The ship was sunk in December by American patrol torpedo boats as she escorted a convoy delivering supplies to the Japanese troops on Guadalcanal.

The Akizuki-class ships were originally designed as anti-aircraft escorts for carrier battle groups, but were modified with torpedo tubes and depth charges to meet the need for more general-purpose destroyers.

The ships carried enough fuel oil to give them ranges of 8,300 nautical miles (15,400 km; 9,600 mi) at speeds of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph).

[4] The main armament of the Akizuki class consisted of eight 100-millimeter (3.9 in) Type 98 dual-purpose guns in four twin-gun turrets, two superfiring pairs fore and aft of the superstructure.

Later that month, she steamed to Truk and then joined her squadron, escorting the three aircraft carriers of the Third Fleet as they maneuvered in support of the Imperial Japanese Army's offensive on Guadalcanal Island.

[9] Destroyer Squadron 10 departed Truk on 9 November to rendezvous with Vice Admiral Hiroaki Abe's Vanguard Force.

As the American ships got deeper into the Japanese formation, Teruzuki engaged the light cruiser USS Atlanta and the destroyers Cushing and Sterett, with unknown effects before losing track of them.

About half an hour later, she spotted Sterett again and crippled her with hits that disabled her fire-control director and two aft five-inch (127 mm) mounts, while starting leaks in the forward fire room.

After repeated failures to further damage the Hiei, American torpedo bombers were finally able to hit her twice more that afternoon and forced her crew to abandon ship and scuttle her.

[13] On 14 November, she was assigned to the Emergency Bombardment Force, commanded by Vice Admiral Kondō Nobutake, which was tasked to finish the job that Abe's ships had not been able to complete two days earlier.

Hashimoto's ships were in the lead and spotted the Americans (erroneously identified as four destroyers and two cruisers) north of Savo Island at 23:10.

[14] The Americans had spotted Kondō's approaching ships earlier in the day and Rear Admiral Willis Lee's force of two battleships, Washington and South Dakota and four destroyers, was dispatched to prevent any bombardment of Henderson Field.

Shortly afterwards, Japanese lookouts aboard Kimura's ships identified the American battleships sailing north of Cape Esperance.

Kirishima and Washington dueled, with dire effects on the former, while the rest of the Bombardment Force, including Teruzuki, focused on South Dakota.

[9] By this time the Japanese were forced to deliver supplies to its troops on Guadalcanal via water-tight drums that depended on the currents to take them to their destination.

[19][20] The detonation broke the rudder and one propeller shaft, disabling the ship, while rupturing an oil tank that caught on fire.