From: Manila (Nihro)
To: Tokyo
August 12, 1941
Purple
#507
Re: Your #254. [a]
(1) At the time a
non-commissioned officer of the American Navy told me confidentially that the
ship mentioned in my #414 [a] (8?) [a] was the Warspite and I took this to be
reliable information. This British ship, however, had its name painted over.
Some spies who viewed the ship when it docked report that it was something like
a 7,000-ton vessel. It was further reported that this ship moored at Cavite
pier on the --th. Now, considering the shallowness of the water there, I do not
see how it could have been the Warspite. (When the Cincinnati approaches that
dock, it gradually lets out water ballast.) Judging from its shape, I would say
that it was a light cruiser of the Leander class. (According to another report
it was an 8,000-ton craft. This seems rather accurate.) (2) Among the members
of the crew who came on shore there were some with such names as YORK. GEORGE,
etc., on their hatbands and we also have a spy report to the effect that some
forty-eight soldiers wounded in the Mediterranean were being accommodated. (3)
I know nothing of the movement of this ship after my #451. [b]
Lately no British ships
save this has entered port here (that is side from the Taggubwno (?) mentioned
in my #494. [a]
ARMY 21094 Trans. 8/16/41 (6)
[a] Not available.
[b] (SIS #20468) British cruiser which was anchored at Cavite for several days departed for - - - - - - on the 27th.
(EXHIBITS OF JOINT COMMITTEE , EXHIBIT NO. 2 JAPANESE MESSAGES CONCERNING MILITARY INSTALLATIONS, SHIP MOVEMENTS, ETC.)