On 13 June, Preston returned to Pearl Harbor and for the next four months conducted type exercises and performed patrol and escort work in the Hawaiian area.

On the evening of 14 November, Preston, with TF 64, sailed along the western end of Guadalcanal to intercept another Japanese run down the "Slot" to bombard Henderson Field and land reinforcements.

The Japanese force had been dispersed and within minutes of the battleship/cruiser encounter, enemy destroyers, edging along the southern shore of Savo, entered the fray.

Gwin, which had been firing illumination shells toward the earlier gunfire exchange, came into the action in time to sight the cruiser Nagara and four destroyers closing in.

[1] As the crippled Preston coasted to a halt, Nagara's next salvos landed on the destroyer's aft section, likely hitting the after 5-inch magazine, with catastrophic results.

Prior to the battle, Her skipper, Max C. Stormes wisely had all of the tetryl boosters for Preston's depth charges thrown overboard to prevent detonation should the ship go down.

Sadly, as the survivors drew clear of their sinking ship, the battleship USS South Dakota then appeared out of the darkness and steamed through the men in the water.

Washington then rejoined the fray and quickly inflicted overwhelming and fatal damage to the Japanese battleship Kirishima (the core of the bombardment force) while herself remaining unscathed.

The Japanese had again scored heavily, but in doing so had lost a battleship and a destroyer, and, more important, had abandoned their mission of bombarding Henderson Field into uselessness.