Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands (October 26, 1942)

Shoukaku: "Everyone in the surface escort, I'm counting on you!"

She participated in a combined effort with the army forces to recapture the Guadalcanal island as a surface escort of the carrier task force. They were successful in locating the enemy and sunk/damaged several American carriers. On the other hand, however, lots of planes were lost. Moreover, the recapture of the Guadalcanal island by the army forces, which was the main objective of this operation, failed, so it was more just a tactical victory for the Japanese.