pearl harbor intelligence

No espionage by Japanese residents of Hawaii was ever reported. Takao Yoshikawa was sent by the Imperial Japanese Navy to ostensibly be an aide in the Japanese consulate at Honolulu, but his real job was to track the movements of USN ships and learn about the defenses around the base. (He was aided by a former naval officer already in the staff.)

The Nagumo Kido Butai ("Striking Force" led by Adm. Nagumo) were notified that the two carriers currently at Pearl were not in the harbor the day before the attack was launched.

The orders to the Kido Butai was that four battleships and four carriers, in that order of preference, were to be attack as first priority. Without the carriers being in port the attackers concentrated on the battleships.

More information on this can be found here.

 

Well, there were only three USN carriers in the Pacific at the time, and one was on the West Coast. There were a lot of battleships in port that day and EVERY IJN torpedo plane pilot reported he'd dropped on a BB. There was some embarrassment when they were informed for their actual targets.

 

Opinion was split on that, of course. Halsey and Brown were obviously in the carrier camp, but Adm. Pye was also leaning that way despite being the head of the battleship force in the Pacific.

 

They had carriers, yes, and the carrier-oriented naval people loved them. But they also built the three Musashi-type super battleships, 65,000 tons and 18.1 inch guns. (Shinano was converted to a carrier before she was finished as a BB, but she had a short career.) As late as 1944 a Congressman had "Carrier vs. Battleship" read into the Congressional Record. That work presented "both sides" of the controversy long after carriers were demonstrating a predominance in the naval arena.

 

They were huge investments and national icons, both the battleships and the carriers. William Halsey saw the handwriting on the wall and became a aviation cadet at the age most enlisted men retired. Others believed to the day they died that the battle line would still be the deciding factor in a war.

 

And when they left there wasn't a carrier afloat in the harbor.

 

Pearl Harbor:
Why, How, Fleet Salvage and Final Appraisal
by

Vice Admiral Homer N. Wallin
USN (Retired)

Written by the man who ran the salvage operation.

 

Not all things. I can't figure out tokko tactics, they just baffle me.

 

"Kamikaze" was the nickname. "Kikusui" (special attack) was the strategic name. "Tokko" was the tactic.

 

BTW, there are rumblings that the Magic books are going to be republished.