 TF 16 departed Pearl Harbor on war patrol, on 16 October, and was joined the following week by the cruisers and with their destroyer screen.The task force was operating northwest of the New Hebrides Islands when, on 24 October, it was notified that a Japanese carrier force was converging on Guadalcanal.Task Force 17 (TF17), the aircraft carrier and her accompanying cruiser-destroyer screen, joined TF 16 and the merged force was designated TF 61.