What if US carriers were at Pearl Harbor?

The massive fleet of carriers that the United States built by 1944 would have overwhelmed the prewar Imperial Japanese Navy, even without the losses at Coral Sea, Midway and Guadalcanal. U.S. superiority in training and in aircraft would have ground the Japanese down, slowly but surely.

Why were the US carriers not at Pearl Harbor?

The Japanese were aware that the American carriers were not at Pearl Harbor. After some debate, they decided the chance to destroy all eight US Pacific Fleet battleships — still seen as the dominant naval weapon at the time — was just too good an opportunity to pass up.

What would happen if a U.S. aircraft carrier was sunk?

The sinking of a U.S. aircraft carrier might well result in casualties that would exceed the total losses of the Iraq War in no more than a few minutes. When capital ships sink, they sometimes take nearly every crew member with them; 1415 of a crew of 1418 went down with HMS Hood in 1941, for example.

Are there aircraft carriers at Pearl Harbor?

The Navy Department Library

On 7 December 1941, the three Pacific Fleet aircraft carriers were USS Enterprise (CV-6), USS Lexington (CV-2), and USS Saratoga(CV-3).

What did Admiral Yamamoto say about attacking the United States?

Japanese Admiral Yamamoto is claimed by some to have said, "You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass."

What if Japan Never Attacked Pearl Harbor?

Did Japanese throw POWS overboard?

A postwar investigation found Japanese accounts that said he was interrogated and then thrown overboard with weights attached to his feet, drowning him. In terms of naval commanders, two of the greats participated in Midway and they complemented each other perfectly.

What did Nimitz say about Pearl Harbor?

Big sunken battleships and navy vessels cluttered the waters every where you looked. As the tour boat returned to dock, the young helmsman of the boat asked, “Well Admiral, what do you think after seeing all this destruction?” Admiral Nimitz's reply shocked everyone within the sound of his voice.

Did the US lose any aircraft carriers in ww2?

Twelve aircraft carriers were sunk by the enemy during World War II -- five fleet carriers, a seaplane tender and six escort carriers. The loss of the Bismarck Sea was the last time that a U.S. carrier went down due to enemy action.

Which ships survived Pearl Harbor untouched?

Can China sink a US carrier?

These platforms can launch a wide array of weapons, most importantly China's vast arsenal of cruise missiles. In sufficient numbers, all of these can threaten to kill a carrier. In a shooting war we could expect China to use all of these systems or to graduate their use depending on political and military developments.

Can Russia sink a US aircraft carrier?

Hypersonic Weapons

They combine the most lethal aspects of both ballistic missiles and cruise missiles, and with inertia alone can cause enough damage to a carrier to kill a mission, if not the entire ship.

Has a battleship ever sunk a carrier?

This is what happenned. At 4 p.m. on June 8, 1940, the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious was cruising west across the Norwegian Sea towards the British naval base of Scapa Flow when her lookout spotted two grey blips over a dozen miles away on the horizon.

Did Japan warn U.S. about Pearl Harbor?

Some officials were warned in clear detail by those with insider knowledge that Pearl Harbor was to be attacked by the Japanese — and some argue the attack could have been avoided altogether had these American officials heeded the warnings.

What mistake did American radar operators make at 7 20 am?

At just after 7 a.m., Elliot noticed an unusually large blip on the radar, something that seemed to indicate a rather large flight. Unsure of what the signal could be, Elliot made a call to the Information Center at Fort Shafter and was advised no one was available and he would receive a call back.

Could Japan have invaded Hawaii?

In truth, the Japanese never had the slightest chance of successfully invading Hawaii, whether they triumphed at Midway or not. The main reason for this is the logistical ability of Japan to wage the Pacific War.

Who has the strongest Navy in ww2?

1939 - 1945

At the beginning of World War II, the Royal Navy was the strongest navy in the world, with the largest number of warships built and with naval bases across the globe. It had over 15 battleships and battlecruisers, 7 aircraft carriers, 66 cruisers, 164 destroyers and 66 submarines.

Who lost the most ships in ww2?

The US Navy lost over 350 ships during World War II, but less than 30 since then. These are the most notable losses.

Has a submarine ever sunk an aircraft carrier?

At 69,000 tons when launched in 1944, the Shinano would have remained the world's largest aircraft until the 1960s. But that was not to be. Instead the Shinano earned a distinction of a different kind: the title of largest warship ever sunk by a submarine.

Did Japan regret Pearl Harbor?

Abe's Pearl Harbor speech has been well received in Japan, where most people expressed the opinion that it struck the right balance of regret that the Pacific war occurred, but offered no apologies. Julian Ryall reports.

What was Japan's biggest mistake in ww2?

One of the biggest mistakes the Japanese made was not destroying the smallest American ships in Pearl: our submarines. They survived and put to sea to destroy more Japanese tonnage during the war than the Americans lost at Pearl Harbor. And the biggest mistake of all? Underestimating the American public.

Did Nimitz say the Japanese made 3 mistakes?

Admiral Nimitz said, "The Japanese made three of the biggest mistakes an attack force could ever make or God was taking care of America.

How many Japanese were executed for war crimes?

In addition to the central Tokyo trial, various tribunals sitting outside Japan judged some 5,000 Japanese guilty of war crimes, of whom more than 900 were executed.

What did the Japanese do to American prisoners?

The treatment of American and allied prisoners by the Japanese is one of the abiding horrors of World War II. Prisoners were routinely beaten, starved and abused and forced to work in mines and war-related factories in clear violation of the Geneva Conventions.

Does Japan teach about ww2?

The Japanese school curriculum largely glosses over the occupations of Taiwan, China, Korea and various Russian islands before the attack on Pearl Harbor; it essentially doesn't teach the detail of the war in the Pacific and South East Asia until Hiroshima and Nagasaki.