- Author
- Swan, W.M., Lietutenant Commander, RAN
- Subjects
- Naval Intelligence
- Tags
- None noted.
- RAN Ships
- None noted.
- Publication
- June 1975 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)
Later, this same evening, Kono phoned Al and told him to make a reservation on the next day’s flight to Honolulu. This was no use to Naval Intelligence who were now tapping Al’s telephone line, as they needed more time to install their agent in the flagship. So Stanley intervened with the airline and Al was told there was no seat available. When he phoned Kono and told him of this he was ordered to sail in the Matsonia from San Francisco two days later. But when he attempted to book in Matsonia he was told she was full. Outside the shipping office Al, who thought this was another delaying tactic of ONI, was handed a ticket by a Japanese to sail in the President Garfield. He sailed in this ship, with two Japanese and two Germans on board to watch him. Al was now very apprehensive, as he had not been able to contact Lieut. Stanley to ascertain what he was expected to do in Honolulu. However, he need not have worried as Stanley knew exactly what was going on, and an ONI agent passed him his instructions in the ship the day before arrival in Honolulu. The method of passing these instructions was most ingenious and James Bondish; but it would take too long to describe it.
On arrival at his hotel in Honolulu Al, as instructed by the Japanese, phoned the Pennsylvania and arranged for Campbell to come to his room as soon as he was off duty that evening. The two Japanese occupied the room on one side of him and the two Nazis the one on the other side. Before Campbell arrived, Al located a microphone hidden near the table on which the telephone stood. When he admitted Campbell to his room he manoeuvred him close to the mike, while greeting him effusively. They put on a good act for the benefit of the neighbours, Al explaining, and Campbell protesting indignantly. It ended with Campbell saying he wanted to see the colour of the money first, was not going to hand over information for a ‘pig and a poke‘, and stalking out. Al prepared for bed and was just turning in when he saw an envelope being pushed under his door. Inside it was a $1,000 bill and a message which read, ‘You are doing very well. Give this to your friend as a downpayment. Act quickly.’
Fortunately, Al knew of a bar Campbell intended calling at on his way back to the Pennsylvania, phoned it and found his friend, who agreed to return. When he saw the $1,000 bill Campbell said loudly, ‘For money like this I’ll turn over the whole goddam fleet.’ From this time onwards Campbell produced much information about the US Pacific Fleet, which Al duly passed over to the Japanese. All this information was carefully prepared by US Naval Intelligence, not without some difficulty. This is one of the most difficult tasks in the Intelligence business – to feed the other side false, but credible, information through a doubleagent. ONI knew this information would be evaluated by Japanese Naval Intelligence analysts, so it had to have the appearance of being genuine while at the same time being sufficiently wide of the truth to be valueless to the. Japanese when used. The skill with which this was done may be judged by the fact that the Japanese accepted every word of it with glee.
Inevitably, Campbell dried up as a source, and the Japanese told Al to return to the USA. While he was on his way back to deliver the last piece of Intelligence to Yamamato the FBI, who were not hand in glove with ONI on some matters at this time, nearly ruined everything. Entering San Francisco successfully, Al was on his way to the airport there to emplane for Los Angeles when he realised he was being followed by a young American. He tried to shake off his shadower, but at Santa Barbara this man approached him, said he was an FBI agent and asked Al to accompany him to the airport security officer. Al cursed, but he was cleared as soon as the FBI had contacted the ONI. Yet he was apprehensive that the Japanese may have seen him entering the airport security office. He knew he was safe, however, when Yamamato nearly jumped for joy on seeing the latest, and last, report from the Pennsylvania.
His suspicions became thoroughly aroused when Yamamato asked him to return to Honolulu at once, and haggled about payment. Al agreed to return, but did the cinema trick again and hurried to Lieutenant Stanley. To his horror, he learned that the Japanese had finished with him and intended to murder him in Honolulu. How the ONI discovered this is not clear.
Back at his hotel in Honolulu, Al awaited the instructions Yamamato had said he would receive from the Japanese Consul, meanwhile observing that the two Nazis were still there and keeping him under close surveillance. The strain on this brave and elderly man was now very great. It might be asked why he had returned to Honolulu to face such danger. The reason was that Naval Intelligence had asked him to hold out as long as possible, so the Japanese would continue to believe the information fed to them by Campbell. The attack on Pearl Harbour, incidentally, was only a few months away.
As the days passed into weeks, the strain on Al became too much. There was still no word from the Japanese Consul, and his two executioners never let him out of their sight.
But this resourceful man would not give in, and thought up a clever ruse to rid himself of the Germans. Time precludes his plan being explained in detail. Sufficient to say that he tricked the Germans into lying in wait at a lonely part of the island to kill him, and within twenty-four hours he was back in the safety of the USA. He did not, of course, return to his apartment until the Japanese attacked the US.
Now this story, in hindsight, might sound a little odd, even comical in parts, but it is a true one, and I have told it to show how the Japanese expended all this time and money, at great risk, simply to learn particulars of one American battleship plus a few snippets of information a sailor of Campbell’s status might know. Granted the Pennsylvania was the flagship of PACFLT, Japanese Intelligence activity such as this was going on all over the western USA. No matter how trivial, information about the USA had to be collected, reported, collated, and filed for future use.