Inoue's men sent attack aircraft from Rabaul towards Crace. The first group included 12 torpedo-armed Type 1 bombers and the second group was 19 Mitsubishi Type 96 aircraft armed with bombs. Both groups found and attacked Crace's ships at 14:30. Crace's ships were undamaged and shot down four Type 1s. A short time later, three U.S. Army B-17s bombed Crace by accident, but caused no damage.