Thread by @drfarls

Happy National Battleship Day!

Okay, in honor of the 80th of Pearl Harbor, let's talk national security and battleships. When even @Twitchshow notices it's Pearl Harbor Day it's time to talk battleships.

Gonna do this in two separate threads, the first with some content that frames the political and strategic importance of Pearl, and the second that's about, you guessed it, battleships!

First the national security bit. Pearl Harbor was immensely important for the formation of the US national security state. 19fortyfive.com/2021/12/how-pe…

US national intelligence really was a disaster before 1942. It's kind of shocking, given the massive intelligence apparatus that comes together after the war.

Minimal coherence of methods, minimal sharing of either intel or tools of collection, poor civil-military interaction... legacies of anti-statism and of minimal perception of threat.

In that sense not surprising that the Japanese were able to pull off such a surprise; they managed to sneak between the seams of Army, Navy, and State intel gathering.

The CIA and all the other letters are supposed to solve that, especially given that they expected the *next* Pearl Harbor to involve nuclear weapons.

In that sense, Pearl Harbor is really built into the DNA of the US intelligence community, for better or worse.

In terms of the strategic relevance of the attack... 19fortyfive.com/2021/12/pearl-…

A Japanese offensive against *only* British and DEI possessions in winter 1941 doesn't really make a lot of sense. If the Japanese leave the Philippines unmolested, US can immediately start fortifying and sit on top of Japan's lines of sea transport.

Japan has to take the Philippines immediately, or take them never and wait for the USN and USAAF to jump on the resource pipeline that the Japanese need.

And so when we think about Japan's decision-making, I think we need to acknowledge that there's necessarily going to be some kind of surprise attack on US territory, with everything that comes along with that.

It is oft suggested that Pearl Harbor was a tactical success but strategic failure because of the mobilizing effect it had on the US, but I have some doubt about whether there would have been a consequential difference if Japan had only attacked the Philippines.

Recollect that the most famous American military officer in the Pacific Theater was MacArthur, who talked a *lot* more about the Philippines than he did about Pearl. And US propagandists certainly used Corregidor and Bataan to good effect.

So while it would be wrong to say that attacking Pearl was Japan's only option or its best option (given the decision for war), I think it's also wrong to assert that Pearl was uniquely consequential to American mobilization and war enthusiasm.

BTW if you like your content in audio form, check out this podcast I recorded with @IanWToll about his magnificent Pacific Trilogy. lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2021/04/lgm-po…

@IanWToll Or this podcast with @CBI_PTO_History that surveys some of the best recent scholarship on the Pacific War. lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2020/07/lgm-po…

Ok so let's talk battleships. Pearl Harbor involved a lot of battleships in a lot of different roles!

Ok so now it's time to talk battleships.

https://twitter.com/drfarls/status/1468236696160514049?s=20

The attack on Pearl Harbor involved fourteen different battleships in one way or another; ten on the American side and four on the Japanese side.

Most of these battleships were either built or designed in World War I, so we're really talking about legacy fleets. The reason we're talking about legacy fleets is that the Washington Naval Treaty had an immense impact on naval construction and modernization.

It is not typical to tear down and modernize a ship in the way that both Japan and the United States did during the interwar period, because it's often more expensive than building a new ship.

Plus you have to deal with the fact that no matter how much you modernize, you're still going to be dealing with outdated technology. Making old battleships faster, for example, was difficult.

But the naval arms treaties effectively meant that Japan and the US (and Italy and the UK) *couldn't* build new battleships, and so had to rebuild the old ones.

And so while the Japanese and American fleets at Pearl were legacies of World War I, they had both changed mightily in the intervening period.

Let's start with the oldest US battleship, USS Utah. Utah was a Florida class battleship, laid down in 1909 and commissioned in 1911. She carried 10 12" guns in five twin turrets and could make about 21 knots.

The Floridas were an interim design, built before the lessons of the Newport Conference (1908) really set the terms of US dreadnought construction. This made Utah obsolescent compared to most of the other ships under discussion here.

In fact in 1931, under the terms of the London Naval Treaty, Utah was disarmed and designated a radio control target ship. This is the role that she continued to play on December 7, 1941.

Day of she was hit by two torpedoes from B5Ns launched by HIJMS Soryu. Lacking modern torpedo defense she didn't stand a chance, and sank rapidly.

Salvage efforts failed, and Utah remains where she sank at Pearl.

Our next oldest ship is arguable; USS Oklahoma was laid down before USS Nevada, but Nevada commissioned earlier. Let's go with Oklahoma for reasons that will become clear.

Oklahoma, laid down in 1912 and commissioned in 1916, carried 10 14" guns in two twin and two triple turrets. She displaced 30000 tons and could make 20 knots.

Oklahoma and Nevada were the first "standard type" US Navy battleship, designed to operate as a squadron and equipped with the famous "all or nothing" armor scheme that concentrated protection around the ships vitals.

