Yahoo Answers is shutting down on 4 May 2021 (Eastern Time) and the Yahoo Answers website is now in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.

?
Lv 5
? asked in Arts & HumanitiesHistory · 6 years ago

How many US ships at Pearl Harbour were relocated to other parts of the world prior to the Japanese attack in December 1941?

Update:

I am trying to find out how many or which specific ships that were part of the Pacific Fleet but during the months up to December were moved elsewhere, ie the Atlantic.

3 Answers

Relevance
  • 6 years ago

    The American carriers in the Pacific Fleet were not in Pearl Harbor because they were busy with other tasks, like transporting aircraft to distant bases, NOT because Admiral Kimmel believed an attack was imminent.

    Linked is the order of battle of the U.S. Navy on 7 December 1941, including the location of every major ship.

    There was NO planned "third wave" at Pearl Harbor, because a third wave was impossible - the amount of time it would take for the Kido Butai to recover, rearm, refuel, spot, and launch a third strike wave would guarantee that the surviving planes would have to ditch in the ocean, perhaps miles from their carriers, because Japanese naval aircraft were not capable of landing on their carriers at night (the crews were not trained for night landings or for finding their carriers at night and the ships were not outfitted for that the accident rate would have been horrendous and would have risked destroying the carriers). A third strike wave would destroy the Kido Butai's air groups, rendering the carriers essentially useless when they had many other missions to fulfill in the coming weeks. Waiting until the next day to launch was also out of the question - the Kido Butai didn't have enough fuel to make it home if they didn't leave immediately after recovering their aircraft from the attack, and they would have risked discovery and attack by staying put.

  • Anonymous
    6 years ago

    All the aircraft carriers belonging at Pearl Harbor were at sea that day, because the admiral in charge suspected an attack might be imminent. Imperial Navy records indicate that the Japanese admiral decided against sending in the planned third wave of aerial attacks when he reali8zed they'd missed their primary targets - those very aircraft carriers.

  • Fred
    Lv 6
    6 years ago

    All three aircraft carriers were gone to ferry aircraft to the Philippines following a bait Japanese movement to draw American attention away from Hawaii.

    Sometimes a bluff works entirely too well! The aircraft carrier more valuable in the fast moving air-power Pacific war over the antiquated battleship of battles past.

    Also the missing aircraft carriers un-nerved the Japanese attackers. Fearing an attack from American carriers they opted out of a 3rd. wing attack that included bombing a fuel supply tank farm that would have hurt the American war effort more than the loss of 2 battleships, all other ships raised and returned to service.

Still have questions? Get answers by asking now.