The destroyers at the Battle off Samar took multiple hits from Yamato's 18.1" guns. The initial hits were armor-piercing rounds that passed right through without doing much of anything, but they took multiple hits before sinking even after the Japanese switched to high-explosive shells. I think a single hit on a destroyer from a 12" shell would certainly not sink it, and depending on where it hit it would probably not even be seriously disabled. Given the close range (less than 1000 yards), the destroyer's deck guns would still knock out the sub pretty quickly.