The Second World War is a World war, that was averted in December 7th,1941, as Japan got what it wanted from the US.
Prelude to averting the War[]
On October 8, 1940, Admiral Richardson, commander of the U.S. fleet, had a confrontation with President Roosevelt. Richardson repeated what he had said in his letter to Admiral Stark and his memo to Secretary Knox—that Pearl Harbor was the wrong place for his ships. Roosevelt said he thought that having the fleet in Hawaii was a "restraining influence" on Japan. When Richardson asked the president whether the United States was going to war, "He replied," in Richardson's account, "that if the Japanese attacked Thailand, or the Kra Peninsula, or the Dutch East Indies we would not enter the war, that if they even attacked the Philippines he doubted whether we would enter the war." But the Japanese couldn't always avoid making mistakes, the president said. "Sooner or later they would make a mistake and we would enter the war."
In July 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy headquarters informed Hirohito that its reserve bunker oil would be exhausted within two years if a new source was not found. On September 6, 1941, at the second Imperial Conference concerning attacks on the Western colonies in Asia and Hawaii, Japanese leaders met to consider the attack plans prepared by Imperial General Headquarters, one day after the emperor had reprimanded General Sugiyama about the lack of success in China, and the speculated low chances of victory against the United States, British Empire and their allies.
Prime Minister Konoe argued for more negotiations and possible concessions to avert war. Military leaders like Hideki Tojo, Sugiyama, and IJN Chief of Staff Osami Nagano argued time had run out and that additional negotiations would be pointless. They urged swift military actions against all American and European colonies in Southeast Asia and Hawaii. Tojo argued yielding to the American demand to withdraw troops would wipe out all the fruits of the Second Sino-Japanese war, depress Army morale, endanger Manchukuo and jeopardize control of Korea and so argued that doing nothing was the same as defeat and a loss of face.
On October 16, 1941, Konoe resigned and proposed Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni, who was also the choice of the Army and the Navy, as his successor. Hirohito choose Tojo instead, worried, as he told Konoe, about having the Imperial House being held responsible for a war against Western powers.
On November 3, 1941, Nagano presented a complete plan for the attack on Pearl Harbor to Hirohito. At the Imperial Conference on 5 November, Hirohito approved the plan for a war against the United States, Great Britain and Holland, scheduled to start at the beginning of December if an acceptable diplomatic settlement were not achieved before then.
On 30 November 1941, Prince Nobuhito Takamatsu warned his brother, Hirohito, that the Navy felt the Empire could not fight more than two years against the United States and wished to avoid war. After consulting with Koichi Kido (who advised him to take his time until he was convinced) and Tojo, the Emperor called Shigetaro Shimada and Nagano who reassured him war would be successful. On December 1, Hirohito finally approved a "war against United States, Great Britain and Holland", during another Imperial Conference, to commence with a surprise attack on the US Pacific Fleet at its main forward base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.
On November 26, 1941, the day the Hull note was received from United States Secretary of State Cordell Hull, which the Japanese leaders saw as an unproductive and same old proposal, the carrier battle group under the command of then Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, already assembled in Hitokappu Wan in the Kurile Islands, sortied for Hawaii under strict radio silence.
The Kido Butai, the Combined Fleet's main carrier force of six aircraft carriers carriers (the most powerful carrier force with the greatest concentration of air power in the history of naval warfare to date), embarked 359 airplanes, organized as the First Air Fleet. The carriers Akagi (flag), Kaga, Sōryū, Hiryū, and the newest, Shōkaku and Zuikaku, had 135 Mitsubishi A6M Type 0 fighters (Allied codename "Zeke", commonly called "Zero"), 171 Nakajima B5N Type 97 torpedo bombers (Allied codename "Kate"), and 108 Aichi D3A Type 99 dive bombers (Allied codename "Val") aboard. Two fast battleships, two heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, nine destroyers, and three fleet submarines provided escort and screening. In addition, the Advanced Expeditionary Force included 20 fleet and five two-man Ko-hyoteki-class midget submarines, which were to gather intelligence and sink U.S. vessels attempting to flee Pearl Harbor during or soon after the attack. It also had eight oilers for underway fueling.
Part of the Japanese plan for the attack included breaking off negotiations with the United States 30 minutes before the attack began. Diplomats from the Japanese Embassy in Washington, including the Japanese Ambassador, Admiral Kichisaburo Nomura, and special representative Saburo Kurusu, had been conducting extended talks with the State Department regarding the U.S. reactions to the Japanese move into Việt Nam in the summer (see above).
In the days before the attack, a long 14-part message was sent to the Embassy from the Foreign Office in Tokyo (encrypted with the Type 97 cryptographic machine, in a cipher named PURPLE by U.S. cryptanalysts), with instructions to deliver it to Secretary of State Cordell Hull at 1 p.m. Washington time. The last part arrived late Saturday night, and delivered to Secretary of State Cordell Hull, a mere hour before the attacks were to begin.
Averting Disaster[]
Secretary of State Cordell Hull rushed the document to President Roosevelt, who after reading, decided to allow Japan to continue its Conquest, until the US had a reason to go to war. However, a Cruiser Detachment, Northhampton, consisting of 2 Heavy Cruisers, a Light Cruiser, and 8 Destroyers was unfortunate enough to intercept the Japanese Strike force, consisting of 6 carriers, 2 Battleships, Multiple Cruisers, and dozens of Destroyers.
The US ships engaged, but were soon destroyed by Japanese broadside of 5.5 inch, 6 inch, 8 inch, 12 inch, and 14 inch artillary, although the US ships managed to sink 2 destroyers, a crusier and damage others with Torpedoes, although most were defective.
Although there was much polictical fallout, war did not ensure, and so, Japan continued its conquest unhindered by any military forces. However, the US relized how poorly it did in the skirmish and decided to make more modern ships to prevent another incident like the Crusier Detachment Northhampton suffered.
In Europe, Germany, in the Thrid Reich era, was building up its military, following a short war over Poland. Britain ended the war, following the fact that Germany stopped there, because of the Advisers of the Führer's advisers, informing Him that Germany was not ready for war, and the war quickly ended.
However, due to the large buildup of forces in Germany, Britan had to build more and more ships, airplanes, and Tanks to make up for it.