Over the Wire

WASHINGTON--Eight Jap destroyers trying to blast their way through the American blockade with reinforcements and supplies for the starving enemy garrison on Guadalcanal were attacked by U.S. motor torpedo boats which hit one vessel and scored three possible hits on two others, the Navy said today.

The attacks, a series of "isolated en- gagements," occurred Saturday and were believed part of a running air-sea battle which started earlier that day when American planes spotted the destroyer force bearing down on Guadalcanal from 230 miles to the northwest