美军的空袭是不可忽视的,这可以参考栗田的参谋在战后审问中对美军空袭的评价:Q. What is your opinion of our air attack that morning, well executed or otherwise?
A. The attack was almost incessant, but the number of planes at any one instant was few. The bombers and torpedo planes were very aggressive and skillful and the coordination was impressive; even in comparison with the great experience of American attack that we already had, this was the most skillful work of your planes.
此外,萨马岛海战中,美军的DD、DE往往过度高估自己的炮击效果,不能只看美军材料。比如,筑摩的上层建筑不一定受到了比较严重的损伤。利根观察到筑摩在8:53中雷的时候,提到筑摩没有其他损伤。而Heermann观察到的对利根级重巡的炮击效果主要是舰尾起火,这个基本和筑摩首次中鱼雷的场景差不多。而SBR的炮击对象应该不是筑摩,而是鸟海。羽黑明确观察到了鸟海的上层建筑受到了比较严重的损伤,鸟海的残骸也能体现这一点。另外,鸟海实际上还遭到了航空鱼雷的命中,大约在8:50-8:55之间,这可能是她掉队的原因(这个我和Tully通过邮件交流过,见图)
