Hello All ;
Mr. OpanaPointer posted :
#68 by OpanaPointer » 23 Jun 2022 17:09
Paul, you ignored most of my post. C'est la vie.
If you are referring to your posting # 42, I made a full reply to every segment of your posting
in MY posting # 44.
But since you want to do it all over again.......
69 by OpanaPointer » 23 Jun 2022 17:16
The important thing about the tanks at Pearl is that the IJN pilots didn't attack them. Sitting
ducks with no immediate military value weren't sexy enough for the Japanese. The bombers
had other targets, the fighters couldn't kill a tank, rupturing it wouldn't cause the loss of the
fuel, the fighters didn't have guns to do it anyway. The bombers and torpedo planes had more
butch targets. At Darwin the bombers took out some of the tanks. Probably because there were
no battleships or carriers there.
The important thing about the tanks at Pearl is that the IJN pilots didn't attack them.
If they had, they probably would have put the USN out of the war for the better part of 18 months.
At least that was the estimate of Admiral Husband Kimmel, who stated :
" It would have forced
the withdrawal of the Fleet to the West Coast because there wasn't any oil anywhere else out
there to keep the Fleet operating. " ( Pearl Harbor Hearings, 6/2812)
Sitting ducks with no immediate military value weren't sexy enough for the Japanese.
This was a failure of Doctrine. As long as the person in command isn't an idiot, he can change
Doctrine.
The bombers had other targets
On a Third Strike, the tanks could have been MADE their target.
the fighters couldn't kill a tank
I've already called Bullshit on this once. The Type 99 20mm cannon on the A6M could punch through
15 mm of ARMOR at 500 meters, and would then explode. The tops of the tanks were only .5" thick,
which is 12.5 mm, and were made from mild steel. So the cannons on the Zekes would have ripped
through the tops of the tanks, and then exploded with a temperature of 1400 C, which would ignite
the Bunker B oil inside the tanks.
The bombers and torpedo planes had more butch targets
Tanks not
sexy, other targets more
butch...... Mr. OpanaPointer, is there something you are trying
to tell us ? It's all right. We understand. We're open minded here on this Forum......
(... In the Navy, you can set your mind at ease,
In the Navy, you can sail the seven seas....... )
At Darwin the bombers took out some of the tanks. Probably because there were
no battleships or carriers there
Or maybe because someone had figured out by then what a mistake they had made by not making
a third strike and hitting the Oil Storage Tanks.......
Mr. OpanaPointer, go read Real Admiral Layton's book,
' And I Was There ' . On page 498, Captain
Roger Pineau recounts a meeting he had with Admiral Tomioka in 1949, during which they discussed the
bombing of the Pearl Harbor Fuel Tanks. Captain Pineau's estimate of the amount of time that would
have immobilized the USN ?
Twelve to Eighteen Months !
Mr. OpanaPointer, I rest my case. Oh yeah. In my opinion, Zimm is full of manure.
Respectfully ;
Paul R Ward