Can someone tell me why there were no aircraft carriers at Pearl Harbor when it was attacked by the Japanese?

	Can someone tell me why there were no aircraft carriers at Pearl Harbor when it was attacked by the Japanese? Would it have affected the outcome of the Pacific War? Would the war in the Pacific have lasted longer? I want to thank you for the response to my question. Several answers are very good! Asked By: harveymac1336 - 4/6/2011

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~It is entirely possible that no carriers were in port because Adm Husband Kimmel, CinCPac, had the guts to act on his convictions. When FDR first ordered the Pacific Fleet to be transferred from San Diego to Pearl Harbor, then CinCPac Adm James Otto Richardson protested that such a move would constitute an unnecessary provocation [in a long line of continuing provocations that had been directed against Japan for almost a decade] that might very well induce an attack. Richardson also warned that the fleet would be a sitting duck at Pearl against a carrier launched air attack and could not be defended. US war games had already proved that obvious point. So strong were Richardson's beliefs that he disobeyed the orders several times. When he finally complied and the fleet was transferred, Richardson was fired. The job - Commander in Chief, Pacific - was offered to Chester Nimitz. Nimitz concurred with Richardson and he knew that when (not "if") the attack came and the fleet was destroyed, CinCPac would get the blame. He declined the post. Husband Kimmel also echoed Richardson's fears. However, he took the job (and, as predicted by Nimitz, became the scapegoat). Kimmel did what he could to deploy the fleet to safe environs. Perhaps his orders to the carrier groups were part of an overall design to keep them out of port. In any case, on December 7, Enterprise was returning home with her escorts (2 heavy cruisers and 9 destroyers) from delivering a fighter squadron (12 Wildcats) to the Marines on Wake Island. She was delayed by weather on the homeward voyage or would have been in port on 12/7. As it was, she was about 215 miles off Oahu and some of her planes were engaged during the attack. On December 5, Lexington was dispatched (with 3 heavy cruisers and 5 destroyers) to deliver 18 Vindicator bombers to Midway. She was about 500 miles from Midway when the attack came and she was ordered to terminate the mission and return to base. Saratoga had be sent to Puget Sound Navy Yard in Washington for overhaul and was on her way back. On December 7, she had made it as far as San Diego. Yorktown, Ranger and Wasp were assigned to the Atlantic Fleet. On 9/11/41 FDR had effectively declared war on Germany during his Fireside Chat when he announced that he had ordered the US Navy to fire, without provocation, on any German warships sighted in US "defensive" waters (which he described as the entire Atlantic Ocean, especially from US shores along the coast of Canada, past Greenland and Iceland to the beaches of the British Isles. He also transferred a number of ships from the Pacific Fleet to the Atlantic Command to engage in hunter-killer missions he dubbed "neutrality patrols", else even more ships would have been at anchor at Pearl on December 7. Hornet had been commissioned by was still engage in sea trials and her shake down cruise. Had the carriers been in port, they would have been primary targets. If sunk or damaged, their absence would certainly have impacted on the length of the war. The Japanese did not want war with the US and the purpose of Kido Butai was to cripple the US naval presence in the Japanese sphere of influence, forcing the US to cease the relentless and ever increasing military provocations against her, to release assets frozen in the US and lift the embargoes. The Japanese were hoping the attack would result in a prompt treaty or at least would buy them the time they needed to sew up the Malaysian oil and rubber fields. Pearl was only one of several targets on December 7 and the overall scheme was to deliver such a compelling blow that the US and UK would have no choice but to come to terms. The absence of the carriers was only one shortcoming of the attack. Had Genda been allowed to launch the third wave against the sub pens, the drydocks and maintenance yards and the oil storage facilities, Pearl would have been crippled. Had Nagumo been authorized to take out Wake and Midway on the way home, the entire course of the war would have changed and without those forward bases, the US might have been forced to engage in sincere negotiations. Once the US industrial might was unleashed on full time war production, the Japanese could not keep up. The defense plants had as much or more to do with the outcome of the naval war than the ships they produced. On the other hand, the main Japanese war was with the Chinese on the Asian mainland. The lose of the carriers may have helped the Japanese prosecute that war, in that they would have better access to war materiel and raw materials but the Chinese inevitable would have won a war of attrition with Japan on the basis of manpower and resources alone. Answered By: Oscar Himpflewitz - 4/6/2011

