[caycep]

shoot, I forget...but wasn't there a ton of material written re the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal? I vaguely remember the name Samuel Eliot Morrison. Also, as a kid, I remember a Natl Geo style writeup by Robert Ballard since he led an expedition to use ROVs to look at wrecks on Iron Bottom Sound.

I think Lee got a bit of luck too...since all of the rest of his fleet got blown up around him and the Washington was able to take advantage of the fact that all the attention were on the burning destroyers and the South Dakota, while he could take shots at will.

[wcarey]

Samuel Eliot Morison wrote a definitive history of the naval war in the Pacific, so your memory is good! Ian Toll's new series is shorter, but also top notch and benefits from more access to Japanese sources.