The Road to Infamy
Timeline 1895-1941
Battleships and other ships of the U.S. Fleet at anchor in Panama bay on 26 February 1929 at the completion of that year's fleet problem. Photographed from USS Lexington (CV-2). Aircraft are Martin T4M-1 torpedo bombers (NH 75711). From history.navy.mil
Teddy Roosevelt and the Great White Fleet Original by Mort Kunslter.
Ships of the United States Fleet pictured at anchor inside the breakwater at Colon, Canal Zone, 1935. http://www.navsource.org/archives/01/034/013433f.jpg
CASE FILE 003 TIMELINE
TOPIC: US Prewar Preparedness 1895-1941
ORGANIZATIONS: US Navy, US Army
INCIDENT: Pearl Harbor attack, December 7, 1941.
LOCATION: Various
DATE: 1895-1941
TIMELINE:
1895-1898:
The US fundamentally changed its stance on imperialism and colonial power when the Monroe Doctrine is extended to Hawaii. The US colonizes Hawaii. Japanese diplomatic protests on the grounds that over a quarter of the Hawaiian population was Japanese were ignored by the US. The Hawaiian kingdom had an embassy in Japan for decades. This begins the scism between Japan and the US.
1897:
JUL: Japan dispatches a cruiser to Hawaii to protect its citizens during the American takeover.
JUL 10: Navy Department ordered American sailors to prepare to land and take Hawaii by force if the Japanese made threatening moves.
JUL 13: USS Oregon, the most powerful ship in the Navy, is dispatched to Hawaii.
Secretary Roosevelt gave the Naval War College a special war problem: "Japan makes demands on Hawaiian Island. This country intervenes. What force will be necessary to uphold the intervention...Keeping in mind possible complications with another power on the Atlantic Coast (Cuba)" LaFeber, Walter. The New Empire An Interpretation of American Expansion 1860-1898. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1963, p.364
1899:
US Naval Budget: $54.1 MILLION
The US invaded and made a colony of the Philippines, only 99 miles from the Japanese province of Formosa. The main war against the Philippine independence fighters and ethnic Moro lasted until 1913, however, isolated rebellions continued throughout the American occupation until after WWII. Approximately 200,000 Philippino and Moro were killed.
![[Pasted image 20230305201152.png]]
1901:
US Naval Budget: $85.4 MILLION
SEP 28: Philipino independence fighters rose up against occupying US soldiers in response to the use of slave labor by the US Army in the town of Balangiga. 45 US Soldiers were killed in the largest defeat by US soldiers since Little Big Horn. 100 rifles and 25,000 rounds of ammunition were captured by the independence fighters.
In response, Brigadier General Jacob Smith ordered a detachment of Marines to brutally exterminate the Philipinos in the area. "I want no prisoners. I wish you to kill and burn; the more you kill and burn, the better it will please me... The interior of Samar must be made a howling wilderness..." BG Smith clarified the order to exterminate all Philipino males over the age of 10 years old. The actual number of civilians killed is unknown and ranges from 2,500 to 50,000 during the extermination campaign. General Smith was not tried for crimes against humanity or war crimes but was admonished for "actions contrary to good order and discipline" and allowed to retire. The other American general responsible for mass atrocities by placing ethnic minorities and non-combatants into concentration camps described by one camp commander as "suburbs from hell" where up to 20 percent of the civilian population died from 1901 to 1902 was General James Franklin Bell. Bell conducted a "scorched earth" campaign that the Army attempted to cover up in an early propaganda effort. Bell was never tried or punished and allowed to retire. Just over 40 years later, Americans would execute Japanese for equivalent or lesser crimes in the Philippines.
1903:
US Naval Budget: $83.9 MILLION
Establishment of the Joint Board. Responsible for War Planning. "Secretary of War Elihu Root had established several reforms; one was a joint Army and Navy Planning Board. This board relied for help from several organizations, including students at the Army and Navy War Colleges. The students and faculty received practical problems that the General Staff of the Army and the General Board of the Navy would review, and if these two entities agreed, the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy were given the plans for the two armed services to approve. This 14 planning process continued through the early part of the 20th century and was still in place on the eve of World War II" (p 13) Link
1905:
US Naval Budget: $115.7 MILLION
MAY 7: Japanese and Korean Exclusion League is formed in America. Its political disinformation and lobbying campaigns in California, DC, and even Vancouver, BC in Canada are effective and getting legislation passed that incites violence between ethnic groups and nations over the next few years, including school segregation for Japanese American students in SF. Roosevelt was initially against the groups' goals, but after 1906 begins to embrace some of them.
