on 21 october 1944 sentai-16 was detached from vice admiral kurita's force to assist the southwest area fleet's transport of 2,500 soldiers of the ija 41st regiment from cagayan, mindanao to ormoc, leyte. the convoy was spotted by the submarine on 23 october 1944. "bream" fired six torpedoes at "aoba", one of which hit her no. 2 engine room. rear admiral sakonjo transferred to "kinu", which towed "aoba" to the cavite navy yard near manila for emergency repairs. the following day, as "kinu" and "uranami" sortied from cavite for cagayan, they were attacked by aircraft from task group 38.3's aircraft carriers and . near misses caused light structural damage, but strafing killed 47 crewmen aboard "kinu" and 25 crewmen on "uranami".