2nd Guadalcanal:
..on South Dakota, crews were patching minor holes from 5-inch hits by Ayanami when at 11:33 the chief engineer tied down her circuit breakers, violating safety procedures. The system instantly went into series, and the big ship lost electrical power. Radar, fire control, turret motors, ammunition hoists, radios--everything went out, with her guns locked in train. Captain Gatch wrote later: "The psychological effect on the officers and crew was most depressing. The absence of this gear gave all hands a feeling of being blindfolded." It was worse than that. South Dakota was facing 14 ships scattered across a 12-mile box on a dark night, amid spurious reports of enemy batteries on Savo and motor torpedo boats.
Washington was now the only intact ship left in the force. In fact, at that moment Washington was the entire U.S. Pacific Fleet.
More:
http://history1900s.about.com/librar...intheroad5.htm