_Marines from the 4th Defense Battalion embark in_ Tangier _(AV-8) at Pearl Harbor, 15 December 1941, bound for Wake. Barely visible beyond the first Marine at the head of the gangway is a sobering reminder of the events of eight days before: the mainmast of the sunken_ Arizona _(BB-39). Tank farm spared by the Japanese on that day lies at right background._] To help Kinney and Hamilton and their small but dedicated band of civilians, Aviation Machinist’s Mate Hesson, who had been wounded on the 14th, violated doctor’s orders and returned to duty. He resumed work on the planes, carrying on as effectively as ever in spite of his injures. Putnam later recalled Hesson’s service as being “the very foundation of the entire aerial defense of Wake Island.” At Pearl Harbor, in the lengthening shadows of 15 December (16 December on Wake), the relief expedition made ready to sail. The _Tangier_, the oiler _Neches_ (AO-5) and four destroyers sailed at 1730 on the 15th (On Wake, 1400 on 16 December.). The _Saratoga_ and the remainder of the escort--delayed by the time it took to fuel the carrier--were to sail the following day. “The twilight sortie,” First Lieutenant Robert D. Heinl, Jr., as commander of Battery F, 3-Inch Antiaircraft Group, wrote of the _Tangier_’s sailing, “dramatized the adventure.” The ships steamed past somber reminders of 7 December--the beached battleship _Nevada_ and a Douglas SBD Dauntless from the _Enterprise_ that had been shot down by “friendly fire” off Fort Kamehameha. “The waters beyond sight of Oahu,” First Lieutenant Heinl noted, “seemed very lonely waters indeed.... Columbus’ men, sailing westward in hourly apprehension of toppling off the edge of a square earth, could not have felt the seas to be more inscrutable and less friendly.” Wake’s dogged defense caused Vice Admiral Shigeyoshi Inoue, Commander, _South Seas Force_ (_Fourth Fleet_), to seek help. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the Commander in Chief of the _Combined Fleet_, responded by assigning a force under the command of Rear Admiral Hiroaki Abe, Commander, _8th Cruiser Division_, consisting of carriers _Hiryu_ and _Soryu_ and escorting ships, to reinforce Inoue. At 1630 on 16 December, the two carriers (with 118 aircraft), screened by the heavy cruisers _Tone_ and _Chikuma_ and the destroyers _Tanikaze_ and _Urakaze_, detached from their _Pearl Harbor Striking Force_, and headed toward Wake. As Abe’s ships steamed toward Wake, U.S. Navy radio intelligence operators intercepted Japanese radio transmissions. The messages, when decoded, caused the intelligence analysts to suspect that connections existed among the Japanese _Fourth Fleet_ operations “CruDiv 8” (the _Tone_ and the _Chikuma_), “Cardiv 2” (the _Soryu_ and the _Hiryu_), and “Airon 24” (_24th Flotilla_). Aerial reconnaissance flights from the Marshalls followed.