Yet again, we've had this before. Hitler makes offers of a peace to Britain on the basis of the status quo. If, after that, Roosevelt had tried to give help to Britain
Wait, now. This presumes a) Winston accepts, which is ASB, IMO & b) Japan
doesn't attack British colonies in Asia, which is unlikely at best. So aid to Britain still happens. It's not direct aid against Germany, but it's aid. And if FDR doesn't drop Britain like a hot rock, what do you suppose the odds are of Hitler pulling a Hitler

& DoW the U.S. anyhow? Don't forget, Hitler
wanted war with the U.S. This looks lunatic (OK, do not adjust your set, it is...

), but as a POD, you've got to change Hitler's fundamental nature somehow, or at least get him to
listen to his advisors for a change (see "change fundamental nature"), 'cause German intel prepared a report prewar warning just exactly how dangerous the U.S. (& Britain) were liable to be, & Hitler (being Hitler...) ignored it. The report was dead right, & it bit him.
1. What firm intelligence was there that the Japs were going to attack?
None. Everywhere
but Pearl was indicated. Everybody in the U.S. establishment felt Hawaii was safely out of reach of Japan.
2. Torepdo nets didn't get sent to Pearl because both the upper command and those based there belived it was too shallow for an effective torpedo attack.
Correct. It also inhibited the ability of the Fleet to operate.
3. I havn't heard anything about stripping the AA armourment.
Me, neither.
4. A general war alert was sent, if the dimwits at Hawaii decided sabotage was a more major issue than attack then it's their fault.
Except, Short had no choice in the matter. He could not alarm the civilian population
Well, no. Nobody expected an attack, as noted. Short told DC what he was doing. (Not as clearly as he should have, but...) Nobody in DC, who had far better intel than Kimmel & Short, at any time said, "The Japanese are going to attack you." (contrary to what no less than Norman Schwartzkopf thinks). If DC thought Short's preparations were wrong, they should d*mn well have said so. Not Kimmel & Short's fault...
Now, Short didn't think defense of the fleet was his responsibility, when it expressly was, didn't demand from DC he have adequate resources to make a defense, & didn't take adequate recce measures with the a/c he had, & so didn't detect the
Kido Butai before it launched. That
was his fault.
2. Do you know how ineffective level bombing proved to be? Well I would be suprised if those B-17s can reliably hit Singapore island let alone the naval base.
Agreed.
If by some fluke MacArthur holds the Philipenes do you honestly think the Japanese will attack the Dutch East Indies?
Actually, the DEI op was already underway. Conquest of the P.I. was to protect the SLOCs in the longer term.
I think Wake could be relieved successfully, if the commanders at Pearl were more aggressive and we had a bit more luck than OTL.
Wrong, my friend Wake fell because Pye called off the Rescue attempt and Commander Cunningham didn't allow a small patrol to scour the Island. He was winning the fight when he surrendered. If the rescue group wasn't called off or Cunningham sent out a patrol, Wake would have held. Also those transports would be in the Dutch East Indies.
Absolutely. IMO, Pye lost his nerve. (Of course, there was a chance of an early "Coral Sea", & PacFleet really couldn't afford CV losses in 12/41...
It would have been one hundred percent chance. Soryu and Hiryu were out of bombs and aviation gas.
This appears to presume they weren't replenished before being detailed to Wake, & I simply don't believe even IJN was that stupid. How were they to provide assistance, which was
why they were sent, otherwise?
It would be near December 8 in Europe at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack. So Hitler would deliver the speech from about 4 a.m. in the morning Berlin Time which would be 9:00 p.m. in Washington which would be about 10:00 a.m. Phillipine time.
Forget what time it was in Berlin. The big question is why MacArthur didn't obey his
express orders from DC at 05.30. He knew Hawaii had been attacked, & he had express, explicit orders to "Execute Rainbow 5". He did nothing, & prevented (or allowed Sutherland to prevent) Brereton from sending his B-17s against Formosa
while the Japanese were fogged in!
2. Wrong again. Level bombing is effective, you just have to go low to about 12,000 feet and General Brereton believed in this tactic and would have succeeded. Experience also helps.
Low-altitude bombing is completely contrary to all USAAF's peacetime training & doctrine... Certainly B-17s would not be bombing ships successfully (as OTL experience through Midway, 6/6/42, clearly demonstrates).
3. Wrong again. Merchant ships are not warships and can not manuever like Warships.
They can easily avoid bombing from high altitude, & did.
Also Fighters as shown at Wake Island can wreck transports with hundrend pound bombs.
This presumes AAF figured it out (which is a bit dubious), the a/c & bombs were there, & the a/c were, in fact, outfitted for any kind of bombing; both the latter 2 points I'm frankly unsure of.
Further with Ryujo, Soryu, and Hiryu out, our carriers will have a wonderful time.
Want to bet? You've taken out 1 jeep CV & 2 fleet CVs. I seriously doubt the inexperienced USN aviators would have fared well enough to prevent U.S. losses, so we can expect
Lex, at least, is sunk, & probably
Yorktown damaged, maybe sunk also.
Especially when two British Carriers and 4 Carriers from the Atlantic join them.
And the Brits will simply strip all their other forces of CVs why, exactly? Also, why exactly will the U.S. strip the Atlantic Fleet? Moreover, do you really think the subsequent cancellation of ferry missions of fighters to Malta (which this presumes) will have no effects? I will agree you
might pull 3 USN CVs, & i would leave
Ranger for ferry ops, since she was a bit small & slow for fleet ops, plus
Indom &
Hermes, in theatre OTL. Unless you introduce MACs earlier (which I would have done before 7/12/41...), you can free more CVs.
My friend the conspiracy theories are indeed true. The Japanese did not maintain radio silence, Homer Kisner's and Robert Ogg's docuements have been found and prove that Kimmel was not warned of the Japanese movements.
My Unfortunately for you, the conpiracy theories are increasingling being found to be correct. Roosevelt deliberately provoked Japan to attack by cutting off oil and sending Two Cruisers to violate Japanese territorial waters, ordering several gunboats to attack the Japanese in the hopes they would be sunk.
Preposterous. FDR & the USG generally was doing their damndest to avoid war with Japan, knowing if there was war in the Pacific it would
reduce aid to Britain. The oil embargo was increased by low-level officials at State (for reasons I frankly don't recall), contrary to FDR's main objective, which was, in effect, give the Japanese a smack to get their attention & stop mauling the Chinese.
MacArthur was paid by the Phillipine Government not to attack and the payment was authorized by Roosevelt
Paid, yes. Authorized?