why were the japanese able to torpedo our ships easliy ?

Question

What ships were high on there list, are there several of them. I was also wondering is the pearl harbor water deep ?

Thanks.

Answer 1

The main attack was focused on the US ability to use its navy to prevent the Japanese from advancing in the short term in the Pacific. To this end carriers AND battleships were high targets. As of 1941 the carrier had not surpassed the battleship but were seen by many experts as equals and both were required in upcoming naval engagements (classic example is the Bismarck of how battleships and carriers were to perform together).

The reason they were easy to torpedo is simple. Pearl Harbor is actually a shallow bay and for that reason considered impossible for planes to drop their torpedoes in. This is why no torpedo netting was ever put up. The Japanese set up a simple solution of using wooden fins on the aerial torpedo's allowing aircraft to drop their torpedo's in the bay.

One other high target that would have been attack if Nagumo had listened to his advisers would have been the repair yards and oil tanks. Leaving these intact was actually worse then not hitting any carriers.

*edit*
Thanks MG, I also saw that about the mini-sub (forgot about them). Submarines were not considered a threat to the fleet because of the anti-sub nets at Pearl Harbor's entrance. And while this is probably an effective defense during war, during peace-time they didn't consider another countries sub to enter the bay.

Answer 2

Nice answer rz, I would have to agree with all that as well and my books do as well. Their is a clam that one of the mini subs got in Pearl Harbor and fired on the USS West Virgina, the reason this was brought up was a Japanese aerial photo showing a mini sub firing a torpedo at the West Virgina. The main strike was on the Carriers and the Battleships, but the focus was more on the Battleships not the carriers because they were the backbone of are navy and sending them to the bottom would have crippled not only the navy but the entire strategy of the United States response to an attack on their colonies. The US didn't think that a plane armed with torpedoes would be able to hit at all because when a torpedo is dropped in by a plane, It sinks down then goes straight forward and moves to the running dept setting on it. The harbor was too shallow for the drop and didn't protect the ships with Anti-torpedo netting. The Japaneses fixed the problem with a wooden torpedo fins that would break away and also make the drop more shallow and able to make the attack.

If Nagumo would have launched his strike on the fuel tanks, refineres, and the industrial parts of the base (drydocks, repair yards, factories) the US would had to pull out of Pearl because the base would be unfitt for regular basic operations and also would be longer for the damaged ships and salvaged ships (like the 6 resuced battleships) to be fully repaired. I understand why, the carriers were not their and they could have attacked him, he wanted to get out of their before the American carriers founded his.

Answer 3

The Japanese had a very good torpedo. The first years of the war, the U.S. submariners had a problem with torpedoes running too deep or skipping up to the surface. Also, they used a magnetic exploder that was suppose to sense metal nearby and blow up..but it didn't work most of the time. The carriers were a primary target, when they weren't found at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese sought to destroy them during the Battle of Midway, but things got turned around on them and they lost 3 carriers and the 4th the next day. Some say it was the turning point of the war.

Answer 4

Pearl Harbor is only about 40 feet deep, and a torpedo at the time, when dropped from an airplane, would sink to a depth of 80 feet before leveling off. The Japanese devised a means of increasing the bouyancy of their torpedoes by attaching a wooden fin to the back of the torpedo, this kept it from sinking toodeep.

The thinking at the time was that Pearl was under no threat from aerial torpedoes for the reason of it's depth, despite the fact that the British had used carrier planes to sink Italian battleships at Tarento, another shallow harbor, a few months prior to Pearl Harbor.

Their principle targets were our carriers. They were on maneuvers at the time. The Enterprise/Hornet group were delivering planes to Wake Island, evidently, and not before time.

They did get 8 of our ships, including the Arizona and Oklahoma. The Arizona is still on the active list as a ship of the line, and any of her crewmen who wish to, may have their ashes poured over her where she sits. There is an honor guard over her.

Answer 5

The main ships they were after were carriers, none of which were in port that day. After that, battleships, of which there were many, and other capital ships.

The Japanese dealt with the shallowness of Pearl Harbor by developing a breakaway wooden device, attached to the rear of the torpedo, which kept it from going so deep that it got stuck in the mud.

Answer 6

the Japanese were aware of the fact that Pearl Harbor is shallow and has a muddy bottom that would halt most air-dropped fish. so they designed a specialized wooden tail meant to allow the torps to right themselves earlier from their fall and skim towards their targets, and, unlike clumsy American torpedoes, theirs guided extremely well with heavy, reliable warheads. the Japanese were gunning for the capital ships, carriers in particular, which is why they chose a Sunday; among other things, the majority of the Pacific Fleet's vessels would be home-ported - it was to their eventual misfortune that our carriers were out on exercise. so they went to secondary targets, hitting the battleships and cruisers.

Answer 7

three good answers about Pearl Harbor.did anyone mention anti torpedo nets weren't rigged?

as a general answer pre war, the Japanese limited by treaty to the number of cruisers and destroyers, decided to concentrate on developing an equalizer.the surface launched torpedo......they came up with something called the Long Lance..........I'll leave it to you to find the specs on line, but it was roughly 50% faster, 50% more range and a 50% bigger warhead than our "state of the art" stuff.
US surface action groups of destroyers and cruisers were getting hit ( Savo, Tasafaronga) by torpedoes at a range and speed we didn't think possible....it wasn't till 1943 we realized their torpedoes had about the same range as our 6" guns and we had to fight at WAY longer range....

Answer 8

Wooden Fins