What targets did japan miss during the bombing of pearl harbor?

Answer 1

The drydock, the submarine base within Pearl Harbor, and, especially the fuel farm. But the Japanese pilots were not briefed to attack these targets. Their sole objective was to do all the damage they could to ships of the fleet. Perhaps if they had sent a third attack, they might have paid some attention to these high-value targets.

The drydock in Pearl Harbor was the only one short of the West Coast capable of accepting large ships for the repair of battle damage. This was crucial several times in 1942, as when the Saratoga was hastily patched up in time to participate at Midway. Submarine sailors made up only 1% of the US Navy, but they sank 55% of all enemy ships sent to the bottom by the US. Attacks on their extensive maintenance, machine shops and repair sheds in Pearl might have made it difficult to continue to base the subs there, and they might have been forced to operate from the West Coast, adding 4500 miles to their war cruises. If the fuel farm had been destroyed, the entire fleet could no longer have been based at Pearl, and would have been forced to withdraw to its old bases on the West Cpast.

Answer 2

first answer:

They did not really fail to hit anything, they hit there most valuable boat (the Oklahoma) which was upside down leaving hundreds to suffer.

Correct answer:

The Japanese priority targets in order at Pearl Harbor were as follows:

#1 US Battleships

#2 US Aircraft Carriers

#3 US Cruisers

Eight of the nine US Battleships in the Pacific were at Pearl Harbor. The USS Colorado was at the west coast. The USS Utah was sunk, however it was no longer a battleship, it had been converted to a US Navy target ship. All eight battleships were hit, and four of these were sunk. Two of these were refloated and returned to combat service in the Pacific.

The three US Aircraft Carriers in the Pacific were not at Pearl Harbor, and were not hit.

Of the 24 US Cruisers in the Pacific, eight were at Pearl Harbor. Some of these were hit, however none were sunk.

The Japanese did not plan to target the Dry Dock or the fuel storage tanks, so they were important items not hit.

Answer 3

First answer: The Japanese had hoped to destroy the US Pacific fleet's aircraft carriers . The carriers Enterprise , Lexington and Saratoga were out at sea at the time of the attack .

Second improved answer: The Japanese target priority on December 7, 1941 was in the following order: 1) Battleships, 2) Cruisers, and 3) Aircraft Carriers. The Aircraft Carriers were added to the list relatively late in the planning process for the attack. The battleships received the brunt of the attack, the cruisers received much less damage. Of the three aircraft carriers in the Pacific at the time, the USS Saratoga (CV-3) was on the west coast of the US, as it had been since January 1941 undergoing refit & modernization. This fact was very well known to the Japanese. Later they claimed that they were disappointed that it was not a Pearl Harbor; however this is a ridiculous claim. The USS Lexington (CV-2) & USS Enterprise (CV-6) were at sea performing pre-war air reinforcement missions to the US garrisons on Wake Island & Midway Atoll. The Aircraft Carriers and their escorting heavy cruisers & destroyers were often at sea during these late months of 1941, as the Japanese were also very well aware of. Really, it was the battleships that the Japanese focused their planning on, and after the attack they believed that the attack was successful because of the damage inflicted on the battleships. Bottom Line: Ironically, the missing aircraft carriers were not a Japanese regret at the time of the attack, but several months later when US aircraft carriers were being used effectively against them. Another big irony is that the USS Neosho (AO-23) a fleet oiler was at Pearl Harbor, but was not targeted. The US fleet was in short supply of fleet oilers. The Japanese chose their targets poorly.

Answer 4

The primary targets were the aircraft carriers. They were missing, so the secondary targets were hit; the battleships.

Answer 5

They missed the US aircraft carriers, because all four were out at sea at the time

Answer 6

The biggest missed targets were the US aircraft carriers, that were luckily out of port on the day of the attack.