At 0907 the Dale cleared the entrance buoys. By stopping the port engine and coming hard left rudder, she caused a flight of three Japanese dive bombers to overshoot their mark. As the flight passed by the starboard side close to the water, machine-gun fire from the Dale struck the leading plane, causing it to burst into flame and crash into the water. The remaining two planes attempted to attack again, but were driven off by machine-gun fire. At 0911, the Dale established offshore patrol in sector one, changing speed to 12 knots at 0927. Due to repeated airplane attacks the ship was forced to make frequent course changes and run at high speed. High-speed wakes and depth charging from other destroyers in the vicinity rendered the sound gear practically useless.