1906:
US Naval Budget: 104.9 MILLION
MAR 7: Massacre of Philippine Muslim Men, Women, and Children by American soldiers at Bud Dajo crater. General Wood attempts to cover up and deploy US Army propagandists to whitewash the massacre. Link
Link to Original at US Archives
OCT: President Teddy Roosevelt asks Naval War Planners for a war plan against Japan. The US Navy War College shifted from praising Japan to calling them "Japs" and seeing them as the "inevitable" enemy. Great White Fleet planned.
War Plan Orange Assessment of the Enemy in 1908 already detailed a sophisticated analysis of Japan's capability focusing on economic interrelationships that the US would target both before and during the war.
1907: 1st WAR SCARE WITH JAPAN
US Naval Budget: 107.3 MILLION
Naval War College Begins WAR PLAN ORANGE (JAPAN). Oliver develops step by step phased plan.
JAN: "Japan War is Inevitable Says Captain Richard Hobson Hero of the Merrimac. Uncle Sam Would Lose In the Conflict He Declared Because of Weak Navy Thus United States Would Lose her Oriental Lands" "As soon as Japan declares war a movement against the Phillippines and Hawaiian islands will be made and before Uncle Sam can get even a respectable squadron there the yellow man will have established himself in possession...Japan will dictate to China and other Asiatic countries and will be in absolute control of the great Pacific Ocean. After this condition will be borne for a long time the White Race will rise superior and conflict for supremacy with the yellow race." Link
FEB: Newspapers carry jingoistic editorials about the need for complete destruction of Japan Link
DEC: Great White Fleet Sails starts its global cruise. President Teddy Roosevelt boards the flagship in Hampton Roads and tells RADM Charles M. Thomas, "I want the FLEET prepared at all times for whatever may come to pass." Link
Teddy Roosevelt noted in a letter to Secretary Root, "I am more concerned over the Japanese situation than any other. Thank Heaven we have the navy in good shape."
Race Riots in San Francisco against ethnic Japanese. More militaristic propaganda against Japan is promoted in the US. Link
William Bryan noted the groups in Washington and the Press fanning the flames of war talk and the positioning of the US fleet to the Pacific. Link
School segregation starts in San Francisco against the Japanese.
US violates international treaty with Japan over immigration signed in 1894
Japanese and Korean Exclusion League changes its name to Asiatic Exclusion League.
1908:
US Naval Budget: 109.7 MILLION
War Scare jingoism continues in the US. Reports of Japanese ships "hovering around Hawaii" are published along with Japanese spy activity. Captain Richmond Pearson published a series of articles forecasting how Japan could attack and invade America.
JAN: Example of French agitation for war between Japan and the US based on Panama Canal completion. LINK
FEB: Asleep in Danger article noting the propaganda of Japanese designs to invade the West Coast of the US, quotes General Lea comment regarding troop strength for Japan vs. US Army. "some morning with the Philippines, Hawaii, and Alaska in the hands of a hostile foe; and unless the fleet of Admiral Evans can prevent, the guns of hostile squadrons battering down the cities of the Pacific Coast, with great armies of invasion pouring in from Alaska and Mexico." LINK
APR: VISION OF WAR WITH ORIENT HAUNTS HOBSON. Excellent insight into the House of Representatives' debates on future war with Japan and American Naval development. Roosevelt asks for Four Battleships. Noting the link between arms and contracts to war scare and promise of war. LINK
MAY: WILL ENGLAND STAND BY TREATY? JAPANESE WAR PREPARATIONS! JAPAN WANTS TO LEAD ASIA! And more pro-war propaganda against Japan LINK
JUL: American Oligarch Charles Schwab makes public observations on the Japanese Navy to the press. He says he would love to support the purchase of 10 warships every year to maintain superiority over Japan. LINK
JUL: Great White Fleet departs San Francisco, where it has berthed since May, sails to Honolulu, Australia, then Manila and Yokohama before sailing to Amoy Manchurian Empire (present-day China). LINK
1910:
US Naval Budget: 139.4 MILLION
The global arms race in Dreadnoughts (Battleships) includes the US. LINK
1911:
US Naval Budget: 136.4 MILLION
US War Planners working on War Plan Orange accurately predicted in their assessment and assumptions section that Japan would annex Manchuria, and the US would go to war over potential market losses. The planners realized the US public would be skeptical and interjected a "cassis belli" situation where Japan shoots first.
