Kurita's flagship, the cruiser Atago, was hit and sank so quickly that the admiral had to swim for safety. The two submarines moved to intercept the incoming fleet. Just after midnight on 23 October the Japanese fleet was detected by Darter's radar. Two American submarines, Dace and Darter, were patrolling the waters to the north of Palawan. Things began to go wrong well before Kurita reached the Sibuyan Sea. Finally he was to turn south, sail down the coast of Samar and reach Leyte Gulf from the north. He would then sail east, with Luzon to his north, eventually passing through the San Bernardino Strait, which separated Luzon and Samar. He would then sail south of Mindoro into the Sibuyan Sea in the centre of the Philippines. His route would take him to the north of the long narrow island of Palawan.

Early on 22 October Kurita sailed from Borneo. From there it sailed east, reaching Brunei (Borneo) on 20 October. Kurita's fleet was based at Lingga, south of Singapore, where it was close to its sources of fuel. He also had twelve cruisers, including his flagship III and fifteen destroyers. Finally he had the Nagato, a 16in battleship launched in 1919. He also had the Kongo and Haruna, two pre First World War battle cruisers that had been turned into battleships in the late 1920s partly by doubling the amount of armour they carried.

He may have only had five battleships but amongst them were the Musashi and Yamato, the largest and most powerful battleships of the war, each armed with nine 18.1in guns. Kurita commanded one of the most powerful battleship forces of the Second World War.

Battle of the sibuyan sea