On the afternoon of 24 October 1944, upon receipt of word that three powerful Japanese task forces were approaching from three directions, PT boats tended by "Wachapreague" sped to action stations. In the van of the southern Japanese force steamed two battleships and a heavy cruiser, screened by four destroyers; 30 nautical miles (56 kilometers) behind came the second group, consisting of three cruisers and four destroyers. The American PT boats met the Japanese southern force head-on; three coordinated destroyer torpedo attacks soon followed; while American battleships and cruisers under Rear Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf deployed across the northern end of Surigao Strait to "cross the T" of the Japanese ships. The devastation the American warships wreaked upon the Japanese force was nearly total. Only one Japanese ship, the destroyer "Shigure", emerged from what became known as the Battle of Surigao Strait.