Carrier Battles Coral Sea/Midway

[PassandReviewofWW2]

Initial Japanese plans to concentrate objectives within the mandated areas, went awry when the plan to bomb obsolete battleships conveniently placed
at Pearl Harbor as bait, took precedence. The U S Carriers not present at Pearl Harbor kept out of the Harbor was no coincidence.
The problem of establishing Air Superiority over the Pacific, would have required millions of Planes.

[R Leonard]

The U S Carriers not present at Pearl Harbor kept out of the Harbor was no coincidence.
The problem of establishing Air Superiority over the Pacific, would have required millions of Planes.

. . . no coincidence? You mean like some one knew the hammer has about to fall and wanted them out of the way? Surely you jest. Three carriers in the CarBatFor, Lexington - on the way to deliver planes to Midway, a mission already assigned; Enterprise - on its way back from delivering planes to Wake, also a mission already assigned and had not bad weather intervened stood a good chance of being at Pearl Harbor on the morning of the 7th; Saratoga finishing up a yard period on the west coast. So all three were where they were supposed to be, doing what they were supposed to be doing. So, no, not "no coincidence." Their absence from Pearl harbor was in reality a serendipitous coincidence as it insured they would be available to work later mischief in the coming months. Kimmel was the guy in charge and sent Lexington and Enterprise on their missions, Enterprise departing on 28 November 1941 and Lexington on 5 December 1941. Kimmel would be the first one to tell of the attack on Pearl Harbor being a surprise. To suggest that he'd sent the carriers way to avoid the attack would mean he was in on the Japanese plan . . . not likely.

Nobody, Allies or the Japanese had millions of planes. Air superiority was established locally wherever operations were being conducted. By the end of the war, a USN carrier task force, TF-58 or TF-38 could toss 1300 to 1400 airplane into an operation, usually enough, but no millions.

[Lethl215]

Initial Japanese plans to concentrate objectives within the mandated areas, went awry when the plan to bomb obsolete battleships conveniently placed
at Pearl Harbor as bait, took precedence. The U S Carriers not present at Pearl Harbor kept out of the Harbor was no coincidence.
The problem of establishing Air Superiority over the Pacific, would have required millions of Planes.

Good God! Did Chat GPT write this with some preconceived inputted parameters or is this some terrible translation from another language since this statement, in and of itself, has got to be some of the most wrongheaded incoherent dribble posted on this board - and that is saying something as it seems to be very prevalent these days. You may want to learn a little more about the subject and have a basis of knowledge before throwing out a statement such as this. May I suggest reading Prange then delving into the PHA Inquiry for a month or two. Then come back and rephrase in a coherent fashion with supporting documents and similar takes from at least one SME to back this up.

[R Leonard]

I've been starting to suspect AI created missives. Either that or someone is reading some pretty bad sources if not conspiracy nonsense.

[Rob Stuart]

The Japanese Coral Sea/Port Moresby/Midway Operations were delayed because of the U S Doolittle Raid,

So far as I know there is no evidence that either Operation MO or Operations MI and AL were delayed by the Doolittle raid, so on what basis are you making this claim?

[EwenS]

I've been starting to suspect AI created missives. Either that or someone is reading some pretty bad sources if not conspiracy nonsense.

Me too. Definitely something odd. He/she/it never seems to reply to questions raised in response to posts in this or other threads.

[LineDoggie]

The U S had 8 carriers counting Langley and Ranger

Langley was no longer an carrier but a Seaplane tender from 1936 on

[PassandReviewofWW2]

2 More lesser known Carriers: Long Island,( used at Guadalcanal) and Kitty Hawk at MIdway
The Doolittle nuisance Raid on Tokio, set off a big wild goose chase across the Pacific , for the entire Japanese Combined Fleet
that had no previous operational practice of this magnitude.
The Battleship Yamato, which had all the latest technological gadgetry , radar etc, should have been in the lead.
The Midway score , for the U S was a big win, until the battle off Santa Cruz Islands.

[R Leonard]

Nice try.

Already mentioned USS Long Island in post #6 . . . guess you missed it.

USS Kitty Hawk was not an aircraft carrier, Kitty Hawk (APV-1) was an aircraft transport, hoisting its cargo of aircraft on and off with cranes. Aircraft could not operate off the ship.

[EwenS]

2 More lesser known Carriers: Long Island,( used at Guadalcanal) and Kitty Hawk at MIdway
The Doolittle nuisance Raid on Tokio, set off a big wild goose chase across the Pacific , for the entire Japanese Combined Fleet
that had no previous operational practice of this magnitude.
The Battleship Yamato, which had all the latest technological gadgetry , radar etc, should have been in the lead.
The Midway score , for the U S was a big win, until the battle off Santa Cruz Islands.

The first Japanese shipborne radar sets didn’t become available until March/April 1942. By Midway only the Battleships Ise & Hyuga had been fitted with them. They were sent north as part of the Aleutian operation.
https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-hi ... les-midway

[Delta Tank]

EwenS,

What does u/s mean?

“IJN aerial recce had weaknesses in the first 6 months of the war as evidenced by Operation C & Midway for example. But the problems lay not so much in the reporting as in the numbers of aircraft deployed to do it given the area of ocean to be covered, and what happened if an aircraft went u/s so leading to gaps in the area covered. Simply using carrier aircraft doesn't help with those isues”

Mike

[Rob Stuart]

EwenS,

What does u/s mean?

“IJN aerial recce had weaknesses in the first 6 months of the war as evidenced by Operation C & Midway for example. But the problems lay not so much in the reporting as in the numbers of aircraft deployed to do it given the area of ocean to be covered, and what happened if an aircraft went u/s so leading to gaps in the area covered. Simply using carrier aircraft doesn't help with those isues”

Mike

It means "unserviceable". When I joined the Canadian military in 1975 this abbreviation was still sometimes in use, often written "US", but it was changed to N/S or NS, meaning "non-serviceable", lest US or U/S be confused with "United States".

[Delta Tank]

EwenS,

What does u/s mean?

“IJN aerial recce had weaknesses in the first 6 months of the war as evidenced by Operation C & Midway for example. But the problems lay not so much in the reporting as in the numbers of aircraft deployed to do it given the area of ocean to be covered, and what happened if an aircraft went u/s so leading to gaps in the area covered. Simply using carrier aircraft doesn't help with those isues”

Mike

It means "unserviceable". When I joined the Canadian military in 1975 this abbreviation was still sometimes in use, often written "US", but it was changed to N/S or NS, meaning "non-serviceable", lest US or U/S be confused with "United States".

Rob Stuart

Thanks! IIRC when I was in the US Army we used “uns” but, I could be wrong.

Mike

[OpanaPointer]

The U S Carriers not present at Pearl Harbor kept out of the Harbor was no coincidence.

You're right, it wasn't.
https://www.ibiblio.org/pha/myths/Missing_Carriers.html

[OpanaPointer]