With her engine room under water, her No. 1 magazine ablaze, and the ship listing heavily to port and settling by the stern, "Hoel"s captain, Commander Leon S. Kintberger, ordered his crew to "prepare to abandon ship." The Japanese fire at the doomed ship continued as her surviving officers and men went over the side and only stopped at 08:55 when "Hoel" rolled over and sank. Only 86 of "Hoel"s complement survived; 253 officers and men died with their ship, at least 40 of them dying in the water while awaiting rescue. Commander Kintberger described the courageous devotion to duty of the men of the "Hoel" in a seaman's epitaph to the action: "Fully cognizant of the inevitable result of engaging such vastly superior forces, these men performed their assigned duties coolly and efficiently until their ship was shot from under them." In addition to the United States Presidential Unit Citation, "Hoel" received the Philippine Presidential Unit Citation and five battle stars for World War II service.