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Dan,
Very good post. Yes we should reflect. Pearl Harbor was a sad day for the U.S. Admiral Kimmel and General Short had NO Jap intercept machines and Washington had four and only sent such information to the military commanders as was deemed "need to know." As for Kimmel and Short, they had very limited budgets for our peacetime military in those days. We had 105 ships and 485 planes in Hawaii and only the destroyer Ward was patrolling outside the harbor on that fateful Sunday morning. Grounded planes and moored ships did not burn fuel and thus our costs and Negligent due diligence surveillance were the order of the day.
Even the Japanese were stunned they met no picket ships or overhead air cover on their trip to Hawaii. We were surprised that day because we were "asleep at the switch." The old saw, "The Japs surprised us" never did wash because it was our duty to guard against surprise. The limited military budget was a factor. We never did fix the responsibility to which individual decided we did not need to be on watch.
Adam
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Adam Helmer
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