Nobutake Kondō
Yamamoto detailed aircraft carriers and , battleships and – with four heavy cruisers and a destroyer as the screening force – under Nobutake Kondō to provide distant cover for "Ke" around Ontong Java in the northern Solomons. The evacuation runs were to be carried out by Mikawa's 8th Fleet, consisting of heavy cruisers and , light cruiser , and 21 destroyers. Mikawa's destroyers were charged with conducting the evacuation. Yamamoto expected that at least half of Mikawa's destroyers would be sunk during the operation.