On October 13-14, she escorted Kongō and Haruna during their bombardment of Henderson Field, then did the same for the heavy cruisers Myōkō and Maya two days later.

Makinami was unable to fire torpedoes due to carrying too many supply drums, but the other destroyers sank the heavy cruiser USS Northampton and crippled three others.

On February 1, Makinami took part in the evacuation of Guadalcanal, where she was crippled by bomb near misses that left her dead in the water.

From October 17-26, Makinami escorted combined fleet in an attempt to counterattack American aircraft carrier raids, but this did not yield action as the force returned to Truk.

On November 6, she covered a troop transport run to Bougainville, then after US carrier raids off Rabaul, she towed the crippled Naganami to port to be repaired.

[5] Main Article: Battle of Cape Saint George On the night of 24–25 November 1943, Makinami was on a troop evacuation run to Buka Island, but they were not alone.

One torpedo hit Makinami, disabling all electrical power and leaving her dead in the water with a 20-degree list to port.