"Henry J Cobb" wrote in message
...
Andrew C. Toppan wrote:
Because all the Navy fighters were aboard the carriers which were,
famously, absent. Launching things like seaplanes, which were present
at Pearl, would be useless and suicidal.

IMHO the single biggest mistake at Pearl was not having the PBYs out for
patrols in every direction at dawn every morning.


It was an error to be sure BUT they would not have detected
the Japanese fleet since it made a high speed run into
position for the attack during the night.

The major blunders were in not having ammunition distributed
to the army AA guns, the unreadiness of the USAAF fighters
and the lack of torpedo nets.

Keith