England and Japan renew their Alliance.
Article on the "inevitable war with Japan" by experts and the need to unburden the US of the Philippines before it happens. LINK
1912:
US Naval Budget: 128.5 MILLION
1913: 2ND WAR SCARE WITH JAPAN
US Naval Budget: 127 MILLION
MAY: Good overview of the numbers of Japanese ships vs. American ships and the economics at the time that prevented war between the US and Japan. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026907/1911-05-10/ed-1/seq-2/#date1=1907&sort=relevance&rows=20&words=Japan+war+War&searchType=basic&sequence=0&index=16&state=&date2=1913&proxtext=japan+war&y=15&x=10&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=3 also an article reflecting the same but stating that the issue was California immigration law https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85038161/1913-05-15/ed-1/seq-2/#date1=1907&sort=relevance&rows=20&words=Japan+war&searchType=basic&sequence=0&index=7&state=&date2=1913&proxtext=japan+war&y=15&x=10&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=4
JUN: Bud Bagsak massacre 500-1000 men, women, and children in the Philippines by American soldiers in ethnic cleansing operation against Moros.
California illegally bans Japanese American ownership of land along with Japanese citizen ownership of land. California land grabs, vote against Japanese, etc. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045487/1913-05-02/ed-1/seq-24/#date1=1907&sort=relevance&rows=20&words=Japan+war&searchType=basic&sequence=0&index=2&state=&date2=1913&proxtext=japan+war&y=15&x=10&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=3
1914:
US Naval Budget: 143.1 MILLION
The American General Board wrote, even before Japan mirrored the British/Australian land grabs in the Pacific, that "If all the German possessions in the South Seas went to Orange (Japan), and Blue (America) had the stronger fleet, Blue would be in a better position to carry war across the Pacific. The planners knew that fortifying the islands was "Beyond the resources of Orange" (Fleet p 111)
Japan, as a member of the Entente with Britain, France, and Russia, completes the British/Australian conquest of German colonies in Asia and the Pacific. "On 7 August 1914, just ten days after the outbreak of World War I, the British Foreign Office asked for Japan’s assistance against German armed merchant vessels in the East China Sea. Whitehall referred to a clause in the 1902 Anglo-Japanese Alliance that established the mutual support of the two countries. Later that day, Foreign Minister [Katō Takaaki (1860-1926)](https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/index/names/1049354753 "Katō Takaaki (1860-1926)") and his cabinet colleagues agreed to go to war with Germany" https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/warfare_1914-1918_japan
Australia followed initial 1912 plans and conquered Bougainville, New Britain, Admiralty Islands, Nauru, German Samoa, and New Guinea. Japan conquers Imperial German Tsingtao in China and Micronesia in the Pacific. With Imperial German presence in Asia and the Pacific eliminated Japan sent warships to the Mediterranean to assist the British, French, and Italian Entene. The Australians take the first casualties of the war in this theater (Battle of Bita Paka near Rabual in New Guinea) https://www.sea.museum/2014/05/01/an-expedition-of-conquest-australia-and-the-south-west-pacific-in-wwi.
The US considered how to prevent the Japanese from keeping the Micronesian Islands, including war, despite the fact that Japan was on the Entente side, and no consideration was made against Australian gains. In the end, the Orange War planners noted that Japanese control of Micronesian Island chains was more beneficial for the eventual offensive Naval operations against Japan and to thrust into the Philippines and defend the US colonial possessions there.
1915:
US Naval Budget: 149.3 MILLION
1916:
US Naval Budget: 165.6 MILLION
1917:
US Naval Budget: 1.357 BILLION
1918:
US Naval Budget: 652.5 MILLION
CHECK EXACT DATE: Americans agreed with the Entente that Japan could keep the Micronesian Islands as long as they were not fortified.
