6. Godfrey created Operation Tracer as an expedient should Gibraltar be captured
Admiral Godfrey was forced to consider that Gibraltar could fall to the Germans in the early days of the war, and he created Tracer as a means to counter that catastrophe. The plan was to use the tunnels carved out of the rock to create a hidden chamber, which would hold a team of volunteers serving as a covert observation and listening post. The six-man team were to be placed in the sealed chamber for about a year, when they would be relieved by infiltrators, if necessary. The team realized that relief was not guaranteed, and provisions to support six men for up to seven years were stored in the chamber.
In the end, the operation was not necessary, since Gibraltar remained in British hands throughout the war. Fleming, under the direction of Godfrey, shut down Operation Tracer in 1943. He removed the remaining supplies in the chamber and had it sealed. The operation was so highly classified that the existence of the chamber was not confirmed (there had been rumors since the war) until 1997. Fleming’s influence on Tracer was minimal, he was too heavily involved with Goldeneye to have much to do with Godfrey’s operation, other than to shut it down when Goldeneye was also brought to an end in August 1943.