on 27 may 1944, the united states began "operation horlicks" to retake biak. "kinu", "aoba", and destroyers "shikinami", and departed tarakan to reinforce biak with 2,300 troops from zamboanga on mindanao; however, after being sighted by b-24 bombers and receiving word of the american invasion of saipan, the operation was canceled and the troops were disembarked at sorong instead.