Japanese destroyers Yudachi, Hatsuyuki, and Murakumo, having just disembarked 1,000 troops at Taivu, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands before midnight on the previous day, shelled Henderson Field. As a US Navy PBY Catalina aircraft dropped flares to illuminate the battlefield, Yudachi took advantage of the lighting, spotted destroyer-transports USS Gregory and USS Little in Save Sound, and prompty sank both of them with gunfire off Lunga Point; 22 were killed aboard USS Gregory, 62 were killed aboard USS Little. Afer dawn, US aircraft based in Henderson Field sank Japanese barges attempting to bring heavy equipment onto Guadalcanal.
