May 19, 1943 The Shetland Islands

Barry Arnold and his men were working in dense fog near the north of the main island, pulling ashore another heavy cable. It was connected to the partially completed equipment, the ship stood offshore and headed east, toward Norway. Barry had seen nothing but the one ship but there were at least fifteen ships in the screen that would protect the cable ship. Seven of them were below the waves. They were new submarines which were destined for the Pacific but were making one cruise in the Atlantic before transiting the Panama Canal.

The Starfish was at periscope depth, running parallel to the cable layer, on batteries, about twenty five miles to the south. Another submarine was further away. They would maintain a screen for her pulling back only to recharge their batteries. A third sub on their side of the convoy would replace the recharging boat. The trip east took nearly forty hours and placed them within fifty miles of the Norwegian coast. Four days later they began the second trip, laying a cable from the southern end of the island. Both trips were completed in fog, both without German intervention.

By the time the second cable was completed the equipment had arrived and was installed. The cable layer would now return to Baltimore to be reloaded, it would be a month until it returned with the other cables for the southern site. Jason Miller, now a CPO sat at the first console and started his first watch. For an hour both cables were relatively silent. Jason got up from his chair to stretch and get a cup of tea, a habit he had begun to form since he arrived at Shetland. As he returned to the chair he noticed the lights were indicating some sound on eighty eight south. He switched it to his headphones and was greeted by the now familiar sound of a diesel, not just a diesel to him, but a German U-boat diesel. He tuned in eighty seven, strength seven. He moved to eighty nine, strength four, the U-boat was most likely somewhat inside the eighty eight mile point. He looked at a chart, crossed strength points seven and four and read the distance, about three tenths of a mile, making the submarine’s location eighty seven point seven. He reported the probable contact to the British Naval officer who served as their liaison.