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The Japanese plan of battle against the US landings on Leyte Island involved three groups of ships: Northern Force - all of Japan's remaining aircraft carriers, under the overall command of Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa. This force was essentially bait as following the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot in June 1944, the Japanese Navy only had 4 carriers and 108 carrier-capable aircraft remaining. But they figured Admiral Halsey couldn't resist the opportunity to finish off the carriers. Center Force - the big punch. Yamato and Musashi, the two largest battleships in the world. Three other battleships (Nagato, Kongo, and Haruna). Nine heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, and fifteen destroyers, all under the command of Admiral Takeo Kurita. Southern Force - battleships Fuso and Yamashiro, three heavy cruisers, and nine destroyers, under the overall command of Admiral Shoji Nishimura. This was another distraction, intended to draw more American ships away from the landing beaches. The first strike by US forces was against Kurita's Center Force early on October 23, when three heavy cruisers including Kurita's flagship, Atago, were torpedoed by the submarines USS Darter and USS Dace. Atago and her sister ship Maya were sunk, while the third cruiser, Takao, was sufficiently damaged that she had to leave the battle line and retreat to Singapore. Kurita transferred his flag to the battleship Yamato. Unfortunately, while maneuvering for another shot Darter was caught on a reef. After her crew was removed she was destroyed by deck-gun fire from Dace and USS Nautilus.