Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/02/05
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]what larry said. the strategic success of the strike is debatable, given that the goal was to deny and delay America access to the Pacific. Crucially, on the morning of Dec 7, 1941 all three Pacific US carriers were away from Pearl, the Enterprise was coming back to port after delivering aircraft to Wake, Lexington was steaming toward Midway to deliver planes there (she turned back after the attack) and Saratoga was in San Diego. Yorktown was at that time part of the Atlantic fleet, to be transferred later that month. Of the 8 battleships at Pearl, 4 were sunk, of these 3 were raised, and 2 were rebuilt for battle. As an testament to America's industrial and economic strength, the US built an astonishing 17 Essex carriers between 1942-1945, of which 14 saw service in the war. The Intrepid in NYC is an example of this class. -rei Lawrence Zeitlin wrote: > Mark writes: > Whatever the origin of the pictures, they do illustrate the terrifying > effects of a major attack. I haven't read much about the history of the > Pacific war, but that attack must have really hurt the US's capability > to wage war for quite some considerable time. How long did it take to > rebuild those ships and train replacement sailors and marines? > > - - - - - - > > I'm not a military historian but it is my belief that the Japanese Pearl > Harbor attack did not achieve its objectives regardless of the number of > ships sunk and people killed. The attack occurred at a time when naval > warfare was changing from a combat between ships at comparatively short > range using cannons to one where ships battled at long range using > aircraft. > The US carrier fleet was not in Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 and escaped > intact. The subsequent battle of Midway was largely a carrier operation > which inflicted disproportionate losses on the Japanese navy and turned the > tide of the Pacific war. > Larry Z > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >