(December 6, 2018 at 2:25 pm)Deesse23 Wrote: I doubt the correct reporting and evaluation of the radar contact at Pearl would have made any significant difference, even if we assume the US could have launched a number of aircraft before the japanese attack commenced.
#1 Attacking planes were escorted by Zero fighters, a lot of Zero fighters
#2 The Zero was at that time better than any US fighter
#3 Japanese pilots had a significant experience advantage over US pilots. We know from the EU theatore as well as the later pacific theatre how important pilot experience was
#4 1hr or so of early warning still would have left the US BBs sitting ducks in a row. It takes much longer than that to get pressure on the boilers and turbines. Even if they would have managed to move (like Nevada did) they would have been hit, just like Nevada was, there wasnt much room to maneuver.
Overall i´d expect the result not to be any fundamentally different.
The Fleet had several hundred guns that could have been manned a ready if we knew of the attack before hand. The Army didn't have ammunition available for the AAA that was in place. The ships were not "buttoned up", some of them had covers removed from voids, making it easier to sink them. The BBs were supplying their own power, one boiler running to provide "hotel services", like electricity.
I've often posited that a line of destroyers anchored east of Battleship Row would have made torpedo attack almost impossible. However, given that the Americans didn't think torpedoes could be used in the shallow waters of Pearl, the idea of such a deployment was unlikely to occur to them even if they knew the IJN was coming.
And the Zero wasn't better than the Tomahawk, just more famous.
