[wizkid]

You raise a lot of valid points.

...but one would think if Yamamoto truly understood the importance of carriers, he would have made sure that the carriers were in port during the attack. The Japanese certainly seemed to have the intelligence assets in Hawaii to do this.

He staked his reputation on Pearl Harbor to the point of threatening to resign if the attack did not proceed when the general staff opposed it so he had the pull to make the carriers the top priority.

It just seems like when you look at his complete record that Yamamoto was almost as obsessed with the "final climactic battle" as the rest of the Japanese high command and that maybe he was not as much of an aircraft carrier visionary as he is purported to be.

[ealgeone]

Sometimes you gotta hit when you can. Japan was geared up for war, the fleet had sailed across the pacific; sometimes you play the hand you’re dealt in Yamamato’s case.