Is this the FDR who was President at the time of the "pop-up" cruises, or sending warships into the Bonin Islands, was considering getting the USSR Lend-Lease aid through to Vladivostok - all as violations of Japanese territorial waters?
Um ... fishing for an "incident" in the Pacific was that President, as those attempts in the Atlantic (FDR's "Undeclared War") resulted in Congressional hearings and a very contrite Admiral Stark?
So, if FDR loved the Navy that much, in fact, so heart-felt was FDR's affection that Admiral Stark (CNO), in a memorandum written 11 February 1941, captures its precisely:
" ... Particularly do I recall your remark in a previous conference where Mr. Hull suggested this and the question arose as to getting them out and your 100% reply, from my standpoint, was that you (sic "you" here is FDR) might not mind losing one or two cruisers (we have 2 out there now), but that you did not want to take a chance on losing 5 or 6. ..." (See Beard's President Roosevelt and the Coming of the War 1941 - Appearances and Realities Yale University Press, 1948, page 242).
You might extend you research to understand how the Japanese knew, and when they knew, that the British would not commit to defending the Far East - leaving one obstacle. The US Pacific Fleet, so nicely settled in Hawaii.
So what do you think the motivation of allowing Japan do this was?
We wanted to save England from Germany. Japan was more of an irritation to England—not the threat Germany was.
May I assume your final paragraph refers to the report captured by the German surface raider Atlantis before Automedon was sunk? If so, then the second ‘shot heard ‘round the world’ would surely be the Atlantis shot that went through Automedon’s radio room and killed the marine guard charged with throwing the weighted bag containing the report over the side...