OCT 5: "The Problem of Japan A Political Study of Japan and Her Relations with Russia, Great Britain, China, Germany, and the United States, The British Colonies, and the Netherlands and of the World Politics of the Far East and the Pacific in One Volume" is published. It is a massive propaganda book printed by an American in Amsterdam designed to influence anti-Japanese sentiment at the Treaty of Versailles and the during the formation of the League of Nations. The book notes 1909 as the shift of Americans to political animosity towards Japan. The book also notes the threat in 1910 of Secretary Knox of neutralizing Japanese and Russian railroads in Manchuria. The book's main narrative was to paint the Japanese as a nation with global domination as a goal since the 1500s and a direct threat to the white nations of the globe. (Make special Evidence Locker Section with more information on this)
At Versailles, the Naval Advisors sagely recommended conceding Japan's control of the islands, provided they were not fortified. "The undefended islands would lay "hostage" to the Blue Naval Strength." "Colonel House," the oligarch behind Wilson and lead for the Amerian's at Versailles, approved. (Fleet p. 112)
1919:
US Naval Budget: 1.97 BILLION
DEC 24: US develops and deploys the 900-ton displacement S Class Submarines. 51 would be commissioned from 1920-1925. The Group II or S-3 Class consists of 15 boars, including the S-16 (SS-121), with a cruising radius sufficient to go to Japan and back without refueling.
Joint Board reorganized to increase efficiency and reduce defects noted during WWI. Formation of the Joint Planning Committee to work specifically on War Plans. 8 Officers (4 x Army 4 x Navy) from each services War Plans Division. These in turn, used the AWC and NWC staff and students to do much of the "spade work" during the year.
1920:
US Naval Budget: 628 MILLION
![[Pasted image 20230314142703.png]]
Nenana Alaska Daily News, Feb 10, 1920
1921:
US Naval Budget: 768.5 MILLION
JUL: Rear Admiral Clarence S Williams takes command of the War Plans Division. He adjusts War Plan Orange Phase II to take advantage of the ability to capture the defenseless Japanese Mandate islands.
JUL: Major Earl H. Ellis Developed Operation Plan 712-H; Advanced Base Operations in Micronesia, approved by USMC Major General John A Lejeune. OPLAN 712 detailed the Amphibious strategy in a Japanese American War that was remarkably accurate when the war came two decades later. "In order to impose our will upon Japan, it will be necessary for us to project our fleet and land forces across the Pacific and wage war in Japanese waters. To effect this requires that we have sufficient bases to support the fleet, both during its projection and afterward. As the matter stands at present, we cannot count upon the use of any bases west of Hawaii except those which we may seize from the enemy after the opening of hostilities. Moreover, the continued occupation of the Marshall, Caroline and Pelew Islands by the Japanese (now holding them under mandate of the League of Nations) invests them with a series of emergency bases flanking any line of communications across the Pacific throughout a distance of 2300 miles. The reduction and occupation of these islands and the establishment of the necessary bases therein, as a preliminary phase of the hostilities, is practically imperative." The paper was officially adopted by General Lejune and subsequently became the keystone of strategic plans for a Pacific War so far as the Marine Corps was concerned. Most of it was still used by the USMC as a fundamental operational doctrine as late as the 1990s. LINK
OCT: US dropped pressure on Japan and openly acknowledged their legal right to Micronesia, but only after Naval Planning had confirmed it allowed the U.S. to conduct a more effective island-hopping campaign in war with Japan and could seize the islands. (Fleet p 113-114)
OCT: After the Washington Conference, both the Secretary of State Charles Huges and Secretary of the Navy Edwin Denby noted that the new Island Hopping theory incorporated into War Plan Orange by politically forcing Japan to leave the islands defenseless gave the US "undoubted advantages." Japan promised open commercial access and reaffirmed there would be no fortifications on the island. Without the ability to capture those Mandate Islands, the U.S. Navy's War Plan was more tenuous and, in some evaluations, "practically impossible" (Fleet p. 116)
Washington Disarmament Conference
Washington pressured Britain to Dissolve the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of 1902 by substituting the Four Power Treaty in order to protect US colonial holdings in Asia and encroach on US profits in Asia (China)
1922:
US Naval Budget: 508.1 MILLION
"(1922) Saw an increased intensity of U.S. War Planning AFTER the Treaty of Arms Reduction in 1922, which were billed as years of "Good Feelings." (To Train the Fleet for War, p.12)
DEC 6: The U.S. Navy reorganized its fleet to complement War Plan ORANGE. The U.S. Navy stationed the Battle Fleet, consisting of twelve battleships and the _Lexington_ and the _Saratoga_, in the Pacific, thereby reflecting the view of the Board, the ONI, the CNO, and the Naval War College that the Imperial Japanese Navy was the primary concern of the U.S. Navy. Operating independently of either fleet were the Asiatic Fleet, Naval Forces Europe, Special Service Squadron, and Naval Transportation Service. https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/s/study-general-board-usnavy-1929-1933.html
1923:
US Naval Budget: 330.6 MILLION
FLEET PROBLEM I:
American Navy experimented using Submarine USS S-1 (SS-105) with a hanger containing a single Martin MS-1 Floatplane.
