After being informed that Japanese forces were approaching and that further towing efforts were infeasible, Halsey ordered "Hornet" sunk. While the rest of the U.S. warships retired towards the southeast to get out of range of Kondō's and Abe's oncoming fleet, the destroyers and attempted to scuttle "Hornet" with multiple torpedoes and over 400 shells, but she still remained afloat. With advancing Japanese naval forces only 20 minutes away, the two U.S. destroyers abandoned "Hornet"s burning hulk at 20:40. By 22:20, the rest of Kondō's and Abe's warships had arrived at "Hornet"s location. The destroyers and then finished "Hornet" with four torpedoes. At 01:35 on 27 October 1942, she finally sank, at approximately . Several night attacks by radar-equipped Catalinas on "Jun'yō" and "Teruzuki", knowledge of the head start the U.S. warships had in their retreat from the area, plus a critical fuel situation apparently caused the Japanese to reconsider further pursuit of the U.S. warships. After refueling near the northern Solomon Islands, the Japanese ships returned to their main base at Truk on 30 October. During the U.S. withdrawal from the battle area towards Espiritu Santo and New Caledonia, while taking evasive action from a Japanese submarine, "South Dakota" collided with the destroyer , heavily damaging "Mahan".