Upon first hearing of the proposed operation (it had been kept secret from most of them), the Combined Fleet commanders and captains unanimously joined Admiral Itō in rejecting it for the same reasons that he had expressed.
Ved første høring af den planlagte operation (den var blevet holdt hemmeligt for de fleste af dem), sluttede den Kombinerede flådes divisions- og skibschefer sig enstemmigt til at afvise den af de samme årsager, som admiral Itō havde givet udtryk for.