Additional Answers ()

Because Pearl harbor was planned by FDR. http://lovkap.blogspot.com/2010/07/truth-behind-pearl-harbor.html Answered By: Lies your teacher Taught You - 4/8/2011

On 7 December 1941, the three Pacific Fleet aircraft carriers were USS Enterprise (CV-6), USS Lexington (CV-2), and USS Saratoga (CV-3). Enterprise: On 28 November 1941, Admiral Husband E. Kimmel sent TF-8, consisting of Enterprise, the heavy cruisers Northampton (CA-26), Chester (CA-27), and Salt Lake City (CA-24) and nine destroyers under Vice Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr., to ferry 12 Grumman F4F-3 Wildcats of Marine Fighting Squadron (VMF) 211 to Wake Island. Upon completion of the mission on 4 December, TF-8 set course to return to Pearl Harbor. Dawn on 7 December 1941 found TF-8 about 215 miles west of Oahu. Lexington: On 5 December 1941, TF-12, formed around Lexington, under the command of Rear Admiral John H. Newton, sailed from Pearl to ferry 18 Vought SB2U-3 Vindicators of Marine Scout Bombing Squadron 231 to Midway Island. Dawn on 7 December 1941 found Lexington, heavy cruisers Chicago (CA-29), Portland (CA-33), and Astoria (CA-34), and five destroyers about 500 miles southeast of Midway. The outbreak of hostilities resulted in cancellation of the mission and VMSB-231 was retained on board [they would ultimately fly to Midway from Hickam Field on 21 December]. Saratoga: The Saratoga, having recently completed an overhaul at the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, reached NAS San Diego [North Island] late in the forenoon watch on 7 December. She was to embark her air group, as well as Marine Fighting Squadron (VMF) 221 and a cargo of miscellaneous airplanes to ferry to Pearl Harbor. Yorktown (CV-5), Ranger (CV-4) and Wasp (CV-7), along with the aircraft escort vessel Long Island (AVG-1), were in the Atlantic Fleet; Hornet (CV-8), commissioned in late October 1941, had yet to carry out her shakedown. Yorktown would be the first Atlantic Fleet carrier to be transferred to the Pacific, sailing on 16 December 1941. Source(s): http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq66-9.htm Answered By: Applemanthefourth - 4/7/2011

It was HUGE that they weren't there. Might have changed everything if they were. Don't know why they weren't - just bad luck for the Japs that day. Could have just as easily been the other way. Answered By: All hat - 4/6/2011

The Air Craft Carriers had been dispatched to deliver airplanes to bases in the Pacific. If they had been lost, it would have taken several years longer to win the war, as they would not have been available to stop the Japanese advance in the Pacific. We would have had to take a lot more territory. Answered By: ranger_co_1_75 - 4/6/2011

The American carrier force was at sea on exercises. The loss of the carriers would not have effected the outcome, however it would have meant the war would have been much longer. The USA could out produce Japan massively and by then Japan was over stretched. Answered By: Terry W - 4/6/2011

Enterprise was returning to Pearl after having delivered VMF-211 (a Marine fighter plane squadron) to Wake Island. Lexington was on her way to Midway on a similar mission. Saratoga was entering San Diego (from Bremerton). Those were the only carriers assigned to the Pacific. It's been said that having the battleships out of commission and the carriers as the last line of defense hastened the switch to a carrier-based navy doctrine. That may or may not be true, as the strategy of the war against Japan had already been decided before the attack on Pearl: the US planned to island-hop, allowing Air Force bombers to stage to one island group to another, until they could bomb the Japanese home islands out of the war-making business. To gain and hold the Army's air bases, though, would require Marines, carriers, and surface ships. Certainly the war would have been a good deal longer, though, if the carriers hadn't been there. Answered By: John de Witt - 4/6/2011

Because our government knew ahead of time that the Japanese were going to attack Pearl Harbor. Roosevelt needed a "false flag" operation to convince the US to enter the war, because most Americans preferred neutrality. False flags should always maximize visible damage, but should incur minimal damage in actuality. Source(s): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Harbor_advance-knowledge_conspiracy_theory Answered By: Kamikaze - 4/6/2011

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