"John" == John Carrier writes:

John Taranto was relatively deep, on the order of 100' IIRC.
John Pearl was 40'. No standard aerial torpedo would operate
John properly in that harbor. SOOOO, the Japanese developed one
John that would.

Not only did they develop a torpedo that would work, they also trained
their torpedo bomber crews to the extent that they could drop those
tropedos in the very restrictive envelope in which it would work. No
easy task, and it made the bombers very vulnerable, as witnessed by
Nevada's score of 5 downed as they flew past. As has been pointed out
in a different thread, the TB guys had big brass ones (not suggesting
the others didn't, but it's hard to concentrate when you know you're a
sitting duck).

--
G Hassenpflug * IJN & JMSDF equipment/history fan