American radar picked up the Japanese at a range of at 02:27 and Rear Admiral Aaron Merrill, commander of the task force, ordered his destroyers to attack with their torpedoes while his cruisers stood off to avoid Japanese torpedoes and would open fire when the torpedoes struck their targets to maintain the element of surprise. The leading division of four destroyers fired a salvo of 25 torpedoes by 02:46, but they were detected as they turned away and the Japanese turned into the torpedoes to makes themselves smaller targets. Their maneuvering caused Merrill to believe that his ships had been spotted and the first of his cruisers opened fire at the light cruiser , leading the northernmost column, three minutes later.