 On 18 March 1943, Roosevelt ordered King to transfer 60 Liberators from the Pacific theatre to the Atlantic to combat German U-Boats; one of only two direct orders he gave to his military commanders in WWII (the other was regarding Operation Torch).At the May 1943 Trident conference, Admiral King requested General Henry H. Arnold to send a squadron of ASW-configured B-24s to Newfoundland to strengthen the air escort of North Atlantic convoys.General Arnold ordered his squadron commander to engage only in "offensive" search and attack missions and not in the escort of convoys.