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Politics : Just the Facts, Ma'am: A Compendium of Liberal Fiction -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Selectric II who wrote (24878)	1/5/2005 10:01:55 AM
From: J. C. Dithers	Respond to of 90947

one could take the position that even after Pearl Harbor there was little chance that Japan would do anything further to us, either There was every chance, and only a miracle saved our butts. Had the Japanese finished off our fleet with a second attack it would have prolonged the war by years. As it was, we were able to refloat almost the entire Pacific fleet. Worse than that, Japan could have easily captured Hawaii, as we had no way of bringing in reinforcements and the islands were essentially defenseless. Our paltry carrier force did escape destruction, but carriers alone are useless without fleet escort and protection. The best the carriers could have done was go down in a blaze of glory. The timidity shown by Yamamoto and the overwhelmingly superior Japanese Navy after Pearl Harbor is one of the enduring mysteries of WW II tactical decisions. I guess "you had to be there" to appreciate the perilous situation we were in the months following Pearl Harbor. There was no U.S. Navy to protect the West Coast and the German U-boats were enjoying a turkey-shoot along the East Coast, threatening to choke off oil supplies. To say that the issue was in doubt in those early days would be an gross understatement.