At 08:50, the lead U.S. attack formation from "Hornet" spotted four ships from Abe's Vanguard force. Pressing on, the U.S. aircraft sighted the Japanese carriers and prepared to attack. Three Zeros from "Zuihō" attacked the formation's Wildcats, drawing them away from the bombers they were assigned to protect. Thus, the dive bombers in the first group initiated their attacks without fighter escort. Twelve Zeros from the Japanese carrier CAP attacked the SBD formation, shot down two (including Widhelm's, though he survived), and forced two more to abort. The remaining 11 SBDs commenced their attack dives on "Shōkaku" at 09:27, hitting her with three to six bombs, wrecking her flight deck and causing serious damage to the interior of the ship. The final SBD of the 11 lost track of "Shōkaku" and instead dropped its bomb near the Japanese destroyer , causing minor damage. The six TBFs in the first strike force, having become separated from their strike group, did not find the Japanese carriers and eventually turned back towards "Hornet". On the way back, they attacked the Japanese heavy cruiser , missing with all their torpedoes.