Sea Power and Maritime Affairs

1. Sea Power and Maritime Affairs Lesson 5.11: World War II: The U.S. Navy in the Pacific, 1941-1945

2. Enabling Objectives • EXPLAIN the political and economic forces that led Japan to strike at Pearl Harbor and colonial possessions of the U.S. and Britain. • DEFINE the Japanese strategy for an early victory and their concept of the postwar Pacific power balance. • EXPLAIN the impact of Pearl Harbor and the subsequent Battles of Coral Sea and Midway on the transformation of the aircraft carrier's role in Naval Warfare.

3. Enabling Objectives • LIST the significant highlights of the evolution of U.S. operational strategy in the Pacific, including major battles or campaigns and instances where strategy was flawed or ambiguous. • RECOGNIZE the geopolitical and military implications of President Truman’s decision to utilize atomic weapons in ending the war in the Pacific.

4. Background Information • Japanese-American relations tense throughout 1930s. • Japan challenged America’s “Open Door” policy by attacking Manchuria in 1931 • In 1937, Japanese expansion in China resulted in attack on American gunboat, the Panay, by Japanese aircraft • Roosevelt adopted economic sanctions leading to an oil embargo by Americans, British and Dutch (July 1941)

5. Background Information • The Japanese home islands were not rich in natural resources. • Japanese struck for the oil-rich Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), Singapore, and the surrounding British-owned Malaya, Thailand, the Philippines, and Hong Kong. • The Japanese camouflaged their plans with diplomatic negotiations in Washington. • The United States expected an assault somewhere in the Pacific because cryptanalysts, in a technique called “Magic,” had broken the Japanese Diplomatic Code.

6. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto • Commander in Chief • Japanese Combined Fleet • Lived in the United States • Boston - Studied English • Washington D.C. - Naval Attaché • Against war with the U.S. • Demanded Pearl Harbor Attack • Destruction of U.S. Pacific Fleet September 1940: “If I am told to fight regardless of the consequences, I shall run wild for the first six months or a year, but I have utterly no confidence for the second or third year.”

7. Japanese Strategic Assessment • Attack on Pearl Harbor: • Great risk: U.S. would surely enter the war • Greater potential gain: U.S. Pacific Fleet would be knocked out of the war • Japan would buy time after Pearl Harbor- then consolidate gains throughout China and the Pacific • Possibility of U.S. agreeing to Japanese territorial gains to make peace • Good possibility that U.S. involvement in Europe will drain naval resources from Pacific Ocean.

9. “A Day That Will Live in Infamy” • The attack on Pearl Harbor surprised the U.S., who had not anticipated a strike so far east or one mounted solely by carrier-born aircraft.

10. The Attack • Six newest and largest Japanese carriers at core of striking force • Sortie from Kuriles, rendezvous 7 Dec, 200 miles N of Pearl Harbor • Japanese fleet traveled across entire Pacific Ocean without being detected. • Launched 183 aircraft at 0600, strike 0755 • 90% of damage inflicted by 0825

11. U.S. Pacific Fleet - Pearl Harbor • No clear warning from Washington • Intercepts did not identify Pearl Harbor as a target • Slow communications between Washington and Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet • Admiral Husband E. Kimmel dismissed after attack. • Battleships in berths at Pearl for weekend liberty • “Battleship Row” • Carriers Lexington and Enterprise delivering aircraft to Midway and Wake Islands • Yamamoto - “Climb Mount Niitaka” message to Vice Admiral Nagumo to commence attack

12. Pearl Harbor 7 December 1941