On 31 January 1943, a Japanese task force of aircraft carriers, battleships, cruisers, and destroyers sortied from Truk to cover Operation Ke, the Japanese evacuation of their forces from Guadalcanal, and "I-16" and the submarines , , and patrolled southeast of Guadalcanal in support of the operation. The Japanese completed Operation Ke on 9 February 1943 after evacuating 11,700 personnel from Guadalcanal.