Discuss Time Rider
Notes: As this story
focuses on the attack on Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941, here are
some facts of that historic attack.
According to wikipedia.org,
U.S. civil and military intelligence forces had, between them, good
information suggesting additional Japanese aggression throughout the
summer and fall before the attack. None of it specifically indicated
an attack against Pearl Harbor. Public press reports during summer
and fall, including Hawaiian newspapers, contained extensive reports
on the growing tension and on developments in the Pacific. Late in
November, all Pacific commands, including both the Navy and Army in
Hawaii, were separately and explicitly warned that war with Japan
was expected in the very near future, probably in the Far East: the
Philippines, Indochina, or Russia. The warnings were not specific to
any area, noting only that war with Japan was considered likely in
the immediate short term and that all commands should act
accordingly. Had any of these warnings produced an active alert
status in Hawaii, the attack would likely have been resisted more
effectively, and perhaps might have caused less death and damage.
Conversely, recall of men on shore leave to the ships in harbor
might have led to still more being casualties, and closing
watertight doors (as some alert orders would have required) might
have left more trapped in capsized ships. When the attack arrived,
Pearl Harbor was effectively unprepared: anti-aircraft weapons were
not manned, ammunition was locked down, anti-submarine measures were
not implemented (e.g., no submarine nets), combat air patrols not
flying, available scouting aircraft not in the air at first light,
Air Corps aircraft were parked wingtip to wingtip to reduce sabotage
risks, and so on.
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