[sneakypete]

>>Sneakypete, in fact, youre wrong again when you say that FDR abandoned Asia for about a year after Pearl Harbor. As a student of history and military man, you should know better. The Huon Gulf raid occured in early 1942.<<

To be honest,this is the first I ever heard of this action. The USMC raided Makin Island,too. None the less,a couple of raids doesn't equate to defending the Pacific. King Franklin did abandon them for all practical purposes. Hell,he even called back the relief force headed to Midway Island to reinforce it before the Japanese invaded it.

>> In April of 1942 America pulled off a spectacular raid. Sixteen B-25's flying from the carrier Hornet (in the Pacific I might add) bombed Tokyo.<<

Well,first off,I am REAL glad the Hornet wasn't sailing in the Atlantic when they took off!(G) Secondly,ironically enough I mentioned the "Doolittle Raid" (30 Seconds Over Tokyo was both the book and the movie title) to someone on another thread. What is REALLY odd is that I am remembering it this instant as the "Doolittle Raid",but think it was lead by Billy Mitchell and stated this on the other thread.

>>While the naysayers and nervous nellies belittled the raid because we really weren't prepared to attack, and the damage done was slight, it had an enormous psychological impact on the moral of the American people.<<

That's true,but we aren't dealing with a fixed target or even a official gooberment at THIS time. We are dealing with a terrorist leader and group,and it's important that we make sure we are attacking the right target before we make a move. How impressed would the American people have been if Mitchell had bombed New Zealand?

[AdvisorB]

Some historians have said that JD's raid on Tokyo helped convince the Japanese warplanners to launch their disasterous campaign at Midway. As you well know, Vice Adm. Nagumo launched his attack on Midway in early June of 1942. He sent his 4 aircraft carriers in, and only one came out. The Kaga, Akagi, and Soryu went to the bottem. The Hiryu struggled out of harms way and was able to send out her planes which hit the USS Yorktown. But that's not the end of the story, planes from the Yorktown and the USS Enterprise sent the Hiryu to it's water grave. This was the beginning of the end for the Imperial navy. They lost 4 aircraft carriers and many, many aviators. Midway, indeed, turned out to be the turning point of the naval war in the Pacific. The fat lady was beginning to clear her throat.