The abrupt maneuvers by the Japanese ships, both to evade the American torpedoes and to fire their own, led to one collision and several near misses early in the battle. Most of the American cruisers were firing at the heavy cruisers in the center column by 03:05 and Omori turned away in a 270-degree turn that cut across the path of "Agano"s column. The heavy cruiser rammed and crippled the destroyer while the heavy cruiser nearly struck the destroyer . Incorrectly believing that he had sunk three of the American cruisers, Omori ordered his ships to cease fire at 03:29 and turned away to disengage four minutes later. Osugi, who had kept his ships on the disengaged side of the heavy cruisers after the collision, fired a parting shot of eight torpedoes at 03:40, all of which missed.