US Marine Corps - The Black Vault

406 Amphibians Came To Conquer
manders were on the same island, these cliffering instructions from the
higher echelons were confusing.
At the Navy Department end:
The various Joint plans [for the establishment of defense and logistic support
of island bases] did not, however, constitute a general supply procedure, nor
did they stipulate in any detail the channels through which supply would be
furnished.’
In other words the assigned Army, Army Air Corps, Naval, Marine, and
New Zealand korces for these island bases did not have Unified, or Joint,
logistic support, Each Service at each island base had individual procedures
for its logistic support.
In general, the Army will furnish and transport its own logistic support, plus
rations for Navy personnel, and the Navy its own, plus fuel, diesel and aviation
gasoline.”
At Pearl, before WATCHTOWER was much more than a gleam in
Admiral King’s eye, CINCPAC recommended to COMINCH a definite
division of responsibility between the Army and the Navy for logistic support
of each individual base in SOPAC by categories of supply.’ In other words,
he wanted a system wherein every island base received its bailing wire from
the Navy and every island base received its coffee from the Army.
From SOPAC, Vice Admiral Ghormley, came the recommendation in
late July 1942 that Auckland, New Zealand, be used for unloading and
resorting material for all Advanced Bases in the SOPAC Area.s Admiral
King, in February 1942, had said that Tongatabu in the Tonga Islands
would serve for this purpose.”
It is presumed the SOPAC recommendation was made because COMSO-
PAC as well as his senior logistical commander, COMSERVRONSOPAC,
and a Joint Purchasing Board were all physically located in Auckland at the
time. It apparently was approved by higher echelons because Auckland
was the only SOPAC base considered safe from Japanese attacks at that
date. But Auckland was 1,100 miles further from San Francisco than
Tongatabu; it was 1,825 miles from Guadalcanal and 250 miles farther
from Guadalcanal than the Tonga Islands.
Commencing in mid-April 1942, the South Pacific Service Squadron under
=Ballantine, U. S. Naval Logi~tics in #be Second World W~cW,
P. 99.
‘ COMSOPAC Op Plan I-42, Logistic Annex.
‘ CINCPAC to COMINCH, 250225 Jun. 1942.
s COMSOPAC to CINCPAC, 260551 Jul. 1942.
0COMINCH to C/S USA, letter, FFI A16/CFl Ser 00105 of 18 Feb. 1942.