Problem was that Oklahoma was equipped with reciprocating engines, unlike any of the other standard type battleships. This caused speed issues and vibration problems, especially when she tried to keep station with the rest of the fleet.

Oklahoma was, thus, the least appealing battleship available in Pearl on the morning of 12/7/41, and would probably have been the first "standard type" battleship replaced by new construction.

Oklahoma and her sister received a major reconstruction in the late 1920s that updated their armaments and removed their cage masts in favor of tripods.

And I will yield to no one on this point: the reconstruction (which Arizona and Pennsylvania were also subjected to) made Oklahoma and Nevada hideously ugly.

Like, ridiculously ugly. Ungainly. Looked like they got hit with Ugly Bombs that the Japanese had designed just to make 'em more ugly.

I love battleships and I can barely stand to look at an interwar Nevada or Pennsylvania. Makes me want to barf. But I digress...

USS Oklahoma was an operational unit day of the attack. Took five torpedoes and rolled over in place. Was salvaged starting in 1942, but there was no point in putting her back into service. Sank in a storm while being towed to the scrappers in 1947.

USS Nevada was nearly identical to her sister, apart from the engines. Underwent the same reconstruction at roughly the same time.

Day of the attack she was the only US battleship to get underway. Took a torpedo just as she got moving, but hit wasn't fatal. The movement drew Japanese dive bombers and she was hit by between 6-10 bombs.

But Nevada was a BATTLESHIP, and it's bloody difficult for dive bombers to sink battleships if they don't get super lucky. The Powers that Be decided that discretion was the better part of valor and ordered Nevada grounded before she could be sunk by more torpedoes.

She was refloated in February and underwent a moderate reconstruction, returning to service (mostly in the Atlantic) by mid-1943. After the war, she was made part of the atomic bomb tests at Bikini.

She survived *two* atomic bombs, but was made radioactive in the process. She was towed back to Pearl and, in 1948, used as target practice by USS Iowa.

That still didn't finish her; an aerial torpedo put her to sleep on July 31, 1948.

USS Pennsylvania was laid down in 193 and commissioned in June 1916. She and her sister Arizona differed from the Nevadas mainly in that they carried 12 14" guns in four triple turrets. They were modernized along roughly the same lines.

Pennsylvania was in drydock day of, and thus immune to torpedo damage. She was hit by a bomb, and also damaged by shrapnel from the explosion of a nearby destroyer.

But Pennsylvania remained battleworthy, one of three battleships that remained in condition to fight after the attack.

She was repaired and lightly modernized until August 1942, when she returned to service.

On August 12, 1945 she was hit by a Japanese aerial torpedo in the stern. The hit was very nearly fatal, and caused damage that could not economically be repaired.

After the war she was sent to Bikini, where she survived both atomic bomb blasts. She was scuttled off Kwajalein in February 1948.

USS Arizona was nearly identical to her sister. Commissioned four month after Pennsylvania, modernized around the same time.

Arizona's career was also similar to that of Pennsylvania, with the major exception being that she was *not* in drydock day of the attack.

Mentioned earlier that it's bloody difficult to sink a battleship with the kinds of bombs that a divebomber can drop unless you get incredibly lucky.

Welp.

But the thing is Arizona was not, to the best of our understanding, hit by dive bombers, but rather by level bombers.

That matters, because the level bombers (Kate torpedo bombers with different ordnance) were larger and had armor-piercing characteristics.

Anyway, a magazine explosion is a magazine explosion. Arizona was obviously unsalvageable, and remains in Pearl to this day.

Now we get to the Big Five, the final iteration of the "standard type." The Big Five came in two variants; the Tennessee class, which carried 12 14" guns in four twin turrets, and the Colorados, which carried 8 16" guns in four turrets.

Beyond that they were quite similar in appearance, with a clipper bow, stout, reinforced cage masts, and more girth than the rest of the standard types.

Ironically, however, the Big Five were not modernized during the interwar period. When their turn came up the USN decided that they wouldn't be able to keep up with the new battleships in the fleet and that it wasn't worth the expense.

Thus, the newest battleships at Pearl *looked* like the oldest battleships, because they hadn't received substantial reconstructions.

Anyways, Tennessee (laid down 1917, commissioned 1920) was inboard of USS West Virginia when the attack began, which immunized her from torpedo attack. She was hit by two bombs to not too much effect.

By December 16 she was unwedged from her sunken half sister and dispatched to the West Coast. She returned to service in February, but in August the Navy made the curious decision to subject her to a full reconstruction.

She came out looking a lot different.

*CHUNKY*

Tennessee returned to service in May 1943 and served the rest of the war in the Pacific, participating in the Battle of Surigao Strait.

After the war she was put in reserve and not finally scrapped until 1959.

Tennessee's sister California wasn't as lucky. Although her career was otherwise similar, she was not in Battleship Row day of the attack.

