During the night of 10 December 1941, Wake’s lookouts vigilantly scanned the horizon. Those of her defenders who were not on watch grabbed what sleep they could. Shortly before midnight, the _Triton_ was south of the atoll, charging her batteries and patrolling on the surface. At 2315, her bridge lookouts spied “two flashes” and then the silhouette of what seemed to be a destroyer, dimly visible against the backdrop of heavy clouds that lay behind her. The _Triton_ submerged quickly and tracked the unidentifiable ship; ultimately, she fired a salvo of four torpedoes from her stern tubes at 0017 on 11 December 1941--the first torpedoes fired from a Pacific Fleet submarine in World War II. Although the submariners heard a dull explosion, indicating what they thought was at least one probable hit, and propeller noises appeared to cease shortly thereafter, the _Triton_’s apparent kill had not been confirmed. She resumed her patrol, submerged. [Illustration: _The 3,587-ton light cruiser_ Yubari, _seen here at Shanghai, China, in April 1937, was completed in July 1923. Armed with 5.5-inch guns, she served as Rear Admiral Sadamichi Kajioka’s flagship for the operations against Wake in December 1941._ Naval Historical Center Photo NH 82098 ] The ship that _Triton_ had encountered off Wake’s south coast was, most likely, the destroyer deployed as a picket 10 miles ahead of the invasion convoy steaming up from the south. Under Rear Admiral Sadamichi Kajioka, it had set out from Kwajalein, in the Marshalls, on 8 December. It consisted of the light cruiser _Yubari_ (flagship), six destroyers--_Mutsuki_, _Kisaragi_, _Yayoi_, _Mochizuki_, _Oite_, and _Hayate_--along with _Patrol Boat No. 32_ and _Patrol Boat No. 33_ (two ex-destroyers, each reconfigured in 1941 to launch a landing craft over a stern ramp) and two armed merchantmen, _Kongo Maru_ and _Kinryu Maru_. To provide additional gunfire support, the Commander, _Fourth Fleet_, had also assigned the light cruisers _Tatsuta_ and _Tenryu_ to Kajioka’s force. Admiral Kajioka faced less than favorable weather for the endeavor. Deeming the northeast coastline unsuitable for that purpose, invasion planners had called for the converted destroyers to put 150 men ashore on Wilkes and 300 on Wake. If those numbers proved insufficient, Kajioka’s supporting destroyers were to provide men to augment the landing force. If contrary winds threatened the assault, the troops would land on the northeastern and north coasts. Since the weather had moderated enough by the 11th, though, the force was standing toward the atoll’s south, or lee, shore in the pre-dawn hours, confident that two days of bombings had rendered the islands’ defenses impotent.