Original sentence: At the Battle of the Eastern Solomons in 1942, North Carolina downed between 7–14 Japanese aircraft.NavSource Online.Only two North Carolina'' ships were built, as they were succeeded by the better-protected and similarly well-armed South Dakota, and later the faster s.She was later hit by a Japanese submarine-launched torpedo that year; the only US fast battleship to suffer underwater damage.The ships were originally conceived as main battleships, but like their successors, the South Dakota and Iowa classes, they spent most of their operational lives as escorts for the Fast Carrier Task Force.Washington sank the [[Japanese battleship Kirishima|Kirishima']] in the Second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, demonstrating the accuracy of fire control radar in a night fight and the destructive power of the Mark 8 shells, being the only US World War II-era fast battleship to sink an enemy battleship in combat.cs:Třída North Carolina.de:North-Carolina-Klasse.ja:ノースカロライナ級戦艦.ru:Линейные корабли типа «Северная Каролина».zh:北卡罗来纳级战列舰
Edited sentence: Only two North Carolina ships were built, as they were succeeded by the better-protected and similarly well-armed South Dakota, and later the faster s