General Smith scheduled a large-scale amphibious exercise in Hawkes Bay for the first of November and made arrangements for New Zealand trucks to haul the men back to Wellington at the conclusion in time for a large dance. Complacently, the entire 2d Marine Division embarked aboard 16 amphibious ships for the routine exercise. It was all an artful ruse. The ships weighed anchor and headed north for Operation Galvanic. For once, “Tokyo Rose” had no clue of the impending campaign. Most of Task Force 53 assembled in Efate, New Hebrides, on 7 November. Admiral Hill arrived on board _Maryland_. The Marines, now keenly aware that an operation was underway, were more interested in the arrival from Noumea of 14 new Sherman M4-A2 tanks on board the dock landing ship _Ashland_ (LSD 1). The division had never operated with medium tanks before. The landing rehearsals at Efate did little to prepare the Marines for Betio. The fleet carriers and their embarked air wings were off assaulting targets in the Solomons. The Sherman tanks had no place to offload. The new LVT-2s were presumably somewhere to the north, underway directly for Tarawa. Naval gun ships bombarded Erradaka Island, well away from the troops landing at Mele Bay. One overlooked aspect of the rehearsal paid subsequent dividends for the Marines in the coming assault. Major William K. “Willie K.” Jones, commanding LT 1/6, took the opportunity to practice embarking his troops in rubber rafts. In the pre-war Fleet Marine Force, the first battalion in each regiment had been designated “the rubber boat battalion.” The uncommon sight of this mini-flotilla inspired numerous catcalls from the other Marines. Jones himself was dubbed “The Admiral of the Condom Fleet.” The contentious issue during the post-rehearsal critique was the suitability of the naval gunfire plan. The target island was scheduled to receive the greatest concentration of naval gunfire of the war to date. Many senior naval officers were optimistic of the outcome. “We do not intend to neutralize [the island], we do not intend to destroy it,” boasted one admiral, “Gentlemen, we will obliterate it.” But General Smith had heard enough of these boasts. In a voice taut with anger he stood to address the meeting: “Even though you naval officers do come in to about 1,000 yards, I remind you that you have a little armor. I want you to know the Marines are crossing the beach with bayonets, and the only armor they’ll have is a khaki shirt!” While at Efate, Colonel William Marshall, commanding Combat Team Two and scheduled for the major assault role at Betio, became too ill to continue. In a memorable decision, General Smith promoted David Shoup to colonel and ordered him to relieve Colonel Marshall. Shoup knew the 2d Marines, and he certainly knew the plan. The architect was about to become the executor.