The original attack plan was to take out the oil depots, the submarine pens and the navy yard. Turn Pearl harbor into an unusable smoking ruin.
However, they screwed it up and none of those targets were hit. I have always wondered what type of collateral damage would have been caused by the oil depots going up in smoke.
I once had a map of the installations and the depot field was huge.
The Japanese were concerned about the carriers, very true.
But had the Japanese actually carried out the original attack plans we more than likely would have been trying to fight the Pacific war from the coast of California.
Interesting. So someone high up in the Jap command structure changed the targets from the oil depots to the battleships?
Excellent point. It was supposed to be the target of the third wave of attacks but never happened. It would have made it a lot more difficult for the Pacific Fleet to recover if the fuel depot had been destroyed.