[skeeter]

Had the Japanese hit the oil storage areas, which were above ground at that time and a fat target (not to mention the machine shops and repair facilities of the navy yard), the US Pacific fleet would've been compelled to pull back to the west coast. Making Midway, to name one key battle, impossible until sometime in '43.

The Japanese made the same mistake with their submarine fleet as the war progressed - instead of attacking US supply lines and auxiliary ships, which would've hurt our war effort much more, they sent them after the glamorous targets, capital ships.

[warsaw44]

Which was one of the reasons I never believed FDR knew an attack was coming at Pearl Harbor and let it happen.

If the Japanese pulled off their original plan we’d have been up a creek trying to fight the war from San Francisco.

The higher ups had strong suspicions about and attack coming but exactly where they did not know. I think they all thought it would happen in the Philippines.

That alone would have been enough to pull us into the war.