Was The United States Prepared For War With Japan?

The standard narrative of WWII, repeated by most historians and widely accepted as gospel, is that the US was not prepared for war. Hogwash.

I realized it was hogwash when I first learned, about half a century ago, that the ships moored at Pearl Harbor that Sunday morning managed to fire their anti-aircraft weapons at attacking aircraft within four minutes of the attack. That actually demonstrates a very high level of combat readiness.

Admiral Nagumo, officer in tactical command of the Japanese carrier attack, didn't think the US Navy was unprepared. He was surprised at how little advantage accrued to him from the element of surprise. Nor did the Japanese midget submarines find the US unprepared. Only one of the five managed to fire its torpedoes. All were destroyed.

Ten percent of the attacking Japanese aircraft were destroyed by Pearl Harbor's defenders. Three months later, when Doolittle's sixteen B-25's attacked Tokyo and other cities, none was destroyed by defenders.

Another part of the standard narrative is that the US Navy in the Pacific cowered in defensive mode until Midway. If you've been paying attention to my posts, you know that wasn't so, either.


You might want to read some early after action reports. Then reflect on what these reports reveal about the level of readiness and the professionalism of our navy and marine corps in 1941. For myself, I find it awesome:


Enterprise Carrier Air Group Commander Report Dec 7 1941.

Preliminary Report USS Lexington Loss In Action.

USS Yorktown (CV-5) Loss In Action.

Admiral King Report.