US Navy strikes first blow

Would it have been possible for the US to strike first against Japan in a similar way as the Pearl Harbor Attack? Could they have attacked the Combined Japanese Fleet in it's home port? How could this have changed the war? Ive always thought about that possibility. I saw it in the C.S.A. mockumentary about how the CSA striked first against Japan and i'm wondering if in the otl before the pod Roosevelt would have approven such a move. Or would the strong isolationist movement keep the United States from Launching such a strike? And would the US Pacific fleet been capable of such a move because if i remember my history correctly at Pearl Harbor the USPacFleet only consisted of

8 Battleships
5 Aircraft Carriers (Hornet, Enterprise, Bunker Hill, Saratoga, and Lexington)
20 Destroyers
30 plus escorts-mixed with cruisers
and about a dozen submarines with dozens of Auxillary ships.

Even with that kind of force what kind of motivation the US would need to strike against Japan?
 
Possible? Sure.

Would FDR have authorized a surprise 1st strike against Japan? No way.

Why not? Isolationism and certain impeachment+removal from office.
 
Would it have been possible for the US to strike first against Japan in a similar way as the Pearl Harbor Attack? Could they have attacked the Combined Japanese Fleet in it's home port? How could this have changed the war? Ive always thought about that possibility. I saw it in the C.S.A. mockumentary about how the CSA striked first against Japan and i'm wondering if in the otl before the pod Roosevelt would have approven such a move. Or would the strong isolationist movement keep the United States from Launching such a strike? And would the US Pacific fleet been capable of such a move because if i remember my history correctly at Pearl Harbor the USPacFleet only consisted of

8 Battleships
5 Aircraft Carriers (Hornet, Enterprise, Bunker Hill, Saratoga, and Lexington)
20 Destroyers
30 plus escorts-mixed with cruisers
and about a dozen submarines with dozens of Auxillary ships.

Even with that kind of force what kind of motivation the US would need to strike against Japan?

-The Hornet was working up in the Atlantic Ocean in late 1941/early 1942.
-The Bunker Hill was laid down in September 1941

That's all I will say about that :)
 
Presumably if they WERE going to do it, they would use the Panama Canal to augment the Pacific Fleet with additional carriers from the Atlantic.

Best Regards
Grey Wolf
 

Ancientone

Banned
The IJN had 10 battleships, 10 aircraft carriers, 38 cruisers (heavy and light), 112 destroyers, 65 submarines in 1941, not all anchored in one place, but dispersed at different bases.
They also had (Navy alone) 240 long range land based bombers that could have pursued any escaping American vessels.
One wonders if a US task force could possibly approach Japan close enough for the Douglas Devastaors (250 miles) without being detected, the seas around Japan were thick with Japanese fishing vessels and cargo ships, unlike the waters around Hawaii
The Japanese were also a nation at war in 1941 and they had been since 1937, it would have been very hard to have caught them napping.
 
How much did the Japanese use Truk as a forward base before the war with the USA? One might think that would have been an easier target, if it was worth it

Best Regards
Grey Wolf
 
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