Quote:
Originally Posted by Seadog
Without seeing any of the above, I cannot comment on it specifically, but it is well known that had the carriers been taken out, or particularly if they repair facilities and/or fuel storage been taken out, we would have moved fleet operations to San Diego. Only a token force would have been left on the islands. Even though they decided to continue to use Pearl, it was a close decision at the time.
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I doubt that the US would have abandoned Hawaii as a naval and military base under any reasonable circumstance that could have been had from a Japanese strike on the islands. Even if the repair facilities and other logistics systems for the fleet were attacked they would largely have survived. The US Navy would have been loath to just give up any ships damaged or sunk that could be repaired. The US Army, which had significant strength on Oahu, would have no reason to just pull up stakes and leave either.
While damage to the fuel storage and repair facilities would have had some effect on operations these would have been short term at best. The loss of one or more carriers might have had an effect on early US offensive planning but, again, in the long term its effect was minimal. I can see the US in worst case scenarios going through with their merchant / liner carrier conversions that were already planned for as a stop-gap until the new
Essex class was available.
On the whole, attacking Pearl Harbor was going to be nothing but a tactical success for the Japanese.