Japanese cruisers sighted in the vicinity of Raaul according to the U.S. Joint Intelligence Committee. Daily summary dated 12 August 1942

An item reported that on 9 August Allied aircraft sighted 4 Japanese cruisers in formation and another heavy cruiser escorted by a destroyer off the northwestern coast of Bougainville Island apparently returning to Rabaul, New Britain, Papua New Guinea.

Source

Map Room Papers (Roosevelt Administration), 1942 - 1945. U.S. Joint Intelligence Committee. Daily summary No. 245 dated 12 August 1942.