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Hence the reason the carriers weren't in port on December 7th 1941. Back then, though, they were much smaller and of course, much easier to hide on that great big ocean. That title has now transferred to our sub fleet. The carriers are bomb magnets. It's the subs that make other powers tremble. Or they would tremble if Reagan were POTUS.

Carriers are still pretty easy to hide on that great big ocean. But hiding them wasn't the reason why the USN's carriers were at sea when Pearl Harbor happened.

At the time the US had three carriers deployed to the Pacific. One (Saratoga) was in San Diego on Dec.7. The other two (Lexington and Enterprise) were on ferry runs, delivering Marine fighters to Midway and Wake Islands, respectively.

In fact, Enterprise was on her way back, was only 200 miles from Pearl when the attack happened. Some of her planes actually flew INTO the attack, like what happened to the USAAF B-17s coming in from the West Coast.

Enterprise was actually due back in Saturday afternoon - her crew was anticipating Saturday night liberty in Honolulu - but was delayed by bad weather. Had she made it back in on schedule she would have been tied up on "Carrier Row" on the opposite side of Ford Island from the battleships. In fact, the Japanese fully expected to find them there - that's why they went after the old USS Utah with such a vengeance, she was parked in what they knew to be a carrier berth (and, as a target ship, she had heavy wood planking on her decks, which may have led to some confusion).

Had the carriers been around at Pearl, it would have been a completely different situation. Standard procedure was to keep 1/2 the battle fleet at sea at all times. So long as there was a carrier out screening them. With all the carriers gone the battleships were pulled back into the "safety" of Pearl Harbor and so the USAAF could provide protective air cover. There's a distinct possibility that with so many ships not there, Nagumo would have either pulled back and left after the first strike or would have gone after the oil farm - which would have been a MUCH bigger problem for the US than losing those battleships.

That's fascinating, I didn't know all of that, except about the tank farms being a potential logistical nightmare if they'd been taken out. I thought the carriers had been ordered out of the harbor and away from the area for their own protection, much as had the aircraft been ordered into tight groups on the tarmac so they could be better secured from the possibility of sabotage. As it turned out they were just lining them up as perfect targets. A few of the aircraft were dispersed to secondary strips and they were the ones into the air and making sure the game that day wasn't a total shutout.

I'm glad you gave me this info, since as a history teacher I want to be sure my students get the best info possible. This year I'm teaching the first half of World History so it won't be so important, this specific stuff. We might barely get to the time of Christ this year. They'll finish the course in another grade. Then later on they'll get the second half of American History and that's where this info will become important. I'll pass this along to the social studies teachers in my district who teach that level. Have you got any links to a primary source that will confirm that? My bosses will ask.