The light cruiser screened the carriers during the landing operations on Saipan beginning on the 15th. The next day, the task group heard reports that a large Japanese force was closing the Marianas from the Philippines. After rendezvous with the other three carrier groups about noon on 18 June, the warships took up a patrol station some west of Saipan. From that position, on the southern flank of the carrier forces, "Biloxi" participated in the Battle of the Philippine Sea.