In late October 1942, "Shōkaku" participated in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, where Lieutenant Commander Seki led the second strike wave that consisted of 19 Aichi D3A dive bombers, 16 Nakajima B5N torpedo bombers and nine A6M Zero fighters. Like in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, one of the three flight divisions (chūtai) within his strike force was led by Lieutenant Arima. The Zero fighter escort was led by Lieutenant Hideki Shingō, who was the fighter squadron leader of "Shōkaku". Seki's strike hit "Enterprise" with two bombs and scored one near-miss with another bomb that caused severe damage to the carrier. However, during the attack Lieutenant Commander Seki was hit by anti-aircraft artillery and his D3A caught fire and disintegrated. His bomb missed "Enterprise" and landed in the water close to the side of the carrier.