Re: Pearl Harbor Day

Posted by oldtanker on December 09, 2014 at 10:48:28 from (64.118.3.75):

In Reply to: Pearl Harbor Day posted by tg in VA on December 07, 2014 at 05:58:17:

Bret: To the Navy brass it was a complete surprise. Until Dec 7 1941 they did not believe that aircraft or the carrier were or would become the major striking force of the Navy. In 1925 they pushed the Army to court martial Billy Mitchell because he had accused the Navy brass of "treasonous" actions for buying battle ships instead of developing carriers. The Navy was run by senior officers who really thought that major seas engagements would be fought by battle ships. The battle ship admirals were the true power in the Navy just like the true power in the Army was infantry.

With the ships at Pearl the navy brass thought they would have plenty of time to spot an enemy task force and put to sea to meet it. They thought that if the Japanese Navy was to attack Pearl it would be them trying to sail into the harbor and using the cannons of the fleet to destroy as much as possible. By then Billy Mitchell was dead and the rest of the aviators, both AAC and Navy were being very careful of what they said and to who.

The fact the brass didn't want the fleet in Pearl is evident in the fact that the newest battle ships were not assigned to the Pacific Fleet.

One attack, lasting just a couple of hours, made the battle ship obsolete (even their shore bombardments later in the war were largely ineffective) and changed how navies planned to fight the next war. It also saw the senior brass change from being battle ship officers with a few submariners in there to being lead by aviators and sub guys.

Armored warfare in Europe saw Armor officers achieve high rank. The Army went back to infantry officers being the leaders because of Korea and Viet Nam but the cold war of the70's and 80's saw armor offices get back into some control. We expected a war with the Soviets that would have major armored battles.

The big thing with the Japanese in 1941 is that we knew very little about their Navy. Between WWI and WWII most of our intelligence was produced by the Army and Navy. Both only told the president and congress what they wanted them to hear. They used their Intel to justify their budget request. The Army's interest at the time was a larger force and completing the change over to the M1 rifle. That's why, even though they knew it the P40 was the primary fighter of the Army Air Corp in 41. The brass believe in bombers but paid scant attention to fighter. Money was tight. The Navy was in the same boat. They had performance data on the Zero but were not worried about aircraft. Heck everyone with a brain knew that aircraft couldn't sink a battle ship. The Marines at Midway were just starting to get the new, already obsolete F4F Wildcat in Jun 42. Most of the Marine fighter pilots who flew cover for the first attack on the Japanese fleet were flying the Brewster Buffalo bi wing fighter. None of them survived. And we had been at war for 6 months by then. That should give you an idea just what he brass thought about aircraft. The battle of Coral Sea was the first naval battle ever where the ships never got within sight of each other. Then Midway. Took the Navy a while to admit that the battle ship was obsolete as far as most surface engagements go. There was very few gun surface action battles and then only because aircraft were not there.

Rick

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