The first attack on Pearl Harbor

by Stan Lowe, Chairman (retired), Wyoming Veterans’ Commission
Tuesday, December 18, 2007 12:31 PM MST

Pearl Harbor Day was observed on Dec. 7 this year at George W. Vroman Post 2 of the American Legion. The Natrona County United Veterans’ Council sponsored it, as always.

Sixty-five adults and children, the largest attendance ever for this observance, braved a cold winter night to be at this patriotic commemoration.

The main attraction was Rev. Leonard L. Robinson, D.D., who talked about the first Pearl Harbor attack. He drew heavily on an article, “The FIRST attack on Pearl Harbor,” in the Dec. 6, 1981, issue of the Denver Post’s Empire Magazine, a resource for this article too.

This story is about Fleet Exercise XIII (Exercise), a naval game that was conducted semi-annually every year, this one in 1932, to test the readiness of the U.S. Pacific fleet based at Pearl Harbor and to develop new combat strategy and tactics.

A 57-year-old maverick admiral, Harry E. Yarnell, was designated commander of that Exercise’s attack force.

Yarnell was a staunch advocate of using airplanes in warfare, not just for scouting the enemy as they were doing then, but also to attack and destroy enemy ships.

Though this theory was not popular with battleship-dedicated naval higher-ups in Washington, he eagerly accepted this opportunity to make his point.

As you will learn, his success exceeded his highest hopes, as his tactics “upset for all time, all existing naval defense concepts.”

Yarnell left the West Coast for the Exercise with only two aircraft carriers, USS Saratoga and USS Lexington, escorted by four destroyers.

His race across the North Pacific to fulfill destiny was so fast that he outstripped his heavy cruisers and support vessels.

Twenty-four hours out of Pearl (a nickname regularly used by service men and women), Yarnell was blessed by encountering a winter storm marked by heavy seas, dense, low clouds and wind-lashed rain.

Though it caused even his huge carriers to roll heavily, it shielded his attack force from the prying eyes of defenders’ scout planes and patrol vessels.

Instead of sailing, as done in past Exercises, to the south side of Hawaii’s Oahu, where Pearl is located, Yarnell directed his ships to the north side.

Hidden by the storm’s cover, he was able to get within 60 miles north of Oahu undetected.

Pearl’s defenders had submarines, warships, infantry and coastal guns deployed at the south side of the island, anti-aircraft guns positioned at numerous strategic points around the island, and more than 100 fighters and bombers standing by at key airfields.

Yarnell ordered his 152-plane strike force to launch a half-hour before dawn.

It was Sunday morning, Feb. 7, 1932, deliberately chosen because Pearl’s defenders were less alert due to the holiday-like routine followed every Sunday.

Breaking out of their cloud cover just before breakfast time, his pilots saw the greatest naval base in the world spread out helplessly before them.

The Pacific fleet’s battleships were moored placidly in twin rows around Ford Island near the harbor’s center.

In a very short time, Yarnell’s fighters had “destroyed” all defending planes on the ground, plus anti-aircraft guns, by simulated strafing attacks. No defending planes were able to take off.

His bombers dropped theoretical bombs and torpedoes, “smashing” nearby military installations, and “sank” all of the battleships, cruisers, destroyers and supporting vessels anchored around the harbor.

The lessons from Fleet Exercise XIII unfortunately were either ignored or lost in Washington n but not in Tokyo.

Through its Hawaiian intelligence network, Japan obtained data on Yarnell’s successful tactics. Two young officers, Imperial Fleet Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto and Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, studied the information in depth.

Yarnell’s advanced maneuver not only was a stroke of genius, it was eminently workable.

They proved it on Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, with essentially the same results. Using six carriers and 361 planes, Japan followed his tactics precisely n 3,593 days afterward n but this was no exercise -- America’s Pacific fleet and air force were crippled, and 2,388 Americans were killed and 1,178 wounded.

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