Remember the 7th of December

Peggie Hall HeadMistress

Peggie Hall HeadMistress

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Dec 2, 1997
8,944
- - LIttle Rock
As bad as it was, I think it was Nimitz who said it could have been much worse but the Japanese were stupid...they hit ships in a shallow water port where few were actually sunk and most of those could be raised. Most could be repaired quickly and they didn't touch the fuel storage. If they'd waited till our ships were at sea--which they were scheduled to do soon--they'd have destroyed or crippled the entire fleet...sunk more boats and it would have been necessary to tow those that could be repaired back to the US. Hitting our fuel storage would have immobilized the entire fleet.

--Peggie
On "active duty" as a military brat for the first 20 years of my life.
 
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R

Rick486

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Oct 1, 2007
1,865
Boston Whaler Super Sport Pt. Judith
Peggie Hall HeadMistress said:
As bad as it was, I think it was Nimitz who said it could have been much worse but the Japanese were stupid...they hit ships in a shallow water port where few were actually sunk and most of those could be raised. Most could be repaired quickly and they didn't touch the fuel storage. If they'd waited till our ships were at sea--which they were scheduled to do soon--they'd have destroyed or crippled the entire fleet...sunk more boats and it would have been necessary to tow those that could be repaired back to the US. Hitting our fuel storage would have immobilized the entire fleet.

--Peggie
On "active duty" as a military brat for the first 20 years of my life.
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Stupid as they were, they killed 2400+ Americans and others that day....I for one have never forgotten....
 
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Kings Gambit

Kings Gambit

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Jul 27, 2011
5,134
Bavaria 38E Alamitos Bay
Peggie Hall HeadMistress said:
As bad as it was, I think it was Nimitz who said it could have been much worse but the Japanese were stupid...they hit ships in a shallow water port where few were actually sunk and most of those could be raised. Most could be repaired quickly and they didn't touch the fuel storage. If they'd waited till our ships were at sea--which they were scheduled to do soon--they'd have destroyed or crippled the entire fleet...sunk more boats and it would have been necessary to tow those that could be repaired back to the US. Hitting our fuel storage would have immobilized the entire fleet.

--Peggie
On "active duty" as a military brat for the first 20 years of my life.
Click to expand
As I have it, the ships they most wanted to attack and sink were at sea. But sinking battleships that are underway with maneuvering room and firing back, and not with crew asleep—maybe not so easy; not as easy to sneak up on. But yes. They killed a lot of sailors, yet they accomplished little militarily. Consider that we were bombing Tokyo four months later with an attack from one of those ships that were at sea on Dec. 7. After that, the battle of Midway. They were doomed from the beginning, there being no possibility of outright victory over the long haul. The other great quote from the President’s speech: “The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself.”
 
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Allan12210

Allan12210

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Jan 22, 2008
1,666
Hunter 34 Alameda CA
I was fortunate to have had a friend at Ampex get us into sailing who was also a Pearl Harbor Survivor. Cecil Calavan was aboard the USS Utah at age 19 when hit by two torpedoes. The ship rolled over and capsized on her side at the dock. 58 people lost their lives. Luckily Cecil got out and ran across the hull breaking his ankle when he jumped into the water. I met him in 1978 when I joined Ampex where we were office neighbors. He had an Islander 30 sailboat (Molly McGuire). He would take my wife Debbie and me out sailing often on the San Francisco Bay. We enjoyed that so much that we bought our Hunter 34 brand new in 1985. As he was a member of the Oakland Yacht Club, we joined too. We shared lots of great adventures together. He upgraded to a Union 36. That's us following him on the bay in 1987. We were good friends despite a 28 year difference in age. After he retired in 1990 he moved the boat to Anacortes, Washington where we visited him several times and sailed around Puget Sound. Unfortunately, he passed away in 2014 at age 90. He had served as the President of the Utah Survivors Association for a few years. They would meet annually in Hawaii. Even though I wasn't born yet, I always think about Cecil and what he went through on December 7, 1941. RIP good friend.

cecil.jpg
 
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