"New Mexico"s next task in the Philippines was the liberation of Luzon. She took part in the pre-invasion shelling of Lingayen Gulf on 6 January. During the bombardment she came under heavy attack by "kamikazes", one of which hit her bridge, killing her commanding officer, Captain Robert Walton Fleming, and 29 others. The dead included Lieutenant General Herbert Lumsden, the British representative to General of the Army Douglas MacArthur. He was the most senior British Army combat fatality of World War II. A further 87 of her crew were wounded. Bruce Fraser, the commander of the British Pacific Fleet, narrowly escaped death while on her bridge, although his secretary was killed. The guns remained in action as the ship's crew repaired the damage while the invasion troops were landing on the beaches.