"Washington" left the North Sea bound for the United States on 14 July with an escort of four destroyers; upon arrival at the New York Naval Yard on the 23rd, she was given a full overhaul which took a month to be completed. She set sail for the Panama Canal and the Pacific Ocean on 23 August and reached her destination, Tonga Island, on 14 September, where she became the flagship of Admiral Willis "Ching" Lee. Over the coming months, "Washington" would be focused upon the safe arrival of supply convoys to the men fighting on Guadalcanal. On 13 November, three formations of Japanese ships were discovered on course for Guadalcanal, one of them aiming to bombard Henderson Field while night gave them protection from aircraft. The first Japanese bombardment force was driven back by an American cruiser-destroyer force. On 14 November, the Japanese organized another sortie to neutralize the airfield. "Washington", , and four destroyers were sent to intercept the Japanese force that night. The Japanese, composed of the fast battleship , two heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, and nine destroyers, initially sank three US destroyers and inflicted significant topside damage to "South Dakota". However, "Washington" remained undetected and at midnight fired on "Kirishima" from , point blank range for "Washington"s 16-inch/45-caliber guns. "Washington" fired seventy-five 16-inch and one hundred and seven 5-inch rounds during the melee, scoring 20 main and seventeen secondary battery hits, knocking out "Kirishima"'s steering and main battery and causing uncontrollable progressive flooding. "Kirishima" capsized at 03:25 on the morning of 15 November 1942, with 212 crewmen lost. Radar-directed fire from "Washington"s secondary battery also damaged destroyer so severely it had to be scuttled. Soon after the battle, the Japanese began evacuating Guadalcanal.