“When this war is over, the Japanese language will be spoken only in hell.” - Admiral Bill Halsey (December 7, 1941)
“A single carefully-planned and well-executed stroke removed the United States Navy’s battleship force as a possible threat to the Japanese Empire’s southward expansion.”
Be that as it may the Jap failure to send over waves untill the harbor and its contents, ie; ships, repair bays and drydocks etc were destroyed, sealed their fate. And Midway wasn’t very far off in the future at that.
But, but ... what was the root cause for this desperate “plea for help”?
History.navy.mil is one of the slowest, maddening websites on Earth.
I own the CD collection “Band of Brothers”, and every year I take Dec. 7th off and watch the entire set. I know this has nothing to do with Pearl Harbor, just my personal observation of the day, devoted to WWII and the “Greatest Generation”.
I wish someone had put together a film project as strong and memorable as “Band of Brothers” devoted to the war in the Pacific.
Lost an uncle (never knew him, I was born in 1946) on Iwa Jima (Marines).
Later in the war, the ship was hit by a torpedo and the bow
was blown off between turrets one and two.
This great crew saved the ship by backing it onto an atoll.
They made a temporary bow out of scrap and palm tree logs.
This allowed the ship to go at half speed to Australia where a
new bow was fabricated.
Being an old hand he was transferred to a new DE, the USS Laws and served on it until the war was won.
Popeye vs. the Japanese 1942, you won’t see this on tv in these politically correct times.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymQoktCc-NM
Our destroyer fleet was largely supported by the antiquated four stackers built during WWI.
The Battleship vs. Aircraft Carrier argument ended on December 7, 1941 by the Imperial Empire of Japan. If any thing good come of the Washington Treaty the USN had to develop an Naval Avation program and devote a certain interest to submarine tactics and developnent.
With out Naval Air and submarines the good ol' US of A would have been in for a long haul.
In this aerial photo taken by the Japanese, you can see the oil pouring out of the battleships Oklahoma, West Virginia, Arizona, and Nevada and the repair ship Vestal, with the West Virginia and Oklahoma already showing signs of capsizing due to their torpedo hits. The crew of the West Virginia managed to counter-flood and sink the ship on an even keel, but the Oklahoma was so severely mauled that she capsized before any countermeasures could be put into place.
Minutes after this photo was taken, a horizontal bomber dropped a 1,760-pound bomb (actually a finned naval artillery shell) into the forward ammunition magazine of the Arizona, ripping her apart and sending her down with 1,177 of her crew.
also, time for me to read this one again:
Autumn 1942 — Guadalcanal
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a39f47141497d.htm
Not really. The draft had started, a major arms program was underway; reserves had been called up and ordered to Asia.
On the tactical level, the carriers had been ordered away from Pearl Harbor and given rules of engagement which anticipated conflict.
Meanwhile, in the Atlantic, the US was already engaged with the German navy. In Asia, naval and marine forces in China were withdrawn to the Phillipines to strengthen the defenses there. Facilities on Wake were being upgraded.
I wonder why they didn’t wait until 12.7 to release this. Wouldn’t it have been a bit more meaningful than to do it on 12.4?
Not forgotten.
I have a vivid memory of the tears of oil from the USS Arizona rising to the surface.
I was 6 years old at the time of the attack, living in CA. and when we came out of church a women came running up to us and told us of the attack on Hawaii. We of course had never heard of Pearl Harbor. One of the thing I will never forget.
I have a very good book on Pearl Harbor called: “Attack on Pearl Harbor: A Pictorial History” by Stan Cohen.
I happened to see it in a book store on the sale rack for $14.95. It has many, many pictures I have never seen, and I am well read on Pearl Harbor. If you can find it in your library network, I would suggest checking it out.