What was unusual about the attack on Pearl Harbor?

Answer 1

Everyone knows about the Japanese Warplanes; but new evidence is being questioned about the Japanese Mini-Subs that had been launched from Mother Submarines at sea. Some or one of those Mini-Subs may have torpedoed a US Battleship.

Answer 2

There are several occurrences that can be seen as "unusual" concerning the Pearl Harbour attack, some of which have led to conspiracy theories.

The first thing that might be seen as unusual, is that most of the Allies were in war with Germany and Italy at the time of the attack, so they would have had warships and submarines covering the oceans on the globe. Despite some allied warships being present in the Pacific, none of them seemed to spot the advancing Japanese navy. Or if they did, they didn't alert Pearl Harbour, which the fleet was clearly heading towards. A largely armed fleet in the ocean during wartime is definitely something to be suspicious about, especially if the nation who owns the fleet hasn't made an official declaration on either side.

Another thing that can be seen as unusual is that the majority of the crew in Pearl Harbour were granted shore leave just before the attack. If they were not on shore leave, the American casualties would have been much greater.

The primary target of the Pearl Harbour attacks, according to the Japanese, were the American aircraft carriers, since aircraft carriers are the most important ship in a modern navy. However, at the time of the Pearl Harbour attacks, none of the American aircraft carriers were docked in the harbour. Out of all the careful planning the Japanese did including constant recon photographs of the harbour, they missed the aircraft carriers because they were moved before the attack.

The Japanese only attacked Pearl Harbour and the nearby Hickman Airfield, but left repair facilities, submarine bases, oil pumps and fuel storages unharmed. An attacking enemy usually destroys these in the first wave to prevent the target from rebuilding quickly and hitting back. Again, with all the careful planning and reconnaissance of the island by the Japanese, it's strange that they missed these.

There were two attacks planned against Pearl Harbour on the same day, but the Japanese Vice Admiral, Chuichi Nagumo, cancelled the second attack, despite the fact that the Americans were taking much heavier losses than the Japanese.

The US Intelligence at the time knew that Japan was planning to attack the US at some point. Despite this, the President still continued to diplomatically push Japan into a corner and provoke them. Since the US intelligence knew of Japan's intentions, they should have improved the defences of their militarised zones and increased naval and air patrols. But they didn't.

The British secret service, MI6, also learned about Japan's intentions to attack the US and passed all their intelligence about Japan onto the US intelligence - but the US didn't act on it.

Why the US didn't act on the intelligence is still a mystery, one which is relished by conspiracy theorists.

Days and hours before the attacks, American ships around the Pacific could hear random, crackling Japanese voices on their radios. The SS Lurline ocean liner for example, travelling from San Francisco to Hawaii, picked up aggressive-sounding Japanese transmissions on their route and reported them to the US Navy. However, again the US turned a blind eye to the strange Japanese radio traffic.

The British in 1940 proved that torpedoes can easily be used to attack harbours, when the British attacked the hostile Regia Marina in Italy. The Allies in the war, as a result of this, upgraded the defences of their harbours in case the Italians or Germans repeated the attack on them. However the Americans did not update the defences at Pearl Harbour, despite having a whole year to do so.

It is clear that Roosevelt wanted to get involved in the war and support his allies in Europe, but he could not convince congress to allow a declaration. Conspiracy theorists claim that Roosevelt allowed the Pearl Harbour attack to happen, to give him an excuse to enter the war.

The Tripartite Pact between Germany, Italy and Japan meant that upon declaring on Japan, the US also had the opportunity to declare on Germany and Italy, since they were sworn to defend Japan by that same pact.

Nevertheless, whatever happened at Pearl harbour, 2,402 Americans and 64 Japanese were killed, along with many more missing bodies which even to this day have not been found. Many of the dead are still trapped inside the USS Arizona.