An air tank was blown in an attempt to loose the submarine from the seabed, but also ended up alerting the destroyers to "O 20"s position by releasing bubbles. That night, the commander attempted to surface to escape at full speed, but was detected by a new Japanese sonar. Two more tanks were blown and the sub surfaced at a 25° angle and engines were set to full speed. Because of some pre-existing defects "O 20" began to take on water at the screw shafts. The hatch was opened and with no enemy ships in sight, the machine guns were not manned or prepared. The commander decided to empty a fuel tank in order to escape even faster, which rose the sub even higher in the water exposing the diesel exhaust pipes. Due to more pre-existing damage coupled with damage from the depth charges, the pipes began to spark, giving away "O 20"s position to anyone who looked in her direction. The commander decided to do nothing. After 20 minutes of running in this manner, one of the destroyers closed in, spotted "O 20" with her searchlight and opened fire. The shot missed. The commander now ordered the machine guns manned, and the ship turned about to fire the torpedoes. She couldn't get in position until after the fourth volley, which struck the conning tower and main hull. "O 20" returned fire with her 40 mm machine gun. The port side torpedo was ordered to be fired, but because of extreme vibrations due to the speed, both sides fired. Both torpedoes missed. The sub badly damaged, the commander decided then that there was no hope for escape, and ordered all hands on deck. He then ordered the sub be scuttled by flooding all the main ballast tanks. The sub descended under the water, still running at full speed, as the crew floated above. The destroyer, apparently not noticing that the crew had abandoned ship, followed the sub, cutting through the crew at , and dropped depth charges on the now abandoned sub. After daylight, "Uranami" rescued the 32 survivors, having dropped depth charges throughout the remainder of the night to keep sharks away. Seven men, including the commander were found to be missing. The commander was known to not have been wearing his life vest, which may have also been the cause of the other six deaths. An alternative suggestion is that since the six men all worked in the engine room, they may have not been warned in time to evacuate the ship before it was scuttled.