December 7, 1941
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A date which will live in infamy. Even the pacifists wanted to inlist.
I always wondered why none of our carriers were present that day. We had 7 at the time.
Four — Ranger, Yorktown, Hornet, and Wasp — were stationed on the East Coast, poised to deal with Germany's U-boats, which had caused a number of incidents already. The three carriers of the Pacific Fleet — Enterprise, Lexington, and Saratoga — were being used to support reinforcement efforts in the Pacific.
Weather conditions saved our aircraft carriers during the attack on Pearl Harbor, and possibly the entire Pacific theater.
Of the many warships stationed in Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7th, the aircraft carriers USS Enterprise and USS Lexington were missing.
Both ships were coming back from missions from Midway and Wake Islands.. reports Indicate that rough seas and poor weather conditions prevented both ships from being home on time – which would have placed them in harbor for the Japanese attack. The Saratoga just went thu an overhaul and was in San Diego that day.
Thank God for bad weather. God bless the Vets involved.
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Yes, this date has lived in
Yes, this date has lived in infamy and thankful for both vets that were involved and perhaps "providence" that allowed the circumstances to forge ahead.
On a related note: I just finished the documentary "Across The Pacific" on PBS that started a venture to provide commercial aircraft service across the Pacific in 1935:
https://www.pbs.org/video/crossing-the-pacific-across-the-pacific-anothe...
... it just struck me how soon thereafter 12/7/41 would become a date that will live in infamy! It was talked about in the documentary how the private commercial nature of this endeavor effectively allowed it to forge ahead without a direct confrontation vs. had it been a military effort up front.