Better/sooner construction pre Pacific war?

I've read many time that the airfields in Malaya were poorly sited for their defence against land attack, and that field defences weren't built before Japanese attacks. Similarly Wake Island was in the midst of being turned into a forward base, but things like the shipping channel and basin in the lagoon hadn't been finished, nor had aircraft revetments and the like. I'm sure that other people could expand this list with projects which were started but not finished before Pearl harbour, or were finished but poorly designed or placed.

So what would be the effect, assuming that forces deployed were the same as OTL, if the airfeilds were well sited and feild fortifications were built in Malaya/Singapore? Would this alone have made the difference in the camapign? Or if Wake's building was finished, could the garrison hold on for longer, would the relief convoy push on? What about other places?
 
No time to go into it now but; if Wake's building was finished 8 of 12 wildcats wouldn't be destroyed in 1 early air attack because they'd be protected in revetments. Also radar was to partof Wake's facilities, so that would help even more. I think field fortifications were to be built as well, so that is handy.

The contruction plans included a shipping channel, turning basin and loading dock which would make Wake a valuable base for flying boats and submarine. Since most of this work wasn't finished Wake IOTL wasn't overly valuable. But if the work had been done it would have been bad news for the Japanese to get hold of such a well equipped base, so I think much of planned reinforcements would go ahead in spite of the risks of doing it under Japanese attack.
 
I guess it would just depend on what the US has on hand following December 7th. I doubt they will sorte the remaining fleet to relieve Wake.
 
Lots of antiaircraft and coastal artillary, some sub pens and fortified hangers, a few regiments of defence troops, and I wouldn't want to try and take the place.
The US would resupply by air and submarine while they whittled away at whatever sort of blockade the Japanese tried.
 
The plans for Wake were quite extensive; they were working on a shipping channel and turning basin in the lagoon which would allow easy/rapid cargo unloading for staging ships and planes. On top of this the airstrip was to be widened. If these were done it would be quite a handy base considering it's proximity to japanese bases in the Mandates. By the same token I think that if this stuff was completed it's value to the Japanese would be much higher than IOTL. So while IOTL it may not have been worthwhile to push through a relief and provoke a naval battle, if Wake was more valuable by virtue of more complete facilities.

Aside from that, if construction was complete then the 8 Wildcats destroyed on the ground in 1 raid should have lasted longer and contributed to the battle because they'd be protected in revetments. Also more equipment, including a pair of radars, was on hand for Wake, but was on the ships which turned back just before Wake fell. Perhaps if construction was complete they would have been installed before Dec 7 and played a major part in the battle.
 
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The stuff such as radars and ammo were on hand in Pearl Harbour, it just wasn't shipped out to Wake in good time. The radars alone could have made all the difference, and the 2nd fighter sqn could have been the icing on the cake.
 
I really don't think there would have been much of an American 'relief' force to assist Wake after December 7th.
I guess it would just depend on what the US has on hand following December 7th. I doubt they will sorte the remaining fleet to relieve Wake.
Actually, Fletcher took both CVs to do exactly that, until Pye lost his nerve:mad: & turned them back. There was a chance Fletcher could've caught Soryu & Hiryu when they reinforced the 2d Japanese try.
 

Markus

Banned
Actually, Fletcher took both CVs to do exactly that, until Pye lost his nerve:mad: & turned them back. There was a chance Fletcher could've caught Soryu & Hiryu when they reinforced the 2d Japanese try.

That´s not right. Fletcher had just one aircraft carrier with an understrenght fighter squadron. Pye was informed of the presence of two or four CV and BB near Wake and wisely recalled Fletcher.

By the way, here is my take on how to save Wake:

https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=94662
 
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