by Simon31 » Wed Dec 07, 2005 3:09 pm
Goldwater, As somebody who has visited Pearl Harbor and stood in the Arizona memorial, I can't tell you the emotion your overcome with reading the names of those still "on Patrol." Historically though, the Japanese did have a clue as to what they were doing at Pearl as they followed our own blueprint for an attack by Adm. Harry Yarnell in a 1932 joint Army-Navy exercise which presumed an invasion by hostile forces.
"Yarnell, in the role of the commander of the attacking fleet, sailed his aircraft carriers northwest of Oahu into rough weather, and launched attack planes on the morning of Sunday, 7 February 1932. "Judges" assigned to gauge the effectiveness of the attack noted that Yarnell's aircraft were able to inflict serious damage on the defenders, who were unable to locate his fleet 24 hours after the attack. Conventional Navy doctrine of the time believed that any attacking force would be set upon and destroyed by the battleship fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor, and dismissed Yarnell's strategy and attack." I'm not making this point to defend the attack on Pearl by any means. Just a firm believer in the old axiom "those who do not pay heed to the lessons of history are doomed to repeat those mistakes." I find that relevant even to this day in light of recent events.