Just before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, several marines were on radar watch.?

Question

At one point it picked up the Japanese fleet some two hundred miles off of Owahu but at that crusial juncture the set was switched of as it was only allowed to operate for two hours a day.

What would have happened if the radar set had still been in operation and the US Fleet and Marine airbases notified?. Would they have still dismissed the report of massed aircraft inbound or would they have acted and perhaps inflicted considerable casualties on the Japanse carrier planes and even sent the US Navy to engage the enemy?.

Answer 1

The radar set was not switched off, they continued tracking the planes until they attacked.
Unfortunately, you have to look at the situation, we were at peace with Japan, and the closest Japanese base was like 3000 miles away across a giant ocean.
No one could have forseen the attack. Even when these guys who were doing the training on the radar set saw these huge masses of fighters and bombers coming in, they assumed that it was a malfunction of the radar set. Then they assumed it was a group of USA bombers which were flying over from the mainland as replacement aircraft for some that had been transfered on to Guam and the Philipines. Never in a million years would they suspect they were about to be attacked.
So even if they had raised an alarm, who would have listened? They could have called fleet headquarters, but at 7am on a Sunday, whoever answered the phone would have probably laughed at them and hung up on them, thinking they were just a couple of crackpots, probably still drunk from Saturday night.
The Japanese brilliantly planned and executed the perfect surprise attack. The entire Pacific Zone of the US Navy was caught totally with its pants down and we paid a heavy price for that laziness. The price was 2403 dead Americans.
Hopefully we will never be that sloppy and inattentive again.

Answer 2

In actual fact the RADAR set was not turned off until the ground rays from the bounce back started to interfere with the returns. The problem was the info centre was only manned by a handful of staff and was not interested in the reports and put it down to the expected flight of Fortress Bombers which where due in that morning.
If the Information had been acted upon the couple of hours notice would not made much of a differance. Yes some of the Kittyhawk interceptors could have taken off to investigate the returns, the Army and Navy could have been alerted, but again, why would they go to a full alarm status, nobody was expecting hostilities, most of the ships and personnel where either on Sunday leave or would have been stirring the shore watch to attend 'colours' being that the Americans are so sloppy about such things, I expect even then there may have been some small action, but there would have been a pause until verification reports would have come in from the Interceptors.
As for any of the ships getting underway. A WW2 ship needs 4 to 5 hours to get underway, boilers need to be lit, crew to harbour stations, etc,etc, The Nevada, the only ship to weigh during the attack, got underway as the second wave attacked the harbour area 2 hours into the main attack, even then she was steaming on one boiler and only just making headway under her own steam, this was the lead ship at the head of Battleship row, as it was by good fortune she was not travelling with extra boilers alight, overwise the Nevada would have been making more than the 4 or 5 knots and would certainley have been into the deep channel leading into and out of the harbour and would have blocked the channel and stopped all possible traffic for months leaving the harbour.
Hope this helps

Answer 3

Although some intelligence had been gathered concerning a possible attack by the Imperial Japanese Fleet, this was not take seriously.

The radar on Hawaii was indeed switched off most of the time. Apparently a sighting was made and reported by the US Marines, but this was simply dismissed.

We must remember that in 1941 radar was still in it's infancy, but it had already proved it's great potential during the Battle of Britain in 1940. As one Luftwaffe pilot put it, "where are they all coming from." He could not understand how the RAF always seemed airborne and ready to meet his squadron every time they came across the Channel!

Answer 4

The U.S. was applying pressure to the Japanese to get out of Manchuria and Korea, while at the same time trying to ensure the security of the Phillipines and all of the U.S. posessions in the Pacific, i.e. Hawaii(not yet a state), Guam, the Solomon islands, American Samoa, the Alutians, etc. Japan's goal was to create a pacific empire. They knew that the American military (at that time) was very small and a number of their vessels were decades outdated. Japan thought that if they crippled the U.S. Pacific fleet based at Pearl Harbor, the Americans would have no choice but to acceed to Japanese demands and agree to favorable (for Japan) negotiation terms in parceling out U.S. pacific posessions. There were three problems with this strategy however; 1. They had hoped to catrch the American aircraft carriers (the back bone of the pacific fleet) at shallow moorings in Pearl Harbor and destroy them, but the carriers were not there at the time of the attack. 2. Even though the American military was small, the Japanese totally underestimated American industrial capacity. Every ship destroyed at Pearl Harbor was repaired or replaced within six months of the attack. 3. They mistook the American populace's desire for peace to mean that America would be unwilling or unable to fight. Win or lose, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the attitude of the American public was such that war became inevitable and further negotiation impossible.

Answer 5

Well, it was not marines on radar watch, it was an Army radar installation as they were in charge of security for the Hawaiian Islands.

Second, Radar was literally brand new, it had only been invented in the late 1930's and it was not in wide spread usage world wide and not understood by the vast majority of military personnel.

Third, they did not identify the Japanese fleet, but the incoming attacking airplanes, which were thought to be an incoming flight of American bombers.

Had this happened today, the operator would have made clear that it could not be the flight of bombers from the American mainland(coming from the east), when the airplanes on the scope were definitely coming from the northwest.

Finally, one of the reasons that the radar had to be turned off, was because they did not have enough trained personnel to man the radar station 24/7/365.

whale

Answer 6

I can feel yet another conspiracy theory coming on here.

The plain fact was that America was not yet on a war footing and had not had any combat experience ( forget the troops in Europe). Also they were probably a bit complacent in thinking that moving the Pacific fleet to Pearl harbour as a show of force had sent out the right message and the Japs would back off.No one expected the audacious attack that came from a battle hardened and experienced navy and air force.

Answer 7

Before the attack on pearl harbor there were several sightings reported to the naval station in Hawaii but mostly
they were ignored. A mini-submarine attack was made by the
japanese on the naval installation, but was not taken as
a serious incursion. Mostly all signs of an impending raid
was ignored and that caused severe damage and
destruction on the ships staioned there at that time.

Answer 8

The incoming Japanese planes were mistaken for American B-17's due for delivery that morning. That set being on or off would have made no difference. It was a matter of what was done with the information. In the case of Pearl Harbor, nothing.

Answer 9

When I visited Pearl Harbour, the tour guide (they are all US veterans) said that Churchill had warned Roosevelt of both the target and date of the Japanese raid but Roosevelt did not believe him. He thought Britain was trying to draw the USA into the war. When the attack actually took place as Churchill described, he sloped shoulders and the American Admiral Kimmel was sacked. Kimmel spent the rest of life vainly striving to obtain justice.

Answer 10

According to your statement the radar was switched off because of regulations regarding hours of usage.Would it have functioned over a longer period without malfunction?Probably the valves would have burnt out;hence the time limit.I understand that prior knowledge of the attack was given to the USA.by a spy!!No credence was given to this report.So even had radar continued to track I doubt the outcome would have been different.