The coming of the First World War showed the rivalry more clearly. America wanted a navy “second-to-none”, with the Japanese responding by having a capital ship construction program to try and ensure some national security against the American commitment. Around 1921 finances where starting to strain everywhere, and threatened to bankrupt such naval competition.

4.Send a division of long-range heavy cruisers to the Orient

At 3:58 a.m. December 7, the small mine sweeper Condor signaled the Destroy Ward: “Sighted submerged submarine on westerly course, speed nine knots.” Both were US naval ships on patrol just outside of Pearl Harbor and just had contact with a Japanese midget submarine. The midget submarine was on its way toward the entrance of the harbor. The Japanese fleet was about 250 miles north of the American Fleet, which was still asleep in port. Ten months of hard work by the Japanese was about to either pay off or end in disaster for them, it all depended on the element of surprise. At 3:30 a.m. the midget subs were already released from mother submarines which had carried them all the way from Japan. The five midget subs were to sneak into Pearl Harbor and fire their two torpedoes at the American ships when the attack began. The officer on watch for the Ward quickly woke up the skipper. For the skipper it was not only his first sub contact but his first night on his first patrol on his first command. A general quarter was sounded and for the next half-hour the Ward strained to find anything. Finally after finding nothing the men were released at 4:43 a.m. At 4:58 a.m. the antitorpedo net which guarded the Harbor entrance was opened to let the minesweeper Crossbill in. Since the Condor was to be returning soon too the gate was left opened. After the Condor passed through the gate around 5:32 it was still left opened to let the tug Keosanqua in. The gate was actually left opened till 8:40 a.m. that morning. Since the Ward did not find anything, nothing was reported about the sub contact. At 6:30 a.m. a navy PBY was flying near the Antares to help guided it into port. However the plane following the Antares saw a small conning tower behind the ship. At the same time the Ward spotted it and again general quarters was sounded. The Ward flew at the sub at full speed and when they neared a 100 yards the guns were ordered to fire. One hit the conning tower as the Ward pasted right by the sub. Depth charges were dropped by the Ward and by the PBY and both radioed in the sinking of an unidentified sub. However Navy command did not get excited over the announcement of a sinking of a sub because there had all ready been many reports over years of whales been bombed and reported as subs. Pearl Harbor was alerted that a attack was coming yet they ignored it and did nothing.

Major powers met in Washington to limit naval armament and try to ensure security in the Pacific. The Depression left the limitations to continue through the Thirties. However weapons stocking pilling is only a result from national rivalries, not the cause of them. The Depression and First World War were the major parts in the origins of the Second World War. WWI removed powers from the Far East, which had been shaping the region for the past 70 to 80 years. Russia was basically eliminated as a major power in the Far East for at least a decade only to return as an enemy of Japan. Most European powers where removed from Asia and Japan quickly took over many of Germanys former holding in China. The removal of European presence gave Japan a great advantage in control over Asian matters. Japan tried her power with “twenty-one Demands” where Japan tried to become China’s overlord after China collapse to civil war in 1916. Although Japan was denied in its attempt by its allies and a neutral U.S., she was still left with much power and privilege. Japan used China’s weakness to try and take over and had a lot of power over China even though

Some topics in this essay:
Pearl Harbor, Usher Book, Fort Shafter, Admiral Nagumo, Crossbill Condor, Britain December, Asia Japan, World War, Japan Depression, American Navy, pearl harbor, japanese naval, white house, naval code, american public, world war, japanese ships, december 7, japanese naval code, american navy, code october 1940, airfields oahu, assault pearl harbor, naval code october, dutch east indies,