From: wehumble@iastate.edu (Ed Humble)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Wake Island (WAS Re: 10 Worst Generals)
Date: 28 Jul 92 13:07:45 GMT
Organization: Iowa State University


From wehumble@iastate.edu (Ed Humble)

In article <1992Jul26.181713.29758@lawday.DaytonOH.NCR.COM>,
rayssd!m1b@uunet.UU.NET (Barone) writes:
	[Stuff about Kimmel deleted]
> 
> 	After the initial attack on Wake, Kimmel had already prepared
> plans at Pearl Harbor to relieve Wake.  A task force centering on the
> Saratoga would make for Wake a force built around the Enterprise and
> Lexington would be act as a diversion.  Before the plan could be
> implemented, however, Kimmel was replaced by Nimitz.
> 
> 	Until Nimitz arrived, though, Vice Admiral William Pye was
> in command.  He was a very timid commander who followed the plan with
> great caution.  The ships had to be fully fueled before crossing into
> possible battle.  This slowed the forces to 13 knots in order not
> to lose the oilers.  Wake was deemed a liability by the chief of
> naval operations and any expedition was Pye's decision, putting
> further pressure on Pye who saw the results of failure.  Wake was
> attacked again and Pye decided that Wake's relief was not worth
> risking the remnants of the Pacific Fleet.
> 
> 	Now, for my questions:  Would Kimmel's plan have paid off
> using 20/20 hindsight?  Would anything have changed if Wake remained
> in American hands?  Where did Pye's career go after Nimitz arrived?
> 
	Actually, Rear Admiral Fletcher was at least as wishy-washy as Pye.  He wasn't
too keen on the mission, and held up the operation for almost two days refueling
his Task Force.  Logs indicate that there was little or no need to refuel, since
his ships still had adequate oil.  He used the same excuse to withdraw air cover
from the Guadalcanal landings, with very tough consequences for the Marines in
both cases.  

	With hindsight, it is doubtful if the relief ship could have made it to Wake in
time, since it would have shown up about the same time as the second Japanese
invasion fleet.  However, Saratoga had a Marine fighter squadron embarked which
could have been flown to Wake while Saratoga's planes pounded the invasion
ships.  Also, there were two Japanese carriers, Soryu and Hiryu, operating 200+
miles north of Wake.  Fletcher knew they were around, and with Lexington and
Enterprise stood a good chance of finding and hammering them, since the Japanese
apparently didn't know about the relief expedition.  

	Net results could easily have been a second repulse of the Japanese from Wake,
and posibly the loss or damage of enemy carriers.  It's doubtful, though, that
Wake could have held without the landing of the reinforcements (who were
carrying all kinds of goodies like an air search radar, AA battery firecontrol
and director systems, which Wake lacked, newer ammo for AA and shore batteries,
mines, barbed wire, and  engineering equipment), but if Wake had been held and
the Japanese bloodied, it might have been the spirit lifter badly needed at the
time.  Who knows, Wake might have replaced the Doolittle raid in that role. 

   
> Joe Barone
> m1b@rayssd.ssd.ray.com
> We had to destroy the town in order to save it.

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Ed Humble                |   Iowa State University   -  Moo!          
wehumble@iastate.edu     |   Dept. of Aerospace Engineering
                         |    Grad (Professional) Student
========================================================================
  "`Ecrasez l'infame.'  I looked it up.  What infamous thing do you want to
erase?"

  "What infamous thing have you got?"
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Newsgroups: sci.military