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Originally Posted by DallasCowpoke
R.I.P. Mr. Lockard.
You might enjoy this article CC, honoring the 3 guys at the Opana mobile radar station.
Arguably, the attack and damage on Pearl would have been lessened, but by the time that initial wave was spotted, none of those ships, especially the big, WWI-era battleships and destroyers were "boilered-up" and weren't going anywhere.
[View Full Quote]Fighter-class aircraft at Pearl was insignificant compared to what was in the air for Japan and whatever could have gotten airborne, likely would have been decimated in short order. After all, the Japanese were expecting resistance and a good portion of their aircraft were fighter-bombers, whose first assignment was to take-on any American aircraft. Only when they realized they were encountering none, were they free to attack static aircraft and ships.
Pearl Harbor and "Battleship Row" would still have suffered devastating damage. Loss-of-life would of undoubtedly been lessened, but numbers still would have been significant.
To say history would have been "changed" is a bit of an overstatement. "Altered" would probably be more accurate.
Regardless, those solders did all that could have been expected of them and must have lived with a terrible burden afterwards. |
He had said the attack would not have been prevented. However, one of the things he had said was that there was a procedure in place that had they heeded the warning that many of those who died would have been able to get off the ships instead of being buried with them.