Moneron Island
On October 17, Rear Admiral Walter T. Piotti, Jr. took command of the Task Force and its Search and Salvage mission from Rear Admiral Cockell. First to be searched was a "high probability" area. This was unsuccessful. On October 21, Task Force 71 extended its search within coordinates encompassing, in an arc around the Soviet territorial boundaries north of Moneron Island, an area of , reaching to the west of Sakhalin Island. This was the "large probability" area. The search areas were outside the Soviet-claimed territorial boundaries. The northwesternmost point of the search touched the Soviet territorial boundary closest to the naval port of Nevelsk on Sakhalin. Nevelsk was from Moneron. This larger search was also unsuccessful.