Still, it seems incredible that both the army and navy commands at Pearl hadn’t taken more serious actions to prepare the bases for war. It was absolutely clear that the Japanese were going to continue aggressive action in the Pacific and we would be in their way.
Pearl Harbor was a recent move closer to Japan and with most of our naval eggs in one basket, it would be an attractive target.
Nobody thought about putting the bases on 50% readiness, leaves canceled, steam up, ready ammunition boxes filled and firing crews on watch, increased air patrols?
What Japan did made no sense to our Admirals or political leaders. It was unthinkable in many ways.
Complacency is the mother of disaster, but our intel into what Japan was doing was extraordinarily weak in 1941. In hindsight there were many things we could have done to minimize the damage on December 7th and put up a better fight, but in the end it was really irrelevant. We replaced and repaired the bases and the losses in ships and planes were replaced within the years. Japan missed the most vital targets of all since the carriers were out to sea and that was their big failure.
However, too many forget that most of our navy and leaders still believed the battleship was supreme on Dec 7th.
The attack was viewed as a cowardly act by a brutal enemy and it steeled the resolve of a nation and power that few could predict.