I guess in the long run it worked out OK as it probably led to the battle of Midway.
Still I wonder if it was really worth it. We lost 16 scarce B-25s and most of the crews for very little damage to Japan.
I know, it was to boost morale. Still I don’t think it was a good idea. Of course if they had launched maybe 500 miles closer to Japan, they may have saved most of the planes.
The raid was of little military importance. In fact if you look at the losses verses the damage it inflicted it was a military disaster. However, war is both on the battlefield and in the mind of the enemy. The warlords of Japan swore not one American bomb or soldier would ever hit Japan. Four short months later we dropped bombs on them. It was a raid with a terrible price for our airmen.
Most importantly the warlords then knew we would kill them in the end. Yamamoto counseled the warlords against this raid. He was educated in the United States and knew what would happen. Fortunately the warlords were wrong and Yamamoto was right. The attack on Pearl Harbor awakened the sleeping giant.
The raid was insignificant but the psychological effect was like the hammer of Thor. Although it was done at great sacrifice it was a good call by our president and military.
Coincidentally, I'm reading "The Aviators" (about Doolittle, Rickenbacker and Lindbergh) and I just finished reading the assessment of the Doolittle Raid. The author said that the raid caused the Japanese to shift assets to the defense of Japan that had previously gone to their offensive efforts. It did lead to Midway, like you said; but most importantly, the U.S. intercepted more Japanese military radio traffic than they had ever intercepted before, as a direct result of the raid. Before the raid the U.S. was able to decipher about 10% of the Japanese military code, but a week after, they were deciphering 50%.
You may be right, yarddog.
But I think back to Washington crossing the Delaware on Christmas 1776. The American revolution was at its nadir and really the raid on Trenton wasn’t much. But it was a great moral booster.
The original plan was to launch several hundred miles closer, but they ran into a Japanese fishing boat (which they immediately sunk) and were concerned their presence was announced.
Really didn’t want to lose the Hornet.