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Not only did the move to Pearl work, it worked stunningly well. Compac won the war in the Pacific from the Hawaiian bastion.

We also came within three minutes of losing the war. At the battle of Midway it was just that close. The Japanese had shot down almost every aircraft from the island and the carriers sent against them. All we had left were a hand full of dive bombers, without fighter escort. They killed three carriers in three minuets and saved the war for the US.

If the Japanese had kept even a hand full of their fighters at high altitude instead of sending them all after the torpedo bombers, if their damage control officers had not been so blitheringly incompetent as to have munitions and fuel all over the hanger decks, or if their strike on our carriers had been launched three minutes earlier we would have lost the war. The reason it was that close was because of the damage done to the US fleet at Pearl Harbor.

Maintaining a forward base is a good thing. Forward basing strategic assets where the enemy can strike them is a very bad thing. Having a base at Pearl would have been fine, if the fleet had stayed at San Diego until war was declared. That way they could move forward over a couple of days, but would still have been safe from a sneak attack.

Building a base at Guam is all and good. Most of it is there already. Basing tactical assets to protect the island, like fighters, is also a good idea. However putting the bombers and the fleet there just invites a sneak attack.