Halsey and his staff officers ignored information from a night reconnaissance aircraft operating from the light carrier Independence that Kurita's powerful surface force had turned back towards the San Bernardino Strait, and that after a long blackout, the navigation lights in the strait had been turned on.
Halsey og hans stabsofficerer ignorerede oplysninger fra et rekognosceringsfly fra det mindre hangarskib USS Independence om at Kuritas kraftige overfladestyrke havde vendt om og var på vej tilbage til San Bernardino Strædet, og at efter en lang mørkelægning var navigationslysene i strædet igen tændt.