Pearl Harbor Day
Today is the anniversary of one of those days where everybody remembers where they were when it happened. Along with JFK's assassination and 9/11, you just don't forget those days.
But just to show you how what the schools teach is wrong, let me tell you about that Sunday in Hawai'i.
When the 184 Japanese bombers and fighters came screaming out of the sky that morning, we were a Navy that thought Naval power came from a Battleships gun. Carriers were a passing fad. But the attack and the damaging of our Battleships forced us to use carriers for our offensive arm.
The Japanese made several crucial mistakes. They didn't attack the fuel farm and they didn't destroy the shipyard. They also didn't destroy the Submarine base. It was these items, left unscathed that cost Japan the war. By allowing the United States to have a forward base, they had access to most of the Pacific. To deny us this base would have severely hampered our efforts to control the Pacific.
The shipyard allowed us to repair all but the USS Arizona and USS Oklahoma. The fuel farm allowed us to keep the carriers and surviving Battleships to operate. And the Submarine base allowed us to conduct unrestricted submarine warfare on the Japanese home islands.
So while the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a tactical win for the Japanese, it was a strategic loss. It led to their defeat 6 months later at Midway, and the next 4 years we spent chasing the Japanese back across the Pacific.