80 years- Pearl Harbor
28 Nov, 1941
Oahu, Hawaiian Islands:
The USS Enterprise slips out of Pearl Harbor with its escort ships, forming Task Force 8.
Thread
28 Nov, 1941
Oahu, Hawaiian Islands:
The USS Enterprise slips out of Pearl Harbor with its escort ships, forming Task Force 8.
Thread
TF 8 was ordered by Kimmel to deliver a dozen fighters from Marine fighter squadron VMF 211 to reinforce the squadron's fighters already operating on Wake Island.
The carrier USS Lexington is to deliver additional Marine Corps fighter planes to Midway and leave Pearl on Dec 5, the day before the Enterprise returns on Dec 6. This rotation by Kimmel keeps at least one carrier in Hawaiian waters at all times.
The third and final American carrier assigned to the Pacific fleet, the Saratoga, is in San Diego undergoing a refit.
President Roosevelt ordered the Pacific Fleet's main base moved from San Diego to Pearl the previous year. It was a point of contention by some Navy brass.
President Roosevelt ordered the Pacific Fleet's main base moved from San Diego to Pearl the previous year. It was a point of contention by some Navy brass.
The base, though much closer to Japan it made for logistic challenges.
Aside from a 2,000 mile supply line of shipping required from the west coast, the harbor itself was cramped.
Aside from a 2,000 mile supply line of shipping required from the west coast, the harbor itself was cramped.
However, cramped Pearl had an advantage that the spacy Lahina anchorage area did not. Pearl was at most 35 feet deep--too shallow for air-dropped torpedos to work. As a result, their noses would plummet into the mud before leveling off.
No anti-torpedo netting along the ships would thus be needed.
Besides, the base command thought the netting impeded the already cramped sailing lanes in the harbor.
Besides, the base command thought the netting impeded the already cramped sailing lanes in the harbor.
2600 nautical miles NW of Oahu:
Kido Butai presses on with weather reports broadcasts from Tokyo discussing patterns in all areas of East Asia and the Pacific. A low-pressure system may develop in a week in the north-central Pacific.
Kido Butai presses on with weather reports broadcasts from Tokyo discussing patterns in all areas of East Asia and the Pacific. A low-pressure system may develop in a week in the north-central Pacific.
It will be a challenge sailing through it with only visual signals.
However, it could help shield the Mobile Fleet from the Americans.
Onboard the six carriers is a vast armory of aerial torpedos that will be dropped by torpedo bomber aircraft in the planned raid.
However, it could help shield the Mobile Fleet from the Americans.
Onboard the six carriers is a vast armory of aerial torpedos that will be dropped by torpedo bomber aircraft in the planned raid.
These torpedos can be fitted with wooden fins. When attached, the fins are designed to immediately shallow the torpedo's dive before hitting Pearl's bottom when dropped from the correct height.
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