US Marine Corps - The Black Vault

CACTUS Bound 305
question that Vice Admiral Ghormley would not be the tactical commander.
COMSOPAC might well have assumed also that, if there was a difference of
opinion between Admiral King and Admiral Nimitz as to where in the
grey area between strategical and tactical command he should operate, then
by notifying them both of his personal movement to on board the Argonne
(AG-3I), he had afforded them an opportunity to step in and clarify the
situation .52
If anything further need to be said as to why Vice Admiral Ghormley
should have attended the Koro Island conference in the Sara~oga and been
present “in the operating area” regardless of the side effects his absence
would have had on the administrative command of the South Pacific Force,
he has supplied the necessary quotation:
I did not receive Fletcher’s order for the operations until in September, a
month after the operation had commenced. . . . The orders issued by Crutchley
for the naval protection of our forces, I did not see until he and Turner
returned to Noumea after the landing.~s
THE UNSATISFACTORY REHEARSAL
The Fijis was the location recommended by Rear Admiral Turner to
CINCPAC for the rehearsal. W~ile not so judged by the military defenders
of the islands, the Fijis were in the process of becoming a rear area ( 1,100
miles from Guadalcanal) from where it would be difficult for the Japanese
or neutral nation agents to collect and transmit intelligence on a large
gathering of U.S. Navy ships. Additionally the Fijis were a practical meeting
point, based on availability and distances of the forces being assembled
from San Diego, Hawaii, New Zealand, and Australia for the actual conduct
of the WATCHTOWER Operation.
The period allocated for the rehearsal was 28 to 31 July. Upon recom-
mendation of Rear Admiral Turner, as well as by the Navy Port Director
at Suva, Commander F. S. Holmes, U.S. Navy, and the First Division
Marines who actually reconnoitered the Fiji area, the rehearsal was held
at Koro Island in reef-locked Koro Sea. Koro Island was not one of the
= (a) CINCPAC, 092001 Jul. 1942, 122359 Jul. 1942; (b) COMSOPAC, 311510 Jul. 1942.
WGhormley manuscript, pp. 60–61, Fletcher’s Op Order 1–42 was not issued until 28 July 1942.
Crutchley Op Order does not bear a date but Turner in commenting on it, told him on 29 July,
he “could issue it any time. .“ COMSOPAC was not on Crutchley’s distribution list for the
order.