General Leonard Wood, former commander during the Philippine Ethnic Cleansing operations and later military governor of the Philippines, wrote to Secretary of War John Weeks regarding the Navy's plan to abandon the Philippines due to the inability in a war with Japan the US Navy to relieve American forces on the island chain before the Japanese captured it. "Such a policy of abandonment spell NATIONAL DISHONOR and the beginning of a retrogression which God alone can see the end of." Wood wanted the Philippines to be the "Greatest outpost of Christianity and Western Civilization in the Far East." Compare and contrast to Embick and Krueger. Woods's sentiment was reflected by Harding, a "progressive" Republican who believed in the American Empire (Orange p 123) and supported Woods's demands to maintain the thruster strategy over a more realistic view of a defensive line at Hawaii and non-belligerence towards Japan.
1924:
US Naval Budget: 302.855 MILLION
The joint War Plan Orange was now created and endorsed at the Secretary of War level.
FLEET PROBLEM II, III, IV:
Transitioning the Canal and Steam to Japan's Home Islands. Black and Orange OPFOR against Blue, Joint Army/Navy training. MTOE for Army units on page 79 LINK
Taking the war to the Japanese LINK
Military Censorship of personal letters, even from family members in the Canal Zone. LINK
JAN 7 Secret Testing of an amphibious tank in a remote part of Brighton Beach New York. LINK
VIDEO #1 of Christie's experimental landing craft in Aberdeen Proving Ground.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZB-vWOGKOZs
VIDEO #2 of Christie's experimental landing craft at a West Point Display Day.
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/24749?objectPage=50
Marine Corps History on development of Christie's landing craft. LINK
https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/I/USMC-I-I-3.html
JAN 14-25 Joint Army and Navy exercise as Part of Fleet Maneuvers. 1700 Marines amphibious landing on Fort Randolph attacking Army (see MTOE on page 79 for units). LINK
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/177111269
Landing on Japanese-held islands (See page 31) LINK
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/177112344?objectPage=31
MAR 3 Testing of secret amphibious tanks in Panama with USS Wyoming.
1925:
US Naval Budget: 308,810 MILLION
FLEET PROBLEM V:
The Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) estimated a war against Japan would require 14 Battleships (vs. 10 for Japan), 551 vessels, experimental aircraft carrier Langley, 300 seaplanes on tenders, 50,000 soldiers and Marines, and 20 long range submarines.
THE GREAT PACIFIC WAR is published by HECTOR BYWATER. Bywater is the Tom Clancy of his day, read by American and foreign Naval leadership and policymakers alike. His THE GREAT PACIFIC WAR was read by the Japanese Naval Attaché Captain Isoroku Yamamoto who used many of Bywater's strategies for the opening phases of the Pacific Campaign in WWII. The Japanese Gaiko Shiryokan (Diplomatic Records Office) has documents of Yamamoto's reports back to Japan regarding the book. Bywater was a Naval analyst and former British spy who drew heavily from War Plan Orange and the results of the Fleet Exercises and focused on a potential war between Japan and the US that notionally takes place in the 1930s, and correctly forecast much of the actual conduct of the war 20 years later.
1926:
US Naval Budget: 310,591 MILLION
FLEET PROBLEM VI:
US Congress authorized a 5 year doubling of Naval Aviation.
1927:
US Naval Budget: 332,071 MILLION
William Saterlee Pye, who views war with Japan as a "Racial Struggle" is made Chief Assistant of War Plans and at OP-12. Phase II the final siege and destruction of Japan was focused on and advanced most during his tenure.
Chinese nationalist and Russian-led socialist violence erupts against foreigners. The US moves additional military forces into China including a light cruiser division and 4,000 additional Marines to occupy Peking, Tieintsin, and Shanghai. Admiral Mark Bristol noted, "It is likely that the Chinese will show less in his dealings with the White Race in the future."
