USS South Dakota (BB-57)

The picture is the fast battleship U.S.S. South Dakota BB-57 during the battle of Santa Cruz 26 October 1942, the plane in the picture is a Japanese B5N2 Kate torpedo bomber that attempted to torpedo the South Dakota, the torpedo missed.

The South Dakota was part of the screen (Task Force 16) of protecting warships for the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Enterprise CV-6 and is credited with shooting down 26 Japanese aircraft during the battle.

Enterprise's sister ship U.S.S. Hornet CV-8 had no fast battleship in her screen of warships (Task Force 17) and was lost during the battle. Whether or not this was the case Nimitz's Pacific fleet staff drew the easy conclusion and the US fast battleships were basically condemned to be little more than AA escorts for the new fast carrier task forces being created by the US Navy in the late summer of 1943 for the upcoming central Pacific drive beginning at the Gilbert islands in November 1943.