Husband.

This is coolbert:

In light of the findings of the 9/11 commission, it would be worthwhile to remember another catastrophic attack the U.S. suffered, that at Pearl Harbor in December 1941. The 9/11 WTC attack is said to have had the same shock effect upon the American public that Pearl Harbor did. But sixty years later, of course.

At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the American public was said to be incredulous that such a thing could have happened. "Were not he authorities aware of such a possibility?", was the refrain!

How aware at the time was the U.S. Navy that the fleet at Pearl harbor was vulnerable to attack? Very aware if the words of Husband Kimmel, naval commander at Pearl are to be believed.

Kimmel was well aware that while affording an excellent harbor for the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet, the harbor at Pearl also had a glaring weakness. It had a narrow mouth that allowed for only one major ship at a time to enter/exit. If just one major warship was sunk in the mouth of the harbor, whatever ships were in the harbor at the time would be bottled up for months at a time. Not able to exit because of the blockage.

Kimmel was also aware of the possibility of a Japanese naval aviation sneak attack against the massed docked fleet. This was on his mind!!

Kimmel was aware of the successful attack by British naval aviation the previous year on the Italian docked fleet at Taranto.

Taranto was a port that had the same characteristics as did the port at Pearl.

The British making a night attack on the docked Italian fleet at Taranto with antiquated, wood and canvas bi-planes carrying torpedoes.

This night attack succeeded beyond the wildest dreams of the British, the major warships of the Italians being torpedoed and put out of action, not to be available for naval action for quite a subsequent time. This was a major coup on the part of the British. And was accomplished by just FIFTEEN torpedo carrying bi-planes. The Italian ships were not sunk, but were damaged to the point where they could not sail and therefore useless to further war effort. Click here to see a very interesting site about the attack at Taranto.

And, strangely enough, the U.S. Navy itself had in 1934 successfully wargamed the carrying out of a sneak attack by naval aviation on the massed fleet at Pearl Harbor!?

Naval contrarians in the U.S. Navy had long advocated the fast striking power of naval aviation against battleships. And this advice was long ignored by the battleship admirals as being unfeasible. This specific war game in 1934 involved one fleet defending Pearl Harbor and a second fleet [aggresssor] sailing from Panama to simulate an attack upon Pearl. This second fleet had as a constituent part the aircraft carrier Lexington. It should be noted that the major part of this second "aggressor" fleet sailing from Panama was battleships [the aircraft carrier was at the time considered to be an adjunct]. It was foreseen that the naval battle would go like this:

* The aggressor fleet would sail from Panama.

* This aggressor fleet would be tracked by reconnaissance of the defenders, i.e., submarines, patrol planes, patrol surface vessels, radio intercepts, etc.

* The defending fleet at Pearl would wait for the proper moment to sail, all the while being "protected" at the "safe" anchorage of Pearl Harbor.

* Once the aggressor fleet was within a certain range of Pearl, the defending fleet would sail and both fleets would maneuver for position and advantage.

* At some point, the two fleets would meet in a climactic, battleship suface action, with all other vessels being adjuncts to the massed guns of both fleets.

* The defenders would of course win and the battleship admirals would be vindicated in their beliefs.

This is what did not happen!!

What did occur is a successful, without warning, sneak attack [war game, not lethal of course] by the naval aviation of the Lexington upon the moored and defenseless battleships of the U.S. Pacific fleet at Pearl.

The Lexington, steaming very fast, left behind the slow-poke battleship aggressor fleet of which she was a part, and on her own, maintaining radio silence, sailed around the Hawaiian islands and approached Pearl from the north, just as the Japanese did seven years later.

The officer in charge of leading the attack decided that seven o'clock, Sunday morning would be the most opportune time to attack the moored fleet [it is often felt by some that this time was the most opportune as a reaction by the moored fleet would be impossible due to so many sailors being incapacitated by drinking binges from the previous night!!].

Launching aircraft early in the morning, the planes of the Lexington, following and hiding in a storm squall, emerged over Pearl Harbor fully armed and ready to attack. The umpires of the war game ruled this to be a legal and possible maneuver. And that all the ships at anchor at Pearl were deemed to have been sunk or damaged by the attacking planes of the Lexington!

And what happened seven years later? Japanese planes, attacking from the north, using the mountains [not a storm squall in this case] for cover, at seven o'clock on Sunday morning, caught the U.S. Pacific fleet at anchor and destroyed it!!

Now, someone might say, did the Japanese know of this war game and know what possibilities this manner of attack offered?

I am not sure.

But it is a good bet that by careful radio monitoring of U.S. naval exercises, the Japanese probably had a good idea of U.S. naval tactics, to include this simulated attack upon Pearl. [U.S. Navy radio monitors all throughout the 1930's maintained a very large number of intercept stations throughout the Pacific. These radio monitors were very good at monitoring Japanese fleet activities and observing from afar Japanese tactics and strategies. It is not beyond possibility the Japanese did the same to the U.S. Navy in the years leading up to WW2].

So, Admiral Husband Kimmel was aware of the great danger posed to the U.S. Pacific Fleet by a sneak attack upon Pearl Harbor. And Kimmel was aware that Japan was going to take some military action in the Pacific in the days prior to the attack upon Pearl Harbor. And yet, knowing all this, the fleet was still caught at anchorage and destroyed! Go figure!

coolbert.