Her watertight doors were unfortunately open when she took two torpedo hits and several bomb hits. Underway and battleready, she would have survived. As it was, counterflooding was ordered and she sank into the mud.

California was given the same modernization as Tennessee and returned to service in January 1944. Like her sister she participated in the Battle of Surigao Strait, and like her sister she was scrapped in 1959.

USS Maryland (laid down 1917, commissioned 1921) was inboard of Oklahoma day of the attack. She took two bomb hits but didn't suffer severe damage.

She was lightly modernized in 1942 but *not* given the full reconstruction that her sisters and half-sisters received. Maryland served in the Pacific for the rest of the war, and was eventually scrapped in 1959.

USS West Virginia (laid down 1920, commissioned 1923) was hit by two bombs and 7(!) torpedoes. That's basically impossible to survive unless you're HIJMS Yamato, and maybe not even then. She sank but did not capsize or explode.

"I'm finally taller than you!"

She was refloated by May 1942 and given the full reconstruction treatment, returning to service in September 1944. Like her sisters, she was put in reserve after the war and scrapped in 1959.

Finally.... USS Lexington was laid down as a battlecruiser in January 1921, but under the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty was converted into an aircraft carrier in utero.

As a battlecruiser she would have been more useful than any of the battleships available... but as an aircraft carrier she was even *more* valuable.

Lady Lex missed the attack by two days in order to ferry bombers to Midway. She hunted but did not find Kido Butai in the wake of the attack. She was sunk by Japanese carrier aircraft at the Battle of Coral Sea in May 1942.

Whew! Time for lunch. Back for the Japanese in a bit!

Ok so let’s get started with the Japanese. HIJMS Hiei was laid down in November 1911, second ship of the Kongo class.

We gotta stop and talk a minute about the Kongos. These were *awesome* ships, big (28000 tons as built, eventually 36000 tons), fast (30 knots) and powerful (8 14” guns in four twin turrets). They were a joint British-Japanese design and the first ship was built in Britain.

These were genuine no-foolin’ battlecruisers, fast and heavily armed but lightly armored. This made them vulnerable but incredibly useful.

All four of the class *except* for Hiei were reconstructed in the late 1920s as battleships, with an eye towards increasing their protection. Hiei was “demilitarized” under the terms of the London Naval Treaty.

In the mid-1930s Japan bailed on the treaty and rebuilt all four *again*, making them modern, formidable units.

Hiei was part of the escort for Kido Butai on its sortie to Pearl Harbor. Unlike the American battleships she could keep up with fast carriers.

She could also do fast raids, which made her useful in the Guadalcanal campaign. In November 1942 she found herself in a nighttime knife-fight with an American task force.

Hiei suffered damage to her steering which left her a sitting duck for American aircraft. She was damaged by repeated air attacks, and finally scuttled herself.

Hiei’s sister Kirishima has a remarkably similar record, and also escorted the attack on Pearl. Night after Hiei sank, Kirishima was caught in the open by USS Washington, which did not go well.

Washington opened up on Kirishima at point blank range, which was way too much for the Japanese battleship. She was scuttled after taking damage that would have eventually have been fatal.

HIJMS Akagi was designed as a battlecruiser, supplemental to the Kongos. Would have carried 10 16" guns in five twin turrets on a 40000 ton displacement with a speed of 30 knots. But it was not to be...

The Washington Naval Treaty mandated the cancellation of the battlecruisers, but allowed two to be converted into carriers. And thus we got HIJMS Akagi the aircraft carrier.

Akagi was rebuilt once during the interwar period (aircraft and naval aviation were developing rapidly during this period) and was the flagship of Kido Butai during the Pearl Harbor attack.

She was still the flagship six months later when she took a bomb hit at Midway. The bomb mortally damaged her (aircraft carriers were a lot easier to kill than battleships) and she was scuttled.

Akagi's sister Amagi was supposed to be converted to an aircraft carrier, but while under construction was badly damaged by the Great Kanto earthquake. Fortunately, the Japanese had several incomplete battleships available and decided to convert Kaga instead.

Kaga was roughly the same size as Akagi but somewhat slower and configured a bit differently. She participated in the attack on Pearl and, like Akagi, was sunk by US dive bombers at the Battle of Midway in June 1942.

So... 14 battleships (10 American, 4 Japanese), built between 1909 and 1928. Four were converted to aircraft carriers. 8 were destroyed in battle (4 American, 4 Japanese). 10 rest at the bottom of the Pacific to this day.

Key takeaways: The legacy of World War I and of the interwar arms control treaties deeply colored how we fought World War II, from the very first blows in the conflict.

The ships that might have seemed most useful... weren't. Apart from the four carriers the two Kongo class battlecruisers were obviously the most important participants.

If you'd like to know more, read the Battleship Book! amazon.com/Battleship-Boo…