force raid on Port Darwin. March 1942 The Battle of Java Sea - BatDiv 3 attacked and sank destroyer USS Edsall. 5 April 1942 Operation C - the raid in the Indian Ocean. Supported the Carrier Strike Force attack on Columbo and Celyon. 7 -12 June 1942 Operation AL - the invasion of the Aleutians. BatDiv 3 with carrier ZUIHO, and seaplane tender KAMIKAWA MARU detached from the 2nd Fleet to join with the 5th Fleet, which also joined with CruDiv 8 TONE & CHIKUMA, they patrolled southwest of Kiska in order to engage an American counter attack that did not occur. July 1942 HIEI and KIRISHIMA resigned to BatDiv 11. 24 August 1942 The Battle of Eastern Solomon - cruised north-east of Guadalcanal with Carrier Strike Force with CruDiv 7 KUMANO, SUZUYA and CruDiv 8 CHIKUMA. The HIEI was not damaged in this battle. 12- 15 October 1942 BatDiv 11 provided distant cover in the east of the Solomon Islands for BatDiv 3 KONGO and HARUNA that bombarded the Henderson Field. 26 October 1942 The Battle of Santa Cruz - The Force was attacked by American Carrier Force but HIEI was not damaged. 13 November 1942 The First Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. When BatDiv 11 was ready to fire shells on Henderson Field. The destroyer YUDACHI spotted enemy warships 9000 metres away. HIEI and destroyer AKATSUKI switched the search light on the light crusier USS Altanta. The destroyer USS Laffey and USS Cushing launched torpedoes at the HIEI. One hit HIEI and exploded. USS Laffey was then destroyed by HIEI. HIEI was hit by several 8-inch shells from the cruiser USS San Francisco and Portand. She was also hit by many 5-inch shells from the destroyer USS Sterett that hit HIEI with 2 torpedoes. HIEI main and secondary batteries' fire control system were dismantled and her superstructure was set a fire. The Altanta was later hit and sunk. The destroyer USS Cushing, Monssen and Barton were also sunk. The KIRISHIMA damaged the San Fransisco. Whereas the Americans sank the destroyer AKATSUKI and YUDACHI. AMATSUKAZE, IKAZUCHI and MURASAME were damaged. Twenties minutes later, Vice Admiral Abe ordered to withdraw from the battle. HIEI steerling compartment was flooded and the port rudder jam in full starboard position. The KIRISHIMA took the HIEI in tow and retired westword around Savo Island. Four hours later, HIEi was attacked by "Avenger" torpedo planes and "Dauntless" SBD dive-bombers from the USS Enterprise and Henderson Field. The HIEI was hit by several bombs and torpedoes and took on more water. Five more hours later, the HIEI was hit by one of the bombs dropped by B-17 bombers from Espirtu Santo. Abe ordered the HIEI to beach at Camimbo. She was again hit by three bombs dropped from "Dauntless" SBD dive-bombers from Henderson Field. Ten minutes later, she was attacked again by four "Avenger" TBF torpedo bombers from USS Saratoga and two marine TBF from Henderson Field. HIEI was hit by two torpedoes. The Captain tried to save HIEI rather than following Abe's beaching orders. Abe ordered the Captain to abandond ship, instead the Captain ordered the ship to be scuttled. During the day, HIEI suffered nearly 70 attacks and list to starboard and down at stern. The HIEI finally sank by the stern. (Both Abe and the Captain faced the Board of inquire for the loss of HIEI. Abe was relieved of command.) December 1942 Scraped from Navy List. |