what are some interesting facts about Pearl Harbor?

Answer 1

In 25 years of studying the attack I've not read anything that states the government knew for certain that the Japanese were going to attack Pearl. They had a suspicision that there would be an attack, but it was generally thought that the attack would be at the Philippines.

The shallow waters of the harbor made the commanders think that torpedo bombers would be ineffictive. Another often overlooked point is at sea refueling. At the time only the two newest carriers could make the journey. At sea refueling was new and dangerous and not as common as it is today.

A side note, Japan lost 4 carriers, Akagi, Kaga, Hiryu, and Soryu, USN lost the carrier Yorktown, sunk, it was not repaired and was not towed back to Hawaii. People are thinking of the battle of Coral Sea where the Yorktown was towed back to Hawaii, then very quickly repaired (estimates for several months to repair damage instead in 72 hours was repaired enough to be battle ready).

Answer 2

There were a couple warnings that were ignored, or misunderstood just before the attack.

One was an inexperienced destroyer captain spotted a submarine periscope traveling between a tug boat and the target barge it was towing. But his superiours dismissed his sighting and it was not passed along.

The other was that a radar station detected the incoming Japanese attack force, but due to a lack of faith in the new technology, and the assumption that the flight detected was an expected flight of B-17 bombers, this warning was also ignored.

Two waves were launched against Pearl, and the increased losses to the second wave prompted the Japanese commander to cancel the planned third wave. This left the repair facilities and the oil storage tanks undamaged, allowing the US Navy to quickly get back into action.

The US also had it's first two fighter aces of the war get their kills at Pearl Harbor.

At the battle of Midway, six months later, the US Navy sunk four large Japanese carriers, all of which had participated in the attack at Pearl Harbor. One US carrier was lost. It was badly damaged by air attack and was being towed back to Pearl for repairs when it was sunk by a Japanese submarine.

Answer 3

Pearl Harbor was shallow and it was felt by the US Navy that torpedoes dropped from planes couldn't be used here. But torpedoes had already been used in shallow water, dropped from planes by the British to sink half the Italian fleet.(Taranto 1940) The Japanese were well aware of this and the studied the British attack. The British success at the battle of Taranto proved to the Japanese it could be done.

American Air Craft Carriers were not in Pearl Harbor when it was attacked. If they had been the war very likely would have been lost by the US. The carriers that the Japanese missed ended up sinking the same carriers that the Japs used at Pearl Harbor just 6 months later at Midway. The Jap defeat at Midway changed everything. At Midway 3 American carriers sunk 4 Jap carriers. 1 American carrier was almost lost. But it stayed afloat and was later repaired. The US Navy had broken the Jap code and were aware of the coming Jap attack at Midway. Pretty cool ha?

Answer 4

It was a military mistake to assemble all those ships in one spot for their better concentrated protection......

Answer 5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor

Answer 6

there are no pearls there

Answer 7

go to wikipedia.com i hope this helps you!