As part of the Third Battleship Division, "Kirishima" participated in many of the Imperial Japanese Navy's early actions in 1942, providing support for the invasion of the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) and in the Indian Ocean raid of April 1942. During the Battle of Midway, she provided escort to Nagumo's four carriers, before redeploying to the Solomon Islands during the Battle of Guadalcanal. She escorted Japanese carrier fleets during the battles of the Eastern Solomons and Santa Cruz Islands, before sailing as part of a bombardment force under Admiral Nobutake Kondō during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. On the evening of 13 November 1942, "Kirishima" engaged American cruisers and destroyers alongside her sister ship . On the night of 14/15 November, in one of only two battleship duels of the Pacific War, "Kirishima" attacked and damaged the American battleship before being fatally crippled in turn by the battleship under the command of then Captain Glenn B. Davis. "Kirishima" capsized and sank in the early morning on 15 November 1942 in Ironbottom Sound.