Name the first time and last time a US Battleship was struck by a shell from an enemy battleship. Name the first time and last time an American battleship sank an enemy battleship. Name all the ships involved and the names of the battles.

ok, first hint...all of this happened in the same battle.

stumped all of you huh? 2nd hint: The same 3 battleships were involved in each instance above.

Answer to this one is that all of the first and lasts happened during the 3rd Battle of Savo Island near Guadalcanal. The Battleship USS South Dakota was the first and last US Battleship struck by a shell from an enemy battleship, in this case the Kirishima. In the same battle, the USS Washington returned fire on the Kirishima and sunk her as the first and last time a US battleship sunk an enemy battleship. There are photos of the Kirishima and many other ships as they currently lay in "Iron Bottom Sound" in the book "The Lost Ships of Guadalcanal" by Robert Ballard.