midnight
The ultimate outcome of the battle had , of course , been accelerated by the fact that the first shells had created such fearful havoc in the fore-parts of three of the American ships , quantities of water pouring in which caused the ships to list and made it necessary to fill the compartments on the opposite side in order to restore the equilibrium . Admiral Kamimura was less fortunate at first with the second squadron . He was led astray by the wrong interpretation of a wireless signal and did not sight Admiral Crane 's fleet till towards evening , and then it was not advisable to begin the attack at once , lest the Americans should escape under cover of darkness . Kamimura , therefore , decided to wait until shortly after midnight , and then to commence operations with his eight destroyers and apply the finishing touches with his heavy guns . Admiral Crane 's squadron consisted of six battleships -- the three new battleships _ Virginia _ , _ Nebraska _ and _ Georgia _ , the two older vessels _ Kearsage _ and _ Kentucky _ , and , lastly , the _ Iowa _ . Then there were the two armored cruisers _ St. Louis _ and _ Milwaukee _ , and the unprotected cruisers _ Tacoma _ and _ Des Moines _ , which , on account of their speed of 16.5 knots and their lack of any armor , were as useless as cruisers as were their sister ships in Admiral Perry 's squadron . One single well-aimed shell would suffice to put them out of action .