1928:
US Naval Budget: 348,332 MILLION
Kellog Briand Pact. Restricting some forms of warfare but not others via a "national policy" contextualization.
US Combat Aircraft = 1,612
Japan Combat Aircraft = 1,100
1929:
US Naval Budget: 383,143 MILLION
US Congress passed the Cruiser Act authorizing the construction of 19 Cruisers and 1 Aircraft Carrier.
War Plan Orange planners forecast the requirements for US industry to mobilize in order to wage a successful war against Japan. The US planners' estimates were remarkably close to the actual output the US produced during WWII for use in the Pacific Theater. "The actual musterings in the Pacific outpaced the forecasts, but the makeup of men and material roughly paralleled the prognosis" (Orange p 6) ![[1929 Fleet Problem.jpeg]]
1929-1931: Rear Admiral Montgomery Taylor evaluated the Pacific Theater in a more pragmatic and less race based imperialist approach. He noted, along with others such as General Embick, future General Wedermeyer, and others that having China within the sphere of influence of Japan was not detrimental to US national security interests and the US would benefit from having Japan as an ally.
1930:
US Naval Budget: 364,693 MILLION
1931:
US Naval Budget: 403,243 MILLION
Japan is the largest US trading partner. (US buys 40% of Japanese exports and purchases 34% of her imports from America, including 49% of Iron, 53% of Machine Tools, and 75% of petroleum and petroleum products)
Pratt, following President Hoover's guidance on a renewed anti-imperialist approach, downgraded war planning priorities against Japan, effectively pausing it until 1933, when it was renewed.
1932:
US Naval Budget: 359,199 MILLION
After the Fleet Problems, the US Navy stations most of the US Fleet in the Pacific.
1933:
US Naval Budget: 571,927 MILLION
![[US Fleet at Anchor Colon, Canal Zone 1933.jpg]]
1934:
US Naval Budget: 352,433 MILLION
MAR: Vinson Trammel Act superseding the remaining Cruiser Act authorizations increases Naval expansion by 20% to be completed by 1942. 65 Destroyers, 30 submarines, one carrier, 1184 naval airplanes, and 12 additional cruisers. Weapon systems also increased, including 5-inch 25s, 16-inch 45s, mount sights, gun directors, torpedo tubes, etc.
1935:
US Naval Budget: 346,296 MILLION
Army War College War Planning exercise focuses on Participation with Allies and a dual threat in the European and Pacific region from Germany and Japan, which did not begin to occur until a year and a half later. Soviet Russian intrigue was also a part of the assessment when the Japanese looked as if they are going to attack the Soviet Union "Communist agitation in the U.S. was greatly reduced at once...Several of the strongest peace organizations changed their peace at any price attitude. Propaganda against Japan became more common. The pacific attitude of Russia was Emphasized." (This is what actually occurred when the Germans turned against their former allies in June 1941). Other assessments of French reluctance to engage in offensive operations mirrored the actual events of 1939-1940 as well.
1936:
US Naval Budget: 489,005 MILLION
Army War College War Planning exercise came even closer to the eventual path of WWII. Italy was now placed into the Axis column. The planning validated the "Germany First" course of action for the Allied response. It was also determined that the US assuming UK colonial protection had to be in parallel with a public information campaign that linked each colonial acquisition as tied to a national security threat.
Authorization for 6 new cruisers, 2 additional carriers, and hundreds of aircraft.
1937:
US Naval Budget: 529,059 MILLION
23-25 APR: 3-Day Army Navy exercise defending Hawaii from Japanese Air Attack. The exercise involved 20,000 troops, 200 planes, and 25 ships.
Army War College War Planning exercises continued to refine estimations that mirrored the eventual path of WWII . The planners after two years recognized that the future conflict would be decided by "economic and industrial factors". Two enemy courses of action were estimated: Japan strikes into Russia to gain access to needed raw materials or Germany strikes into France First, then turn on Russia. The second was chosen by the planners, and that is what occurred. France continued to be seen as politically divided and lacking in cohesion and commitment, and it was seen that a military defeat would break France politically, which is what occurred in 1940. The 1937 AWC plans also foresaw the eventual friction in conduct between the UK and the US. While both agreed to a Germany First policy, the planners knew that the UK would "nibble around the edges" while the US wanted to "go for the jugular".
