Two battleship forces, one under Admiral Takeo Kurita, the other under Admiral Shoji Nishimura, left Borneo separately on October 22nd. Kurita's force headed for the Palawan Passage, a narrow strip of dangerous, reef-infested waters. There, on the morning of October 23, they were intercepted by a pair of American submarines, Darter and Dace, who had been shadowing them through the night. Atago was attacked first (at 0524 by Darter) and received four or five hits. She sank within half an hour with heavy casualties, placing Kurita in the water. Simultaneously, Darter had attacked Takao with her stern tubes, hitting her twice at 0534, and sending her limping to Singapore, where she would sit for the rest of the war. Finally, at 0556, Dace attacked Maya, hitting her four times and causing her to explode. She sank at 0605 with heavy casualties. Admiral Kurita was fished out of the water and transferred his flag to Yamato, but it is speculated that his morale was negatively affected by the incident.
Ambush in the Palawan Passage
Japan
Allied
Starting Forces
x2 x2 x10 x2 x15
x2
Losses
x2 sunk (Maya, Atago ) x1 heavily damaged(Takao)
Big fat zero, although Darter ran aground and had to be abandoned shortly afterwards.
x2
x2
x10
x2
x15
x2
