on the evening of 7 december 1942, raikes navigated hms "tuna" his way underwater through a fishing fleet and an raf minefield before deciding to run a serious risk by moving the canoe launch point two miles south into the mouth of the gironde. when "tuna" broke surface in the calm water, raikes was first on the bridge to check that he had a better view than the enemy. canoe cachalot was damaged but the other five canoes were launched successfully. raikes recorded in his post-operational report, "“2022 waved ‘au revoir' to a magnificent bunch of black faced villains with whom it has been a real pleasure to work, and, withdrew to the south and west”."