Comments by "Steve Valley" (@stevevalley7835) on "Admiral Horatio Nelson - From Captain to Victory (Part 2)" video.

@galbert117 on the Pacific fleet vs IJN on Dec 7th: of they stayed in Pearl and used the Steve plan: scramble every fighter on the island when the phone call came in from the radar station, while a DD steamed around Ford Island laying smoke (the Japanese can't hit what they can't see) there would have been less damage. If the battle line stood out to meet the IJN, it would have been a slaughter. The BBs were so slow that the IJN could stand off and use it's air group to sink everything in sight. The USN only had two carriers available in the Pacific that day. If they were in the fight, they would have been lost too. The third alternative is interesting: the USN at Pearl had far more cruisers and DDs available than the IJN force. Leave the BBs in port and sortie the lighter units. The US cruisers and DDs charge the Japanese formation and shoot up everything in sight.
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@harriam0 I doubt the South Dakotas would have been a factor at all. They were too slow to keep up with carrier groups. Had they been completed, they would have probably replaced older ships, so the Wyomings, Nevadas and Pennsylvanias would have been retired by 1941.
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@TraditionalAnglican I'm not thinking in terms of "saving" the obsolete BBs. I'm thinking getting at the cream of the IJN carrier force. It would take excellent reconnaissance, but, if the US force could position itself for a dawn strike, before the carriers could launch a significant force, or attack while the air groups are attacking Pearl, their numerical advantage could carry the day.
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@TraditionalAnglican I agree on the intelligence aspect. Everything would have had to go exceptionally well for a good outcome, like a sighting report by a US sub on the 5th. The USN probably had a pretty good idea of the combat radius of Japanese aircraft. Given the course of the air wing as plotted by radar on the island, the US force could have zeroed in on IJN force, if it was already in the approximate area. Hitting the IJN fleet while the air wing was attacking Pearl would have been ideal as there is little left minding the store, except the CAP. The 5"/38 came out in the mid 30s, and several classes prior to the Fletcher were armed with at least a couple of 5"/38s in the all singing, all dancing, power enclosed turrets with integral ammo hoist, which gave them a rate of fire advantage. As for radar: there is a photo of USS Phoenix leaving Pearl on the 7th, with West Virginia and Arizona burning in the background. It has what looks very much like a radar antenna on top of the gun director at the top of the superstructure. The BBs escorting the carriers were a pair of Kongos, so they were vulnerable to heavy cruisers. It would have been a brawl, but the IJN ships would be so outnumbered, some of the USN DDs would probably have gotten through to the carriers. However, as you said, the fleet running away in the opposite direction could have been an option too.
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