In the meantime, the Japanese supply convoy successfully completed unloading at Guadalcanal and began its return journey without being discovered by Scott's force.

As with the preceding naval engagements around Guadalcanal and to be expected from a battle of relatively limited size, the strategic outcome was inconclusive because neither the Japanese nor United States navies secured operational control of the waters around Guadalcanal as a result of this action, and a heavy bombardment operation against Henderson Field would be conducted soon after, causing severe destruction in the three nights between 13 and 16 October.

[6] The threat posed by Allied aircraft prevented the Japanese from using large, slow transport ships to deliver their troops and supplies to the island, so warships were used instead.

These ships—mainly light cruisers and destroyers—were usually able to make the round trip down "the Slot" to Guadalcanal and back in a single night, thereby minimizing their exposure to air attacks.

[7] With their heavier concentration of surface combat vessels, their well-positioned logistical base at Simpson Harbor, Rabaul, and their victory at the Battle of Savo Island in early August, the Japanese had established operational control over the waters around Guadalcanal at night.

However, any Japanese ship remaining within range—about 200 mi (170 nmi; 320 km)—of American aircraft at Henderson Field during the daylight hours was in danger of damaging air attacks.

The presence of Admiral Norman Scott's task force at Cape Esperance represented the U.S. Navy's first major attempt to wrest night time operational control of waters around Guadalcanal away from the Japanese.

[9] The Japanese set their next major attempt to recapture Henderson Field for 20 October and moved most of the 2nd and 38th infantry divisions, totalling 17,500 troops, from the Dutch East Indies to Rabaul in preparation for delivering them to Guadalcanal.

From 14 September to 9 October, numerous Tokyo Express runs delivered troops from the Japanese 2nd Infantry Division as well as Hyakutake to Guadalcanal.

The Japanese Navy promised to support the army's planned offensive by delivering the necessary troops, equipment, and supplies to the island, and by stepping up air attacks on Henderson Field and sending warships to bombard the airfield.

[11] To protect the transports carrying the 164th to Guadalcanal, Ghormley ordered Task Force 64 (TF 64), consisting of four cruisers (San Francisco, Boise, Salt Lake City, and Helena) and five destroyers (Farenholt, Duncan, Buchanan, McCalla, and Laffey) under Scott, to intercept and combat any Japanese ships approaching Guadalcanal and threatening the convoy.

Since U.S. Navy warships had yet to attempt to interdict any Tokyo Express missions to Guadalcanal, the Japanese were not expecting any opposition from U.S. naval surface forces that night.

[13] At 08:00, on 11 October, Jojima's reinforcement group departed the Shortland Islands anchorage to begin their 250 mi (220 nmi; 400 km) run down the Slot to Guadalcanal.

[15] Allied reconnaissance aircraft from Guadalcanal sighted Jojima's supply convoy 210 mi (180 nmi; 340 km) between Kolombangara and Choiseul in the Slot at 14:45 on the same day and reported it as two "cruisers" and six destroyers.

Between 23:42 and 23:44, Helena and Boise reported their contacts to Scott on San Francisco who mistakenly believed the two cruisers were actually tracking the three U.S. destroyers that were thrown out of formation during the column turn.

At 23:46, still assuming that Scott was aware of the rapidly approaching Japanese warships, Helena radioed for permission to open fire, using the general procedure request, "Interrogatory Roger" (meaning, basically, "Are we clear to act?").

Several large-caliber projectiles passed through Aoba's flag bridge without exploding, but the force of their passage killed many men and mortally wounded Gotō.

[31] Aoba, continuing to receive damaging hits, turned to starboard to head away from Scott's formation and began making a smoke screen which led most of the Americans to believe that she was sinking.

Duncan—still engaged in her solitary torpedo attack on the Japanese formation—was also hit by gunfire from both sides, set afire, and looped away in her own effort to escape the crossfire.

Unaware of Duncan's fate, Scott detached McCalla to search for her and retired with the rest of his ships towards Nouméa, arriving in the afternoon of 13 October.

By 12:00, however, they had to abandon the effort as bulkheads within Duncan collapsed, causing the ship to sink 6 mi (5.2 nmi; 9.7 km) north of Savo Island.

Although they scored no direct hits, a near miss caused Murakumo to begin leaking oil, marking a trail for other CAF aircraft to follow.

After her crew abandoned ship, Shirayuki scuttled her with a torpedo, picked up her survivors, and joined the rest of the Japanese warships for the remainder of their return trip to the Shortland Islands.

Furutaka's Captain Araki Tsuto—who survived the sinking of his ship—blamed the loss of his cruiser on bad air reconnaissance and poor leadership from the 8th fleet staff under Admiral Mikawa.

Although Gotō's bombardment mission failed, Jojima's reinforcement convoy was successful in delivering the crucial men and equipment to Guadalcanal.

Boise—which was damaged enough to require a trip to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard for repairs—was dubbed the "one-ship fleet" by the press for her exploits in the battle, although this was mainly because the names of the other involved ships were withheld for security reasons.

Just two days later on the night of 13/14 October, the Japanese battleships Kongō and Haruna bombarded and almost destroyed Henderson Field, firing a total of 918 14-inch shells.

[45] The delivered troops and equipment helped complete Japanese preparations for the large land offensive scheduled to begin on 23 October.

[46] The Cape Esperance victory helped prevent an accurate U.S. assessment of Japanese skills and tactics in naval night fighting.

"[47] On 11 October, a large force of carriers and battleships together with their escort groups left Truk and lingered in the area around Guadalcanal, heavily bombarding Henderson field and looking to intercept Allied reinforcement convoys.