5. The agents were sent to France following their training
The idea of sending the agents via ships from neutral Sweden was considered and discarded as too risky. Admiral Canaris, a former U-Boat skipper, decided the agents would be delivered to American shores in U-Boats, which at the time were prowling along the American coastline. The agents were split into two teams and sent to France, with time off to rest before leaving for the United States. While traveling to France by train, Dasch lost several documents which could have revealed the secret plan, though nothing became of it. Another agent, attempting to impress female companionship in Paris, drunkenly revealed he was a secret agent bound for the United States.
The teams boarded U-Boats on the French coast, having decided among themselves that landing in the United States presented their greatest risk of exposure. It was agreed that the teams would go ashore wearing German uniforms, since if they were captured they would be considered prisoners of war, protected by the Geneva Convention. In civilian clothes, they were liable to being shot as spies. In late May, U-202, under command of Kapitan-Leutnant Hans-Heinz Linder embarked Dasch, Burger, Quirin, and Heinck and departed for American waters, planning to put the agents ashore somewhere on Long Island.