The US Naval War College has released The Nimitz Greybook... the collection of all of his dispatches from 07DEC41 thru 2 days before the signing of the surrender documents in Tokyo Bay. Linky: http://usnwc.edu/Academics/Library/...s/show/849 Fascinating stuff. Right before you start reading the pdf (600+MB download!), click 'play' on THIS for suitably epic music to start the war. Truly awesome reading in the beginning... 08 DEC 1700hrs OPNAV TO CINCLANT As soon as possible assemble BatDiv 3, Yorktown and one squadron modern destroyers at Norfolk, prepare them immediately for transfer to Pacific Fleet. Desire Yorktown have full plane complement plus appropriate spares except reduce torpedo planes to 12 and replace the six torpedo planes transferred by six dive bombers· X Transfer three squadrons patrol bombers to Pacific Fleet immediately X Separate dispatch directs you reinforce Canal Zone X You are authorized withdraw all capital ships and carriers from Iceland if you desire X I love this stuff
And for the submarine vets out there, a special shout-out from Nimitz... CONSIDER IT SPECIALLY IMPORTANT THAT SUBMARINES AND TENDERS NOT SUFFER LOSSES SUGGEST WIDE DISPERSAL THROUGH THE VARIOUS LOCHS AND PROMPT AND EFFECTIVE CAMOUFLAGE MEASURES X
The impacts of the Silent Service in the Pacific War can't be understated. Without their efforts, I think the war just may have continued on for a good deal longer. Conversely, things could have gotten ugly had the IJN used their submarine force with any semblance of common sense.
Fortunately for us (and Australia / UK), not only did the IJN not have a doctrine of commerce raiding, they (because of that lack of doctrine) didn't optomize their designs for it either. Now, an I-class sub w/ it's 3 scout planes could have been a really nasty raider, but it's size and (lack of) speed made it a sitting duck for ASW. In a nutshell, they saw their subs as either fleet scouts or specialized raiders (Panama canal).
The attack on Pearl had not touched the US sub force and my comment for that was that they did not need to attack the US subs. The US torpedo was all but useless at that time.
A good example as to why it is important to fully test weapons before trying to use them. Then the abysmal tendency to ignore the reports from the field about dud torpedoes. Mind you the Germans had some serious problems with their torpedoes as well.
Thanks Tug, I am going to look into it and see if I can get a copy of the book. It would be an interesting read.
