Evening star., 1941-12-15

THE United States services were
not on the alert against the sur
prise attack on Hawaii. This fact
calls for a formal investigation
which will be initiated Immediately
by the President. Further action Is,
of course, dependent on the facts
and recommendations made by this
investigating board. We are all en-
titled to know it if (a) there was
any error of judgment which con-
tributed to the surprise. tb) If there
was any dereliction of duty prior to
the attack.
Lists Ship Losses.
My investigation made clear that
after the attack the defense by both
services was conducted skillfully and
bravely." Then the Secretary listed
the ship losses and followed with a
statement of the losses of men.
The Secretary was asked why pa
troll planes did not detect approach
of the aircraft carriers which were
bringing the small single motor
planes to the surprise attack. He
hesitated, and said that there were
800 degrees in the circle around Ha-
waii and that it would require about
300 patrol planes to search every
mile of it at any one time. The
regular dawn patrol was out on It's
fight at the time, he said.
Illustrating what he called "the
perfectly wonderful morale" of the
men, Secretary Knox said that wnen
one ship was capsized and threw
large numbers of her crew into the
Pacific waters in their underwear
many of them were rescued by a
fast-moving United States destroy
er Destroyer officers offered to take
the dripping men back to land, but
the crew members objected, saying,
We'll go after them with you"
Finds Morale High.
Secretary Knox also said that he
visited a hospital, where he also
found the morale high and where
the wounded men said to the Secre-
tary, L hope the - Will come
back" ~
Asked in detail about the method
by which the planes were brought
to the vicinity Of the islands, Sec
retary Knox said: -
There is no question about the
planes having come from carriers
However, he said, the carriers
we're not located.
The Secretary said his investiga-
ton did not disclose the use OF any
secret weapons or anything new ex-
cept the two-man submarine. He
said that as far as suicide bombers"
were concerned he heard nothing of
that except the report of one man
who said he saw japanese aviator
fly into a United States aircraft
hangar directly. He said there was
no evidence that German flyers had
taken part in the raid.
Loss of Planes Heavy.
The loss of planes by the United
States Navy was heavy, the Secre-
tary said. but the loss of aviation
personnel was not.
Commenting on the large ratio OF
dead to injured in the casualty re-
port, Mr.. Knox said that this was
due to the fact that one ship simply
rolled over, taking the crew with 1t
He fatty denied the rumor that ii
took an unusually long time for the
ships in the harbor to get up steam
and get out in pursuit OF the at
tackers.
Mr.. Knox denied emphatically
rumors that had circulated on Capl.
tol Hill to the effect that the Navy
had been forewarned of the attack
1t was completely sudden, he said
Repeatedly questioned about thu
escape of the planes following the
attack, Secretary Knox said they
escaped in four directions at once,
making pursuit difficult. He mad'
great pains to assure the press con
/ ference that no oil storage and NJ
harbor facilities were destroyed.
Civilian Casualties About 50.
Secretary Knox said he coul'
speak only for Navy casualties, an
that the Army would handle it
own dead and wounded. Civilian
casualties, of which he said ther
were about so on the island, prob
ably will be announced by Ger
Short, military governor of tn
island.
The Knox press conference, an
nounced this morning, followin
the Secretary,s audience with PreSi
dent Roosevelt, drew the larges