The The USS Johnston and USS Samuel B. Roberts took on suicide runs and were lost, but did hamper the Japanese fleet. It was called a Heroic action!
When George Custer did the same, in attacking a larger hostile Sioux-Cheyenne-Arapaho force, he was considered a villain.
The captains of the Johnston and Roberts knowingly risked their lives; Custer was a fool who got his men killed through stupidity.
Ernest Evans and Robert Copeland and their crews did what they did because it was their one slim hope for survival. They had no other valid option. Custer did what he did because he was a fool.