two SBD Dauntless dive bombers from Lexington flying west, allowing her to calculate Lexington′s approximate position and report it. On 18 January 1942, I-18, I-22, and I-24 received orders to depart their patrol areas, the orders calling for I-18 and I-24 to make for the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and bombard Midway Atoll. On 24 January 1942, I-18 conducted a periscope reconnaissance of Midway, and on 25 January 1942, the two submarines surfaced in darkness off Midway to begin their bombardment. I-24 opened fire with her deck gun, and United States Marine Corps coastal artillery promptly returned fire, forcing I-24 to submerge after firing only six rounds. I-18 also submerged without ever having opened fire on the atoll. After the bombardment attempt, I-18 and I-24 as well as I-22 set course for Japan. Unknown to them, the U.S. submarine had received Ultra intelligence information alerting her to their activities and routes. She did not sight any of them, but while searching for them she encountered and sank the submarine , which was following the same route, west of Midway on 27 January 1942. I-18 arrived at Yokosuka along with I-22, I-24, and the submarines , , , and on 2 February 1942. February–April 1942 After her port call at Yokosuka, I-18 moved to Kure, then departed Kure on 18 March 1942. She remained in Japan into April 1942. During I-18′s stay in Japan, the German naval staff in Berlin formally requested on 27 March 1942 that Japan begin attacks on Allied convoys in the Indian Ocean. On 8 April 1942, the Japanese formally agreed to meet this request by dispatching submarines to operate off the coast of East Africa, and that day they withdrew Submarine Division 1 of Submarine Squadron 8 from its base at Kwajalein to Japan. By 16 April 1942 they had created the "A" detachment within Submarine Squadron 8, consisting of I-18 and the submarines , I-16, I-20, and , as well as midget submarines and the auxiliary cruisers and , which were to operate as supply ships for the submarines. That morning, the commander of the 6th Fleet, Vice Admiral Teruhisa Komatsu, the commander of Submarine Squadron 8, their staffs, and the midget submarine crews paid a courtesy call on the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, aboard his flagship, the battleship , at Hashirajima anchorage. After the visit with Yamamoto, the detachment got underway