LT.jg Kelley found a cruiser and bombed it. Commander Mini, LT.jg Nelson, and LT.jg Fontaine scored hits on the battleship NAGATO. They each braved intense anti-aircraft fire to put a bomb into her. Ten ESSEX Helldivers were involved in that strike, and two of them, LT.jg Matthews and LT.jg Parrish, found the MUSASHI, one of the world's two largest battleships (her sister ship the YAMATO, was the other). In some ways it seems a wonder that the beleaguered carrier could mount a strike.ДЄdmiral Sherman's first strike was launched at 10:53 on the morning of the 24th and discovered two groups of Japanese ships, totaling 26 vessels in all, about 3 miles apart. The next raid came twenty minutes later, five Japanese bombers moved in fast, but two were shot down and the other three were chased off before they could drop torpedoes or bombs. But the AA guns got the Betty, and it crashed between the LANGLEY and the ESSEX they nearly got the F6F as well, until it banked and waggled its wings to show its markings. This Betty bomber was pursued by an F6F which dared the anti-aircraft fire to come in. During all that morning, the Essex had been on alert.ДЄt 10:15, a twin-engine bomber broke through the combat air patrol screen and came down on the formation to attack the LANGLEY. The morning of October 24, 1944, Admiral Kurita's ships were discovered in the Sibuyan Sea, just about to turn into Tablas Strait.

Battle of the sibuyan sea