As Nishimura's flotilla passed through the strait on the night of 24 October, they came under attack from American PT boats, followed by destroyers, initiating the Battle of Surigao Strait. One of these US destroyers torpedoed "Fusō" and disabled her, though Nishimura continued on toward his objective. "West Virginia" steamed at the head of the American line. Observers aboard "Tennessee" spotted the flashes in the distance as the light American craft attacked Nishimura's force, and at 03:02, her search radar picked up the enemy ships at a range of . "West Virginia"s radar picked them up fourteen minutes later, by which time the range had fallen to . Oldendorf gave the order to open fire at 03:51, and "West Virginia" opened fire first a minute later, followed by "Tennessee" and "California", concentrating their fire on "Yamashiro"; the other American battleships had trouble locating a target with their older, less-effective radars and held their fire. "West Virginia" probably hit "Yamashiro" on her bridge with her first salvo, though Nishimura and his staff were not injured at that time. "Yamashiro" was quickly hit several times by several American vessels that concentrated their fire on her. With "Yamashiro" badly damaged and burning furiously, the Americans then shifted fire to "Mogami", which was also hit several times, suffering severe damage.