US Marine Corps - The Black Vault

Polishing SkiIls in the Rrmelis 473
not SO.l’ What Admiral King questioned was the extent and purpose of the
build-up in the Russell Islands following CLEANSLATE. His despatch con-
tained these questioning words:
What useful purpose is being served by operations on scale indicated by CTF
61’s 270628 ? . . .
Admiral Nimitz and Vice Admiral Halsey supplied these satisfying
answers to Admiral King:
Halsey is planning to take Vila-Munda with target date April 10.
Troops and material [are] headed in proper direction and thus completing
first stage of next movement.
In June 1943, Rear Admiral Turner made a simple exposition to news-
paper correspondents as to why we needed the Russells, before moving into
the central Solomons:
. . . It was simply because we must have fighter coverage for Rendova. . . .
We couldn’t have fighters from Guadal [canal]. It’s that extra little distance
west that makes coverage possible for Rendova [from the Russells].
*****
. . . From Rendova to the Russells is 125 miles, from Guadal to the Russells
60 miles.’s
When the Russell Islands logistical support movements were completed,
COMSOPAC took note of this and smartly changed the code name of the
Russells to EMERITUS.
SUMMARY
From the point of view of both COMSOPAC and COMPHIBFORSOPAC,
the Russells had two great advantages over any and all other immediately
possible objectives necessary to carry out the 2 July 1942 Joint Chiefs of
Staff directive. The Russells (1) were on the direct line from Guadalcanal to
Rabaul and (2) they lay within COMSOPAC’S command area, so that high
level arrangements in kegard to command did not have to be negotiated,
a process taking weeks or months. It is merely a guess but the latter reason
surely carried the greater weight with COMSOPAC in choosing a spot where
a quick operation could be carried out when WATCHTOWER was completed.
“ (a) Morison, Breaking the Bismarcks Bawier (Vol. V), p. 98; (b) Henry I. Shaw and
Douglas T. Kane, Isolation o~ Rabuul, Vol. II of HISTORY OF U.S. MARINE CORPS OPERA-
TIONS IN WORLD WAR II (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1963), p. 26.
1’Joseph Driscoll, Pticijc Victory 1945 (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co., 1944), p. 66.