[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.

[wizkid]

Yes, I know that the timing for the attack was tight but do not recall all the reasons why. I believe that the Japanese were desperate to attack the Dutch and British in South Asia to get at oil and they may have had weather constraints since the Japanese had to sail from the North to surprise the US.

but....

If the goal was to knock the US out of the war for an extended period of time or completely then you would have to go after the carriers, the subs and the fuel not the battleships, otherwise the attack was somewhat pointless. You were essentially just stirring up a US hornets nest and leaving the US with a lot of firepower to strike back at you almost immediately.

It is just hard for me to reconcile that someone who was purported to be such a brilliant admiral particularly in regards to his understanding of the importance of aircraft carriers could miss this.

...but hindsight is 20/20 and it was a complicated situation.