Authorization for an additional 2 battleships.
1938:
US Naval Budget: 524,772 MILLION
FLEET PROBLEM XIX:
Phase V Defense of Hawaii. Admiral King moved the Orange Fleet behind a weather front then at 0450 100 miles NW of Hawaii he launched an attack that struck at Pearl, Hickam, and Wheeler Field. All aircraft were back on carriers at 0835. The results were leaked to the Saturday Evening Post which released the story in JAN 1939.
8 Destroyers and 4 submarines.
Naval Act of 1938/"Second Vinson Act". An additional 20% increase in the strength of the Navy. The act authorized the following:
105K Tons of Battleships (the first three Iowa Class were authorized)
68K Tons of Cruisers
38K Tons of Destroyers
13K Tons of Submarines (8 SS 204 to SS 211 were authorized)
Dirigibles, Auxillary ships.
1939:
US Naval Budget: 673,792 MILLION
Variation of the Red-Orange War plan was implemented but updated Red from the UK to Germany. The planners took the Army hesitancy for offensive operations in the Pacific and agreed for the first time to a defense of Centrla and South America, and support of Atlantic Operations to defeat Germany/Italy first, then shift to the Pacific and focus on Japan. A position of readiness was to be held in the Pacific and Offensive/Defensive operations meant luring the Japanese away from home waters for a series of engagements far from their advantage.
JUN: Rainbow plans were created in order to introduce joint ALLIED considerations. Mirrored Army War College Allied Cooper
1940:
US Naval Budget: 1,137,608 BILLION
Neutrality Patrols reduce the ships available to the FLEET PROBLEMS for the first time since 1921.
JUL: Two Ocean Act/Vinson Walsh Act was the largest Naval procurement in history increasing the size of the Navy by 70% (88.5 BILLION) emphasizing carriers. This was on top of the June increase of 11% in tonnage and aviation capacity. The act autorized the following:
18 Aircraft Carriers
7 Battleships
33 Cruisers
115 Destroyers
43 Submarines
15,000 Aircraft
plus over 300 Million for facilities, ordnance, and smaller patrol, utility, training, and auxiliary ships.
FDR interjected planning considerations into the War Plans and effectively placed the interservice planning control directly under him that year. The first time that civilians controlled US war plans, giving him virtual warlord status. "He was the only U.S. President to approve a Pacific War Fighting Document during peacetime." (p.11. To Train the Fleet for War)
16 SEP: FDR mobilizes National Guard and Reserve, and activates the Draft. 1.4 Million troops are authorized.
After the Fleet Exercises, the US Fleet is forward deployed to Pearl Harbor.
Planning for Flett Problem XXI has FDR very involved and pushing for forward maneuvers to reconnoiter. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/177139102?objectPage=32 ![[Pasted image 20230305145528.png]]
1941:
US Naval Budget: 4,465,584 BILLION
JAN - MAR: Joint US/UK War Plans (ABC Meetings/Plans)
APR 21-27: American Dutch British (ABD) Meetings in Singapore to plan and coordinate operational response to Japanese in SE Asia. "Our object is to defeat Germany and her allies, and hence in the Far East to maintain the position of the asocated powers against the Japanese attack, in order to sustain a long term economic pressure against Japan until we are in a position to take the offensive." (p65 US Army Green Book on Planning)"
APR: US Navy orders one battleship division (3 Battleships), one light cruiser division (4 Cruisers), and two destroyer divisions, to the Atlantic, including Washington refusing to send personnel to man critical positions in Hawaii. These intentional actions by DC had the effect of "gutting" the Pacific Fleet at a critical time according to Vice Admiral Satterlee Pye. Pushing the US forward to a vulnerable position in Hawaii, economically engaging in war with Japan, then reducing the combat strengh of the exposed fleet was very tempting to the Japanese.
JUL 26: Philippine Army was absorbed into the US Army. (p67 Army Green Book on Planning)
FDR openly approves support for KMT kinetic operations against Japan (p63 Army Green Book on Planning)
JUL 9: VICTORY PROGRAM. FDR directs Secretary of War Stimpson and Secretary of Navy Knox to draw up an estimate of the "overall production requirements required to defeat our potential enemies."
OCT 20, 29: Wall Street Journal leaked parts of the Victory Program.
December 5th: Chicago Tribune leaked parts of the Victory Program and the FBI now began to investigate.
