“You may also know,” he went on, “that we have found Chinese Intelligence to be very reliable. It’s amazing how they get word through the Jap lines so quickly and efficiently. Well—the Chinese report that there’s something special about this convoy for Truk. They weren’t able to learn exactly what it is, but they believe it is in the route to be followed. The Nips know our submarines are roaming the seas out here and will be on the lookout especially for this convoy. Having knocked Truk half out, we want to keep it in that condition. It’s you men—with some help, I must confess, from the air service—who will do that job.”
There were smiles in the room as the Captain, joking, grudgingly recognized the usefulness of the flying sailors. Then he continued:
“Our patrol planes are ranging over the ocean on the lookout for the convoy, of course, but their distances are limited and it’s a mighty big ocean to cover. So, for a while, our submarines must also act as scouts. Later we can get together and sink the ships, but first we have to act as a team to find them.
“We’re all going to leave here at the same time, and fan out to cover the main routes from Japan to Truk. And we want to catch them as far from Truk as possible. The earlier we can find them, the more subs and planes we’ll have time to get to the attack so we can wipe the whole thing out.”
The Captain turned to a chart behind him on the wall.
“Later I shall go over with you the routes to be followed by each submarine,” he said. “If and when any one of you sights the convoy he is not to radio that information. The Japs would certainly pick up that broadcast. They’d know we had discovered them and they’d be ready for us. We want the attack to come by surprise. So we have arranged certain spots for each of you to arrive at on certain days and at specific hours. A patrol plane will visit each of those spots, clearly marked so that you will not mistake it for an enemy plane. He will land on the water and pick up any information you may have. This same procedure is to be followed twenty-four hours later at another spot further away.
“If by that time not one of you has found the convoy, you are to go your own ways, looking for whatever you can find on this patrol. And by that time, if you find anything like the big convoy, the only thing to do will be to surface and radio us so we can all close in for the kill. We’ll lose the element of surprise but we’ll get them, anyway.”
Next, the Intelligence Officer went over the details of routes and rendezvous spots for each submarine. March saw at once that Kamongo was taking a westerly course from their base, then heading northwest. It seemed to him that this should be one of the most likely routes for a convoy to take from Japan to Truk, and he was pleased.
Then Larry Gray asked a question of the Intelligence Officer.
“Those rendezvous spots,” he said. “They appear to be in open sea, but I know there are little atolls all over the place. Are they near such islands?”