Battle during World War II in the Pacific Ocean in October of 1942, just North of the Solomon Islands.
United States Navy vessels, including the carriers USS Hornet and USS Enterprise, moved to prevent Japanese reinforcement of Guadalcanal encountered an enemy fleet. The Hornet took several hits and was abandoned. The Japanese later sunk it. The Enterprise also took some damage. This was a significant engagement, and sticks in my memory, because it left the U.S. without an operational aircraft carrier in the Pacific zone for a time.