PEARL HARBOR

            I am torn on the topic of the attack on Pearl Harbor. I think that the surprise could not have been prevented but the battleships should have been on better look out for an attack. I think that if FDR would not have neglected to warn the fleet they would have been more prepared and would not have suffered such a loss. But because the United States wanted to avoid war at all costs Roosevelt made the decision that the country could suffer a casualty. .
             There have been many accounts of people from other nations stating that they had found out about the attack and had informed the United States. British double agent Dusko Popov got an incomplete account of the attack while aboard a tramp steamer. He assumed that America had been ready for the attack. Also as news of the surprise attack spread, William Friedman, an Army cryptanalyst who had helped to break the Japanese diplomatic "purple" code, said to his wife repeatedly, "But they knew, they knew, they knew." Radar transmitters, which happen to be new technology at the time, showed a sudden "shower of blips." It indicated a large flight of aircraft some 132 miles to the north. The two viewers phoned the watch officer who instructed them that a flight of B-17s was expected in from the West Coast, and he did not have much confidence in the new technology. .
             The United States had many opportunities to lessen the blow to the attack on Pearl Harbor but refused to accept them. In almost two hours 2,400 Americans were killed and some 1,200 wounded. About 300 American warplanes were damaged or destroyed. 18 warships had been sunk or heavily damaged. The only ship not damaged was the Argonne, which was a Flagship 31. It was southeast of Battleship Row at Naval Yard dock. Japan lost only 29 planes. However the Japanese did not achieve the main task they set out to complete, which was to destroy the three aircraft carriers that were part of the American fleet.