The Last Zero Fighter by King Dan

Author:King, Dan [King, Dan]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Pacific Press
Published: 2012-07-11T07:00:00+00:00

The Sleepy Giant That Refused to Wake Up

On December 7, the Japanese almost gave away their intentions. At 5:30 a.m., Adm. Nagumo sent out a pair of E13A1 Jake biplane float planes, one each from the heavy cruisers Chikuma and Tone, on a mission to scout ahead over the target.

CPO Masaharu Fukuoka commanded the aircraft from the Chikuma. His crew consisted of his pilot, PO1/c Akira Ito, and the radioman, PO3/c Fusanobu Kasamori. These men should be mentioned for their incredible display of intestinal fortitude. After flying over Pearl Harbor at a height of roughly nine thousand feet and making observations on the ships below, at 7:35 a.m., CPO Fukuoka ordered his radioman to tap out a message: "Enemy formation at anchor, ten battleships, one heavy cruiser, ten light cruisers." CPO Fukuoka then noted and related conditions important to the approaching first wave. Then, at 7:38 a.m., he ordered his radioman Kasamori to tap the following message: "Cloud clearance over Pearl Harbor 1,700 meters, cloud density seven." Having reported, the plane swept south over one hundred nautical miles trying to locate the American carriers. Finding nothing but open ocean, the float plane returned to the Chikuma. Unknown to CPO Fukuoka, the American carriers USS Lexington (CV-2) and USS Enterprise (CV-6) were near Wake Island, delivering airplanes to the US Marine aviators in order to strengthen the defenses of the tiny outpost. The USS Saratoga (CV-3) was entering San Diego after an interim dry-docking at Bremerton, Washington. The USS Ranger (CV-4), USS Hornet (CV-8), and USS Yorktown (CV-5) were operating around Norfolk, Virginia, on the other side of the world. And the USS Wasp (CV-7) was in Grassy Bay, Bermuda.124

The heavy cruiser Tone's search plane scouted the US naval anchorage at Lahaina, Maui Island. At 7:05 a.m., the plane commander, CPO Ryozō Narukawa, ordered his radioman, PO2/c Nobuo Oku, to report, "Enemy fleet not in Lahaina anchorage." He then lingered to observe the initial attack before returning. However, when the pilot, PO1/c Takahashi, attempted to land his float plane in the wake of the Tone, he broke the main float strut, and the aircraft sank. All three men were plucked from the frigid water.

This use of the scout planes mirrors the definition of the Japanese phrase urging caution, "to tap a stone bridge before crossing." Even though the Kidō Butai was fully committed to the attack, Nagumo ordered the Tone and Chikuma to conduct last-minute recon missions that could have blown his cover. It could have spelled disaster if the Americans acted on their detection. Unknown to Nagumo, Chikuma's flight over Oahu was actually picked up by radar units at Kaiwailoa, Kaaawa, and Opana Ridge. From 6:45 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. all three radar sites forwarded information. The staff duly placed board markers on the unknown plane, but at 7:00 a.m. the information center's NCO-in-Charge cleared the board of markers and closed down the facility. Tragically, info on the aircraft was not forwarded to a higher level of command. Lucky for the Japanese, there were no IFF[67] transponders on US aircraft until months later.

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