December 6,1941

Keith Willshaw wrote:
"Bernardz" wrote in message
news:MPG.1a1cc45edfb975c29896ec@news...
In article , jdupre5762
@aol.com says...
I have often wondered. Given a 24 hour advanced notice that an attack
was eminent in 72 hours or less, what would have been the outcome at
Pearl Harbor? Say on dec 6, Pearl was given intel that an attack would
come anytime in the next 72 hours.

It might well have been worse in some ways. I understand that part of
the Navy's planning was to move the fleet out of the harbor to a
different anchorage that was much deeper. So if some of the ships
could have been torpedoed or sunk by bombs there they might well have
been unrecoverable.

The anchorage in question was off of Lahaina (Maui).

Were any of the ships that were recovered worth much anyway?


Hell yes, they were used throughout the later part of the war.

Mostly for pre-invasion bombardment. Which had effects that were
decidedly debatable. Did rattle the defenders' cages if nothing else.

Most of the effort that went into recovery was done for national pride
to deny the Japanese as much of a victory as possible.


Perhaps but do recall that the ships in the USN line at the battle
of the Surigao Strait, part of the largest naval battle of WW2
was made up of Battleships salvaged from Pearl Harbor.

Well, two "salvaged" (West Virginia and California) and three repaired
(Maryland and Tennessee were inboard of West Virginia & California,
Pennsylvania was already in drydock on 7 December).

Revenge was sweet that day.

Damn straight, even though it was a bit one-sided - six battleships
mounting a total of 58 large-caliber guns, vs. 1 battleship, 1 cruiser &
1 destroyer (the rest of the Southern Force had been taken out by
torpedo attacks from PT boats and destroyers.). The Battle Line opened
fire at 0353 and had pretty much obliterated the one Japanese battleship
by 0408, when the Cease Fire was passed. The cruiser (the eternally
battered Mogami) and destroyer retreated with heavy damage, only to be
sunk by aircraft the following morning.

(There, I got a military aviation reference in the last sentence.)

-Marc
--
Marc Reeve
actual email address after removal of 4s & spaces is
c4m4r4a4m4a4n a4t c4r4u4z4i4o d4o4t c4o4m