Radar contact was reestablished by the U.S. ships at 01:56, but there was uncertainty about the identity of the ships among Ainsworth's advisers. Believing that they may have been McInerney's destroyers, the U.S. ships initially held their fire while they sought to confirm the location of three detached destroyers. At 02:03, starshells were fired to illuminate the contacts that had begun to withdraw. Shortly afterward, Ainsworth deployed his ships to begin firing with their main batteries, maneuvering to starboard. In the process, they moved into the path of a number of torpedoes that had been fired by the Japanese destroyers before they had turned about. In the process, "St. Louis" and "Honolulu" were both struck by torpedoes and damaged, although this was not mortal. The destroyer "Ralph Talbot" managed to reply with a salvo of four torpedoes, but these failed to hit anything. A minute later the destroyer "Gwin" was also struck by a torpedo amidships, inflicting heavy damage. Despite efforts to save the ship by its crew, "Gwin" was scuttled at 09:30. A total of 61 men were killed on "Gwin" as a result of the torpedo attack. Its surviving crew were subsequently evacuated on "Ralph Talbot".