Guadalcanal was a very short range night battle, almost point blank for the 16" 45 cal weapons on Washington and South Dakota. Krishina, armed with 8 14" weapons was armored more against cruiser fire with about an 8" main belt. Washington achieved maybe as many as 20 hits in a five minute period, especially devastating were the near waterline hits. This destroyed much watertight integrity on the second deck and a counter flooding was used to keep the ship on an even keel, the ship now lower in the water suffered progressive and massive flooding above the deck armor. The free water plane created eventually resulted in large instability and capsize.
Washington used radar gun control very effectively and was not damaged in any way during the fight. South Dakota attracted both Krishima and cruiser fire have suffered many non serious maladies form extensive shell hits in the superstructure. None of the several strikes by Krishima on the main armor penetrated. Descriptions of damage on the upper works of Krishima by 16" shells indicated holes and torn metal 10 meters across. The holes below the waterline were quite small by comparison, but internal damage wrecked watertight integrity and caused the eventual loss of the ship.
Maximum range did not just depend on the caliber of the shells. This would be determined by available elevation, initial velocity and ballistic coefficient of the shell. For instance the Alaska's 12" shells with their high sectional density had a range about the same as the 16". For spotting shell fall radar was quite useful, and before that the use of spotter planes.
