heading east into the Sulu Sea and then to the northeast into the Mindanao Sea. Intending to join Vice-Admiral Takeo Kurita's force in Leyte Gulf, they passed west of Mindanao Island into Surigao Strait, where they met a large force of battleships and cruisers lying in wait. The Battle of Surigao Strait would become the southernmost action in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. At 09:08 on 24 October, Yamashiro, Fusō and the heavy cruiser Mogami were spotted by a group of 27 planes, including Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bombers and Curtiss SB2C Helldiver dive bombers escorted by Grumman F6F Hellcat fighters, coming from the carrier . Around 20 sailors on Yamashiro were killed by strafing and rocket attacks, and the ship listed by almost 15 degrees after a bomb's near miss damaged the hull and flooded the starboard bilge, until counter-flooding in the port bilge righted the ship. Nishimura issued a telegram to Admiral Soemu Toyoda at 20:13: "It is my plan to charge into Leyte Gulf to [reach] a point off Dulag at 04:00 hours on the 25th." At 22:52, his force opened fire, damaging and and forcing them to retreat before they could launch their torpedoes. Three American destroyers launched torpedoes at 03:00 that morning, hitting Fusō at 03:08 and forcing her to fall out of formation. Yamashiro opened fire with her secondary battery seven minutes later. Around 03:11, the destroyers Monssen and Killen fired their torpedoes, one or two of which hit Yamashiro amidships. The resulting damage temporarily slowed the ship down, gave her a list to port and forced the flooding of the magazines for the two aft turrets. Yamashiro may have been hit a third time near the bow at 03:40. At 03:52, the battleship was attacked by a large formation to the north commanded by Rear Admiral Jesse Oldendorf. First came 6- and shells from three heavy cruisers, , , and , and four light cruisers, , , and . Six battleships formed a battle line; the Pearl Harbor veteran was the first to open fire a minute later, scoring at least one hit with shells in the first salvo, followed by and . Hampered by older radar equipment, joined the fight late, never fired, and managed to fire exactly one salvo—the last of the engagement. The Australian heavy cruiser HMAS Shropshire also had radar problems and did not begin firing until 03:56. The