Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on April 2nd , 1940. Pearl Harbor seemed to be the perfect place to rest the fleet. Situated between the Marshall Islands, where the Japanese fleet gathered and the west coast of America. The fleet wasn’t supposed to stay in the harbor very long yet because of events in Europe, President Roosevelt felt if the fleet was left in the harbor it would diminish the possibility of a Japanese attack on the U.S. the exact opposite proved to be true. On February 1st , 1941, Admiral James O. Richardson was officially replaced by Admiral Husband E. Kimmel. Richardson was supposedly removed because he strongly voiced his disagreement with the U.S. Pacific Fleet spending any more time in Pearl Harbor then they already had. Kimmel shared that view, and also wanted to keep his office, so he simply kept his opinion to himself. The fleet’s main objective while staying in their new location, was to distract the Japan from South Asia by, capturing the Caroline and Marshall Islands, disturbing Japanese trade routes and defending Guam and Hawaii as well as the United States. Admiral Isoroku Yamado, commander-in-chief of Japan’s Combined Fleet devised a plan that would protect the Japanese mainland from European invasion as well as launch offensive maneuvers. He decided to attack Pearl Harbor and Allied forces in Southeast Asia simultaneously, in an effort to demoralize American forces. Yamado felt this was the closet way to get a peace settlement. The attack was carefully planned out and guidelines were established, surprise was crucial, aircraft carriers were the primary targets to avoid opposition, all types of bombing were to be used, it would be necessary to refuel at sea and a daylight attack would be most affective. There was much opposition from Japanese Naval General Staff yet the attack went on as planned. After the bombing, out of 100 U.S. Naval ships in the harbor thirteen battleships and eleven smaller ship...
