The ship operated in the vicinity of the task group throughout the 10th, a day punctuated by two air alerts, though the enemy did not attack. Increasingly heavy seas that evening made the battered carrier's seaworthiness doubtful and maneuvering difficult. Capt. Albert Handly, the commanding officer, requested permission to join the first slow convoy to Leyte that passed in the area, and at 2200 "Kitkun Bay" received a message to join some tank landing ships of TU 79.14.3 and make for that island.