On the night of 24–25 November 1943, Makinami was on a troop evacuation run to Buka Island when she was sunk in the Battle of Cape St. George. After being crippled by a torpedo from either USS Charles Ausburne, Claxton or Dyson, she was finished off by gunfire from USS Converse and Spence, 55 miles (100 km) east-southeast of Cape St. George ().