On 26 October 1944, west of Panay, Kurita's force was attacked by 80 Grumman TBM-1C Avenger torpedo bombers from the aircraft carriers and . One bomb exploded in "Noshiro"s AA shell magazine, starting a fire that was quickly extinguished. In the second attack, six more Avengers attacked "Noshiro", which dodged their torpedoes, but in the third wave, an Avenger launched a Mark 13 aerial torpedo that hit in the No. 3 boiler room. It instantly flooded, and the No. 1 boiler room flooded shortly thereafter. The inrush of water threw all of "Noshiro"s boilers off line, and she came to a halt with a 16-degree list to port.