However, during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal on 12–13 November, when assigned to bombard Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, he broke off his attack after encountering U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Daniel Callaghan's Task Group 67.4 (TG 67.4). Abe lost his flagship, the battleship , which he ordered scuttled after it had been seriously damaged, as well as two destroyers. Abe himself was wounded – and his Chief-of-Staff (Captain Masakane Suzuki) was killed – by machine-gun fire from the , a destroyer that he sank afterwards. His failure to aggressively push through his attack against an inferior enemy force created tremendous controversy, and he was relieved of his command by Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto.