On 9 November 1942, Rear Admiral Kimura and the "Nagara" squadron was assigned to screen "Hiei" and "Kirishima" during a reinforcement plan to land 14,500 men, heavy weapons and supplies on Guadalcanal. The landing was preceded by a bombardment of Henderson Field by the battleships. This action became the First Naval Battle of Guadalcanal on 13 November 1942. During the engagement, "Akatsuki" and were sunk, and "Hiei", "Amatsukaze", and were damaged. "Nagara" was straddled by shells from the cruiser taking a direct hit by one shell which killed six crewmen but which caused only minor hull damage. "Nagara" retired westward around Savo Island escorting "Kirishima" with "Hiei" in tow, but "Hiei" was later sunk by planes from Henderson Field, USS "Enterprise" and B-17 Flying Fortress bombers from Espiritu Santo .