Aoba, continuing to receive damaging hits, turned to starboard to head away from Scott's formation and began making a smoke screen which led most of the Americans to believe that she was sinking.
Aoba, som fortsatte med at modtage træffere, drejede mod styrbord for at sejle væk fra Scotts formation og begyndte at udlægge røgslør, hvilket fik de fleste af Scotts skibe til at tro, at den var ved at synke.