Was the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor a Failure?

The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941. The attack led to the United States entry into World War II. .

Motivated by the victorious spirit of Togo, the Japanese maneuver when attacking Pearl Harbor was conducted by using its utmost power, and as the core power to strike was the aircraft carrier. The attack leader was directly entrusted to Vice Admiral C. Nagumo, by then was in a position as Japanese Carrier Fleet Commander. The sum of 33 ships were mobilized and formed a task force formation. There were 6 carriers functioning as air attack force, under the command of Nagumo at the same time.

It was reinforced by a task force of escort ships, consisting of 9 destroyer ships and 1 heavy cruiser ship under the command of Rear Admiral S. Omori. A task force of the supporting ships consisting of 17 warships, namely: 2 battle ships, 2 heavy cruiser ships, 2 destroyer ships, 3 submarines and 8 tanker ships and ancillary ship, led by Vice Admiral G. Mikawa.

Three submarines were given a special task to secure and neutralize the sailing lane along the voyage towards Pearl Harbor. Whereas two destroyer ships were specially assigned to neutralize the possible meeting with the patrol ships from Midway.

The Japanese had been hoping to catch U.S. aircraft carriers at Pearl Harbor, and the next major important naval target was the battleships.

The Japanese attack to Pearl Harbor had caused a tremendous loss for the US side. Twenty-one ships of the U.S. Pacific Fleet were sunk or damaged. Aircraft losses were 188 destroyed and 159 damaged, the majority hit before the had a chance to take off. American dead numbered 2,403. That figure included 68 civilians, most of them killed by improperly fused anti-aircraft shells landing in Honolulu. There were 1,178 military and civilian wounded.

However, the dream of Yamamoto to imitate the victory of Togo in Tsushima was still far away from the expectation. The Japanese success was overwhelming, but it was not a strategic victory. They failed to damage any American aircraft carriers. It was because by a stroke of luck, some U.S. aircraft carriers having the base in Pearl Harbor during the time of attack were still available at the sea.

The carrier Lexington escorted by three heavy cruiser ships — Chicago, Portland and Astoria — and five destroyer ships, under the command of Rear Admiral J.H. Newton, by then was in the position of 420 miles southeast of Midway Island. Newton directly took his task force to Pearl Harbor after receiving the news about the attack from Admiral Kimmel.

The heavy cruiser ship Indianapolis together with five destroyer ships under the command of Vice Admiral Wilson Brown by then was at the position of 700 miles southwest of Oahu Island, and after knowing Pear Harbor was attacked directly moved in full speed to join Newton.
 
 The carrier Enteprise escorted by three heavy cruiser ships and nine destroyer ships led by Vice Admiral William F. Halsey JR, was also safe from the attack. Halsey by then was on his way from Wake Island towards Pearl Harbor, around 200 miles on the west.

It was lucky for the Enterprise that Japan did not run into it. At that time, most of the bomber planes of the Enterprise had been ordered to land at Ford Island, so that Enterprise was sailing without any air protection. Had Nagumo known its condition, certainly the Halsey’s task force would have become the sitting duck target. Halsey’s task force arrived in Pearl Harbor in the afternoon, one day after the attack. Halsey found Pearl Harbor completely in jeopardy due to lots of damages. What was in Halsey’s mind, if by then he had known that Nagumo., after attacking Pearl Harbor directly moved westwards, and parts of his ships maneuvered to seize and invade the US base in Wake Island, that he had just left.

In addition to the aforesaid ships, there were still other task forces of U.S. ships escaped from Japan’s attack to Pearl Harbor, among others were the heavy cruiser ship Minneapolis escorted by four destroyer ships under the command of Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher by then was maneuvering at the south of Oahu Island.

The others, the heavy cruiser ship Pensacola, Louisville, and the battle ship Colorado as well as the carrier Saratoga were all not available in Pearl Harbor.

Certainly, although the loss suffered by America was sufficiently great, all of its carriers escaped from the attack. The plan of a decisive attack to the U.S. Fleet in Pacific as expected by Yamamoto basically was unaccomplished. Moreover, after the said attack, America directly withdrew some of its warships from the Atlantic operational field, in order to be put into the fleet group in Pacific.

Admiral King, the Atlantic Fleet Commander, directly sent his carrier, Yorktown, complete with its bomber planes. Together with Yorktown, three battle ships were also sent: New Mexico, Mississippi, Idaho, and one squadron of destroyer ships, and three squadrons of bomber planes. This carrier Yorktown was the one later on becoming the “stumbling block” for the Japanese fleet at the battle field in Coral Sea and in Midway.

The battle in Coral Sea, taking place on May 7–8, 1942, was a very specific sea war, because for the first time in history of sea war, a task force of carrier ships confronted with another task force of carrier ships.

The U.S. Task Force was under the command of Rear Admiral Fletcher, with core power consisting of 2 carriers : Yorktown and Lexington. On the first day of battle, on May 7, succeeded in sinking Soho, the light carrier, and destroyed all bomber planes available on its deck. On the second day, on May 8, planes from USS Yorktown hit the Shokaku, followed somewhat later by part of USS Lexington’s air group. These attacks left Shokaku unable to launch planes, and she left the area soon after to return to Japan for repair.

The Battle of Midway took place on June 4–5, 1942. The failure in maneuver of the Japanese fleet in Coral Sea even motivated Yamamoto to destroy the U.S. Fleet in one strike, in a very big power, namely 131 ships. The striking task force under the command of Nagumo, with core power consisting of four carriers: Akagi, Kaga, Soryu and Hiryu.

Admiral Nimitz gave command from Pearl Harbor base, and Rear Admiral Fletcher was appointed to lead the battle with his core power consisting of three carriers: Enterprise, Hornet and Yorktown. These three U.S. carriers were under the command of Rear Admiral Spruance. The Battle of Midway effectively destroyed Japan’s naval strength when the Americans destroyed four of its aircraft carriers.

Source:

The Book ‘Other Views of Naval Battle’,by Gatot Soedarto,CreateSpace,2014.