"Pearl Harbor: Plenty of Blame to Go Around" Topic

Virtually everyone in a position of authority, from Washington to Honolulu, was culpable for being so thoroughly taken by surprise by the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Proceedings Magazine: link

I think its often forgotten the IJN did a pretty good job of keeping the attack as secret as possible. Blame is easy, responsibility isn't!

But somebody has to be the scapegoat.

Nobody expected the Japanese to shove all the chips across the table. What they expected was probably something along the lines of what had happened a year previously: a move to occupy colonial territory of a European nation already under German occupation, the Dutch East Indids- perhaps, at worst, an attack on Malaya or the Philippines. Everyone could see how gross the long-term power mismatch between Japan and Britain or Japan and the US (to say nothing of the combination of the two) was. Yes, the Allies were weak in the near term, but strengthening rapidly, and Japan was completely embroiled in China. She seemed to be at the outside limit of her warmaking ability.

Under those circumstances, a Japanese attack seemed irrational to the Americans, as it did to Yamamoto, and frankly, even to Tojo. But they did it just the same.

There was evidence, but I think no one understood their abilities and could have stopped it. We underestimated them. And they did a great job of keeping their naval technology and carrier capabilities secrets for years before.

But on this 80th anniversary it is worth thinking what a miracle it proved for the US Armed Forces and the Free World.

The carriers were not there.

The battleships sank in 40ft of water and most could be raised

The sailors could abandon ship in a harbour and not in the Central Pacific Ocean, so they survived.

Whatever the loss in planes (many obsolete), the far more valuable pilots were grounded and they too survived.

Nevada did not block the channel

The oil storage and repair facilities survived

Neosho survived intact (imagine if they had gone for her instead of the battlewagons)

Above all, the sleeping giant concept, terrible resolve etc

Putting all the blame on Kimmel might have been unfair, but it was probably the best move possible at the time. The public would demand that SOMEONE be blamed and punished, but there was also the overriding issue that the US was now in a huge war that had to be fought and won. Trying to fairly spread the blame to Stark, Marshall, and even FDR would have made that job enormously more difficult. Issues of politics or personal interest aside, leaving the high command unsullied was the wisest course of action for the nation.

Stark didn't exactly prosper afterwards.

The nature of command in the US Navy is that you are responsible for everything that happens in your command regardless of whether you can influence it or not. Thus a commander who has a disaster happen has a very hard time avoiding consequence. It may be a brutal way to run a navy but there are more command-qualified officers than commands and the Navy can afford to throw away a few officers to keep the rest in line. And for the officers, the alternative to accepting this is simple: Don't accept a command.
Is it the right way to run the Navy? Not sure but it's the only game in town.