where to find ships: New Guinea 42

[Bilge_Rat]

I started a RFB/RSRDC patrol, left Midway oct. 1 42 and travelled a great circle route to my assigned patrol area north of New Guinea, roughly half way between the Palaus and Rabaul.





RSRDC may be historical, but no one has ever accused it of having a lot of traffic.

It is now oct. 21 and in 20 days, I have no sighted a single ship but have encountered IJN patrol planes 6 times including twice today.

Without getting into specific dates for convoys/ships, I am trying to figure out where I am more likely to find traffic. The options are:

1. stay roughly where I am to intercept Palaus-Rabaul traffic;
2. move closer to the New Guinea coast to intercept coastal traffic;
3. move to Truk (700 miles away) to intercept inbound/outbound traffic;
4. move closer to Rabaul to intercept Rabaul-Palaus/Rabaul-Truk traffic.

I have already used 30% of my fuel so I am leaning towards going towards Truk which also brings me closer to Midway.

Any thoughts, Skippers?