At 12:40, a Deboyne-based seaplane sighted and reported Crace's detached cruiser and destroyer force on a bearing of 175°, from Deboyne. At 13:15, an aircraft from Rabaul sighted Crace's force but submitted an erroneous report, stating the force contained two carriers and was located, bearing 205°, from Deboyne. Based on these reports, Takagi, who was still awaiting the return of all of his aircraft from attacking "Neosho", turned his carriers due west at 13:30 and advised Inoue at 15:00 that the U.S. carriers were at least west of his location and that he would therefore be unable to attack them that day.