Another direct demonstration of the benefits—and the limits—of an all-or-nothing armoring scheme in comparison to banded armoring occurred in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. On the first night (13 November 1942) a US cruiser-destroyer formation charged directly through a superior Japanese force at point-blank range, unintentionally offsetting the advantage of the heavy Japanese battleship guns with their advantage in fire volume. Hiei, built using an incremental armoring scheme, was fatally damaged by fires caused by 8-inch AP shells from USS San Francisco that penetrated secondary battery casemates protected by a medium thickness upper belt similar to Bismarck. As in Bismarck the upper belt proved sufficient to detonate the projectiles but not sufficient to exclude them, and a fatal hit that disabled her steering gear allowed Hiei to be sunk by air attack the following day. On the second night, (14–15 November 1942) the USS South Dakota was hit at close range by 27 common, HE, and AP shells of various calibers, most of which passed through her unarmored superstructure without detonating and caused relatively little damage. Both projectiles that struck South Dakotas armor shattered, including a 14 in (36 cm) armor-piercing round from the Japanese battleship , which struck the heavily armored barbette of main battery turret III. No projectiles penetrated South Dakota's armor and the ship's hull strength, buoyancy, stability, steering and propulsion were not materially affected.William Garzke and Robert Dulin, Battleships: United States Battleships in World War II, p.76 Though South Dakota was in no danger of sinking, she was put out of action by the damage the smaller-caliber fire wreaked upon her radars and electronic systems, which rendered her ineffective for night combat.
