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ONE damn mention of the Pearl Harbor on TAH, nothing on national media. ONE.\u00a0 Think I would be fired if I used the kind of language this really should really entail, and I can’t afford the pay or prestige cut.<\/p>\n
Didn’t want to publish this on December 7th for reasons which will become apparent.<\/p>\n
The time-honored tale is that the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was inspired by the British attack on Taranto, Italy on the Italian fleet. One carrier, 21 planes, and the Brits sunk or damaged three battleships.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cSeveral days after the Taranto raid, almost unnoticed in the confusion and destruction, a slight figure in an unfamiliar uniform studied Taranto harbor intently, inquiring about depths and distances, making careful notes,\u201d according to the book The Attack on Taranto: Blueprint for Pearl Harbor<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n
\u201cThis was Lt. Takeshi Naito, assistant air attache at the Japanese embassy in Berlin. The implications of those sunken battleships were not lost to him.\u201d\u00a0 National Interest<\/a>
\n<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\nActually, seems there were earlier and more impressive demos of what an air attack could do. Worse – they were by the US Navy. At Pearl Harbor. Years earlier.<\/p>\n
In February 1932, the debate over the future of air power in modern combat was still in full swing. Rear Adm. Harry Yarnell was a believer in the power of the airplane, and he set out to prove its value to the Navy.<\/p>\n
The Navy had three aircraft carriers at the time, but deemed them to have little strategic value. The battleship was still the primary figure for naval war planning, as naval warfare was considered to be a slugfest at sea, while naval aviation was given more of a patrol and reconnaissance mission.<\/p>\n
Yarnell devised a plan that would show what aircraft could do to any naval installation anywhere. When Pearl Harbor began its yearly defense exercise, it was Yarnell and his planes who were the aggressors. He chose a Sunday morning in February to launch his surprise and hit the naval base early in the morning to catch its defenders unprepared.<\/p>\n
Sailing with just two carriers and a handful of destroyer escorts, Yarnell’s task force approached Oahu in thick fog and in the dead of night. His 152 aircraft launched just before dawn in the morning twilight. Military Times<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Had the flares and flour sack bombs been real, Pearl would have been decimated. But the Navy said\u00a0 Yarnell’s fleet would have been hit before they could attack – and nullified the exercise results.<\/p>\n
So it went until 1938, when the annual exercise was held again that year. This time, Adm. Ernest King was in command of the opposing forces. Yarnell was watching King’s movements closely this second time around.<\/p>\n
King took one aircraft carrier and its escort destroyers on a similar route and time. Just like the first exercise, the attacking aircraft came from the Koolau Range and completely decimated the fleet at Pearl Harbor. And just like the first attack, the Navy claimed the tactic was unfair and vetoed the results. Nothing changed.<\/p>\n
Unlike the U.S. Navy, the Imperial Japanese Navy took notice of the first exercise. It watched the1932 attack and studied it closely. Japanese Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto was also a believer in naval air power and structured the Japanese Navy to focus on aircraft carriers.<\/p>\n
Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, using much the same plans Yarnell used just nine years prior, only he used six aircraft carriers and 353 aircraft, many of which hit the harbor from the Koolau Range. It came as Japan launched simultaneous attacks on the Philippines, Guam, Wake Island, Malaya, Singapore and Hong Kong.\u00a0 Military Times<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Interesting read. Best to read the original articles – see if you can avoid thinking of Walt Kelly’s most famous “Pogo” quote: “We have met the enemy, and he is us”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"