The battle lasted for over three and a half hours and became the longest continuous gunnery duel between surface ships in modern naval warfare. Finally, the Salt Lake City signaled McMorris on the Richmond, “My speed zero.” Salt water in the main fuel line from numerous near misses had flowed into the Salt Lake City’s burners and extinguished them. As the Japanese closed in for the kill, McMorris ordered one destroyer to lay smoke around the crippled ship, and the other three to launch a last-ditch torpedo attack against the oncoming Japanese cruisers.
