Pearl Harbor - History Channel

[Tre]

I have not really studied Pearl Harbor much, but before today, I did not realize that many of the Japanese aviators actually felt dishonorable over having attacked without first having officially declared war on the U.S., stating that there was "no honor in attacking a sleeping enemy".  There was a communications blunder by the ambassadors which prevented the war message from being transmitted to the President. 

All these years, I've thought/been taught that it was intended to be a sneak attack and that it was supposedly a complete kamikaze attack, only to learn that this was not true. 

[Dos Equis]

I have not really studied Pearl Harbor much, but before today, I did not realize that many of the Japanese aviators actually felt dishonorable over having attacked without first having officially declared war on the U.S., stating that there was "no honor in attacking a sleeping enemy".  There was a communications blunder by the ambassador's which prevented the war message from being transmitted to the President. 

All these years, I've thought/been taught that it was intended to be a sneak attack and that it was supposedly a complete kamikaze attack, only to learn that this was not true. 

Weird.  It wouldn't have been nearly as successful if they declared war beforehand. 

[I ETA PI]

I have not really studied Pearl Harbor much, but before today, I did not realize that many of the Japanese aviators actually felt dishonorable over having attacked without first having officially declared war on the U.S., stating that there was "no honor in attacking a sleeping enemy".  There was a communications blunder by the ambassadors which prevented the war message from being transmitted to the President. 

All these years, I've thought/been taught that it was intended to be a sneak attack and that it was supposedly a complete kamikaze attack, only to learn that this was not true. 

Well....they did send page 14 of their little bitch fest about our import shut off 30min before the bombing....

[OzmO]

It was tragic and a big blow to the USA but in the end, all we lost was the Utah and the Arizona right?   the other ships were eventually fixed.

[I ETA PI]

It was tragic and a big blow to the USA but in the end, all we lost was the Utah and the Arizona right?   the other ships were eventually fixed.

Oklahoma was capsized.  Arizona was hit in the front. 
Pearl Harbor is so shallow, Arizona was still above water in parts.  Those parts were removed for the "tourist attraction." 

All the carriers were out of Pearl Harbor at the time.  The battleships that were hit were in port.....right next to all the supplies that would be needed for repair. 
We were fighting across the Pacific, so the carriers were the main weapons anyway.  They were safe. 

[OzmO]

Oklahoma was capsized.  Arizona was hit in the front. 
Pearl Harbor is so shallow, Arizona was still above water in parts.  Those parts were removed for the "tourist attraction." 

All the carriers were out of Pearl Harbor at the time.  The battleships that were hit were in port.....right next to all the supplies that would be needed for repair. 
We were fighting across the Pacific, so the carriers were the main weapons anyway.  They were safe. 

the Oklahoma was righted i think becuase i think it's the Utah's rusting hull that's on the west side of Ford Island.  But i could be wrong.  Been a 3-4 years since i was there.

But yes,  good thing the carriers weren't there and 2 other very lucky strokes:

1.  No ship was sunk in the entrance to the harbor
2.  the Japs didn't launch a 3rd wave which was supposed to target the oil tanks on the hill which would have cripple our fleet from lack of gas.

[I ETA PI]

the Oklahoma was righted i think becuase i think it's the Utah's rusting hull that's on the west side of Ford Island.  But i could be wrong.  Been a 3-4 years since i was there.

But yes,  good thing the carriers weren't there and 2 other very lucky strokes:

1.  No ship was sunk in the entrance to the harbor
2.  the Japs didn't launch a 3rd wave which was supposed to target the oil tanks on the hill which would have cripple our fleet from lack of gas.

The dumbest thing we did was have all of our aircraft lined up in a nice single file line.....perfectly set up for any attack....or any attack on us.

[Tre]

The Japanese carriers were just 220 miles from Hawaii. 

Apparently, the 3rd wave wasn't launched because, not knowing where the American carriers were, the Japanese admiral was afraid to leave his carriers exposed any longer.

For those of you who've watched a lot of History Channel, do you consider their presentations to be pretty balanced, on average? 

[rockyfortune]

The dumbest thing we did was have all of our aircraft lined up in a nice single file line.....perfectly set up for any attack....or any attack on us.

it was done to prevent sabotage...the military was more concerned with sabotage than an air raid.

[OzmO]

it was done to prevent sabotage...the military was more concerned with sabotage than an air raid.

and was completely stupid.

[Tre]

Interesting.

But even out on the island, I never would've thought that the enemy might actually try to attack American soil, let alone be able to get so close with so many bombers. 

[headhuntersix]

There was no long range radar..the Brist were developing their own but we didn't have anything like that.  We used listening stations and tried to pick up radio trafiic. We knew they had salied but really dion't know if where they were headed toward.

[sync pulse]

Some other considerations were the fact that the United States didn't want the Japanese to know that Washington was decrypting Japanese communications traffic;
There was no telephone cable to Hawaii at the time, and Washington knew that Axis powers could decrypt the primitive phone scrambling of the day in real time, so a transpacific radio phone call was out of the question;
Radio frequency propagation was bad that day, so the warning to be cautious was sent as a Western Union telegram. It arrived after the attack was under way.
There was radar warning, the military disbelieved it.

[sync pulse]

http://www.authentichistory.com/ww2/music/19411223_Youre_A_Sap_Mr_Jap-Carl_Hoff-Murphy_Sisters.html

http://www.bcdb.com/cartoon/15735-You%2527re_a_Sap%252C_Mr._Jap.html

[Camel Jockey]

Sometimes you need to look beyond what your highschool and college texts said.

[headhuntersix]

Doing so and u should see the trade embargo that was slowly strangling the Japs and about forced the attack...and that Churchill and his staff toasted that night in London. Still, it all worked out pretty well.