President Roosevelt in 1941 sent the twenty-seven-year-old battleship Texas and her mini task force on an important mission to an American territory. Not to protect that territory, but to salvage their wealth before the Japanese can obtain that wealth and use it to build more weapons of war. Their primary goal was to avoid frightening or threating the Japanese, thus giving the Japanese an excuse to start a war. At that time the Japanese were rattling their sabers. The Americans expected the Japanese at any time to attack somewhere in Southeast Asia. The Japanese were in the midst of a multiyear attempt to colonize China. Because of the political intrigue, they had to secretly organize the expedition. They had to decide what minimum resources were available. It took time for political mechanisms to get started and for the military planners to organize the expedition. It had to be done right the first time. They will face frantic Japanese forces with overwhelming forces.