why did the japanese bombing of pearl harbor succed?

Answer 1

Surprise, in any battle maneuver if you can surprise them it gives you an upper hand.

Answer 2

1) The Americans thought Pearl Harbor was safe from any attack due to the huge distance from any land base the Japanese (or anyone else) had
2) The Japanese were desperate since they were losing a long bitter war with China (started in 1937)
3) The Japanese were running out of oil, raw materials and supplies to continue the war with China so a war in the Pacific (for the oil rich nations of the East Indies)was anticipated (which is why the American Fleet was moved to Pearl Harbor)
4) Japan sent Naval Intelligence personnel (posing as tourists) to "scout" the American forces and were allowed to wander Pearl Harbor unfettered(gaining valuable info about ships, planes and military personnel locations)
5) So the Japanese simply snuck up on them and annihilated them...the rest as they say is history

Answer 3

The Japanese succeeded in lighting a candle under America's @ss and that was the extent of their 'victory.' Pearl Harbor was a screw up - - - a plan foisted upon the Japanese High Command by Admiral Yamamoto who, it ought be noted went to Harvard (Skull & Bones ? Anyone).

Japan had her sights set on taking the islands of Indonesia and Malaysia and on the French Colony of Vietnam, and maybe, just maybe, The Philipines. Japan's original war plan was to ignore America as long as possible and it was quite possible that America would ignore Japanese agression against Malaysia and Indonesia, though the Philipines were more problematical.

IF America declared war against Japan the original plan was to meet the American Fleet in the Deep Waters of the South Pacific along the approaches to Malaysia & Indonesia. Japanes had nine carriers to America's four and Japanese aviators had more experience in naval combat.

Instead of sticking with a solid war pan the Japanese High Command agreed to a 'first strike policy.' this insane notion to sneak attack America on a Sunday morning. A day reserved for God and/or Football.

Since an attack against Pearl Harbor was so bone-headed it was unexpected. Surprise was achieved and this allowed the first of two bombing strikes time to bomb at will. Initially it looked as if Japan 'succeeded.' Well they did sink a few obsolete battleshiaps, one of them a target ship and destroy a lot of old obsolete planes. and they did kill nearly three thousand people - - - but no where in Yamamoto's plans was their action directed against the dry-docks and repair facilties or the enormous gasoline storage tanks many of them buried inside Red Hill.

Americans were galavanized by Pearl Harbor though many had a hard time finding it on a map, but once told that it was close to Honolulu & Waikiki, Americans got mad. And Americans hated having their Sunday disturbed, thus they demanded that Roosevelt declare War. Germany joined in the blunder game, declaring War against America - - - so Pearl Harbor succeeded in getting a majority of Americans to drop their isolationist attitude.

Peace..

(PS - - - The Japanese screwed up by bombing Pearl Harbor, that is what they succeeded in doing)

Answer 4

It was a surprise attack. By the time anyone in Washington had an inkling that something might take place, it was too late to communicate it to Pearl Harbor in time to halt the attack. Also, in response to an earlier answer, kamikaze pilots weren't used against American forces until the Battle of Okinawa. And again, in response to yet another answer, the Japanese were not defending their country. We hadn't attacked them yet. In fact, if they had never attacked us, we may have never declared war on them. We had a "Germany first" strategy, meaning that we would tackle Germany first and then deal with other nations if we had to.

Answer 5

well lets see:

they were able to keep us from knowing wher 6 carriers were till they were 320 miles away

they attacked on a sunday morning when most people were on leave.

radar wasnt that good at the time in the area


and all though they destroyed a lot of our ships, most were repaired and would help win the war.

Did you know this:

2 hrs before the attack a US destroyer spots a periscope near the entrance to PH and sinks the sub. They send a message to their commanders. It then gets routed to some other commander..

By the time it finally reaches BAse commander the attack was nearly over

the one warning we got was lost.

Answer 6

They planned it real well, they had the element of surprise going for them. US intelligence knew there was going to be a Japanese attack somewhere in the Pacific but Pearl Harbor was not considered to be one of the potential targets.

Answer 7

They succeeded on 3 of their objectives
1- They lost only appx. 29-39 war planes
2- They surprised and destroyed the majority of the U.S. pacific fleet of warships and war planes making it difficult to retaliate at that moment's notice.
3- Their initial reason was to lure the U.S. into the war and the rest is history
4- One of their other objectives was scratched by Yamamoto, which was to follow up the 3 strikes with an all-out invasion of the island

Answer 8

Becos the people in Pearl Harbor were not aware of the japanese and they were unprepared to fight against japanese.

Answer 9

It was a mixed bag. They succeeded in the moment by trashing a large part of our naval power. But they awoke the "Sleeping Giant" (U.S.) and that was an inevitible mistake. Even some of their own generals avised against the attack.

Answer 10

It was due to the slimy Japanese diplomats lulling the Americans into thinking that an attack was not eminent at that time.And due to that premise the ships were not dispersed as it was thought that at that time there was no danger.~~

Answer 11

The GIs were on a leisurely paced lazy Sunday, never expecting anything. They thought Japanese soldiers don't work on Sundays.
Heck, they do!...and they have 'kamikaze' (suicide) pilots as well!