Japanese torpedoes and Democratic ruthlessness

I wouldn't say that a misunderstanding about Pearl Harbor happened though. As far as I know, the Japanese Admiral who designed the attack, knew the Sleeping Power of America and wanted to cripple it in one fell stroke (the carriers, the most important thing on the high seas) with Pearl Harbor. It would have worked too, except the carriers weren't in dry dock. They were out on exercise or something. Bad intel on the Japanese's part.

If you look at Midway, you would realize that had our 3 carriers been wrecked, Japan would have had a much higher chance to win that battle. And therefore controlled the strategic position of Midway, and they would have had the attack momentum and carried the war to our shores. Logistically, we were golden, but that would have been psychologically detrimental. It was the best the Japanese could do. If they can take the wars to our shores, then they expected we would settle for a peace treaty or some such. We were still busy with Hitler after all. The only chance a small nation has against a large nation in a war, is to end that war as soon as possible. The Japanese strategy was flawed but well begun. If they had carried through with their surprise attack instead of conserving their ships, they might have gotten more of the infrastructure of Pearl. Japanese intentions and torpedoe beliefs

It isn't true that Washington didn't understand their own navy in the way you mean it. Most Naval men didn't understand their own Navy. The power of the Carriers as opposed to the ships of the line, Battleships, were still a new concept. Most Admirals were still battleship admirals, not carrier admirals. That is a big difference in how they decided to defend strategic locations. Most of them were not concerned about a carrier launched air attack, most of them were worried about sabotage of the air wing at Pearl rendering them unable to scout and launch attacks against an enemy fleet. Washington's problem was that they were intentionally witholding stuff from being given to the Navy.

One of those fog of war deals. The Admiral in charge of Pearl at the time, wasn't incompetent. Roosevelt's appointed replacement, however, was incompetent, and undecisive, and a coward. Look up Wake Island. Kimmel himself lays the record straight, about Pearl. Kimmel

The idea of a carrier launched air attack, was an innovative and quite effective strategy collated and formed by one of their best strategists. The reason why Washington believed Pearl Harbor was immune to torpedoe attacks is because the bottom of the harbor was too shallow for a torpedoe to drop and then cruise onto the target. The Japanese ingeniously solved this by building a sort of wooden shaft of some kind to cushion the impact, and somehow made the torpedoes work under water at the harbor. The Japanese, masters of low tech heh. Their rifles were low tech, there pistols were low tech, everything was low tech to the Japanese. Low tech, but it worked.

The intel Roosevelt received by the British at Taranto, where they torpedoed ships in shallow waters, were ignored.

The Democrats are seen by some as the war party of America. But a Democrat run war is a damn disaster whether now or before. People think the armor issue is a big thing now, they should read what was going on with the torpedoes in WWII. Read about cheap torpedoes Roosevelt didn't do anything about

The loyalty Americans showed to Roosevelt makes the treatment Bush has received, a simple disgrace. A Democrat gets away with malfeasance on the crazy level, because nobody will criticize a President in war time, but a Republican like Lincoln and Bush gets punched in the face all the time by critics. Democrats are masters at ruthlessness, they just aren't all that wise in the end.

"Un-patriotic", I don't think so. Reading history gives you too much information about how all the time people want to manipulate you. This is the conclusion to Kimmel's account.

The Story Ends

AGAIN AND AGAIN in my mind I have reviewed the events that preceded the Japanese attack, seeking to determine if I was unjustified in drawing from the orders, directives and information that were forwarded to me the conclusions that I did. The fact that I then thought and now think my conclusions were sound when based upon the information I received, has sustained me during the years that have passed since the first Japanese bomb fell on Pearl Harbor.

When the information available in Washington prior to the attack was disclosed to me I was appalled. Nothing in my experience of nearly forty-two years service in the Navy had prepared me for the actions of the highest officials in our government which denied this vital information to the Pearl Harbor commanders.

If those in authority wished to engage in power politics, the least that they should have done was to advise their naval and military commanders what they were endeavoring to accomplish. To utilize the Pacific Fleet and the Army forces at Pearl Harbor as a lure for a Japanese attack without advising the commander-in-chief of the fleet and the commander of the Army base at Hawaii is something I am wholly unable to comprehend.

While I am still able to do so, I feel that I must tell the story so that those who follow may fully realize the imperative necessity of furnishing the naval and military commanders at the front with full and clear information. Only in this way can the future security of our country be preserved.

Bush is guilty of many things. Using the troops as cannon fodder isn't one of them.