Posted on 10/27/2012 10:15:34 AM PDT by pabianice
WASHINGTON, DC – JUNE 10, 1942 –
Following the disaster at Midway Island last week, Admiral Chester Nimitz, Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas, spoke today with reporters to answer questions about the U.S. defeat.
“We thought the Japanese might be moving on Midway,” Nimitz said, “But our intelligence was incomplete and the president and top officers decided not to risk too many of our forces in investigating what might have been a dangerous situation about which we knew too little.”
Nimitz explained that although some analysts urged the president to send three aircraft carriers and escort ships to scout for the Jap fleet near the Midway Atoll, the White House decided not to risk a larger force in a gambit.
In addition to the loss of USS Yorktown with all 3,522 hands, the U.S. Pacific Fleet also lost 96 aircraft and aircrew numbering 286. Since Midway was then overrun by the Japanese, it is believed that 2,370 men were killed and an unknown number taken prisoner. Aggravating the loss was the absence of any SBD dive-bombers aboard Yorktown. The decision had been made to send only pursuit F-4F aircraft in the belief that there would not be an opportunity to close enough to bomb the four or five Jap carriers believed to be bearing-down on Midway.
“Rumors that we did not send enough ships to this conflict are untrue and serve only to help the enemy,” noted White House spokesman Ronald Axelrod. “We acted based upon incomplete and questionable intelligence. In war you don’t send troops to possible battle unless you know more about the situation.”
In the wake of the Midway disaster, it is believed that the Japanese are now massing troops and ships for an invasion of Hawaii and the West Coast. With USS Hornet expected to be tied-up for repairs until September, there remains only USS Enterprise to protect against the Jap fleet’s known five front-line carriers and twelve escort carriers.
“People in Hawaii and the West Coast can best now prepare for a possible Japanese incursion,” said Nimitz. “We will continue to make our best preparations for the coming months.”
The White House refused to respond to questions from the press and instead asked reporters for patience until more after-action intelligence could be gathered and analyzed.
Midway was the turning point in the war for the U.S. Heavy losses? Yes. But more damage was inflicted on the Japanese Imperial Navy than we suffered. They were not the same force after Midway.
They didn’t have enough intelligence but having cracked what was AF was already good enough.
A new book just out suggests the Solomons Campaign was the real eclipse of the Rising Sun.
“Islands of Destiny” by John Prados is worth adding to your collection. Prados has penned nearly two dozen war histories covering WWII through VN.
Can we fire this Admiral after Romney becomes president?
I was thinking about Pearl Harbor and I bet Roosevelt had real time communications that the Japanese were attacking Pearl Harbor. That would be in 1941.
Excellent satire on the Libya Benghazi scandal.
Hahaha, just kidding.
Dec. 7, 1941, was logically what FDR long waitin’ for.
I hope the Dems aren’t trying to use this as a comparable to Libya. Could they be that stupid?
“Rumors that we did not send enough ships to this conflict are untrue and serve only to help the enemy,” noted White House spokesman Ronald Axelrod. “We acted based upon incomplete and questionable intelligence. In war you don’t send troops to possible battle unless you know more about the situation.”
Satire - Saca;(
This is a parody of today’s current events, right?
Excellent. I had thought of a similar parody based on Eisenhower and Dday.
Not just this admiral, but half the generals in the pentagon, including the field commanders. Tinpot stars.
good satire
The response from the "regime" is that our military was too afraid to be "put into harm's way." Shameful! We spend countless billions of dollars on training and equipping the best fighting force on the planet and to suggest that they wouldn't have felt "safe" going in there and kicking ass and trying to save our people is an insult to every one of them.
Check the keyword for Benghazi....absolute torrents of articles and statements.
Saw an abbreviated Brett Baer Special Report on the Benghazi coverup ,...attack this morning.
Expect more to be shown tonight and Sunday ...believe at 10 pm EST.
“We didn’t have sufficient intelligence to commit more forces”
LOL! Well, they were close about one thing. They didn’t have any intelligence. What a bunch a maroons!
i agree the solomons campaighn was the turning point, not midway. midway prevented japanese expansion to the east and severly damaged their carrier force. i doubt they could have taken midway, i know they couldn’t hold it. and, as an aside they didn’t have the resources to take hawaii after pearl harbor and still do the southern campaign which was the primart reason for the war.
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