It was called the KIDO BUTAI, the Strike Force. Its official designation was the First Air Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy. the brainchild of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, Commander of the Combined Fleet, it was formed in 1940, and consisted of a division of fast battleships, cruisers, destroyers, and [as needed oilers and supply ships. But its heart were the aircraft carriers of Carrier Division 1 [KAGA and AKAGI], Carrier Division 2 [ SORYU and HIRYU], and Carrier Division 5 [SHOKAKU and ZUIKAKU], the latter assigned in the Fall of 1941.
KIDO BUTAI began steaming out of home waters in the autumn of 1941, assembling in Tankan Bay in the Kurile Islands of Northern Japan. They left Tankan Bay on November 26th, sailing into the ferocious seas of the Northern Pacific, heading East. Their objective was Pearl Harbor. Their mission was to attack and sink the major elements of the U.S. Pacific Fleet.
The operation was inspired by the British attack on the Italian Naval base at Taranto in November. The operation was planned by CDR. Genda, the KIDO BUTAI's air officer. Using some 300+ planes, it called for an attack in two waves, with the first concentrating initially on air fields, then the fleet anchorage. The second wave would primarily be concerned with the ships. The fleet was commanded by Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo. A destroyer man, and a torpedo expert, Nagumo had no previous experience with air warfare. His appointment was based on seniority.
On December 7th [our time], the Japanese carriers were some 240 miles north of Oahu when the first wave launched. Picked up on primitive radar, they were disregarded for a variety of reasons, and appeared over the airfields and anchorage shortly before 8 A.M. The first wave did severe damage to land based aircraft, and sank or severely damaged some eight WW I era battleships, sinking, with great loss of life the U.S.S ARIZONA. The second wave arrived shortly after the first left, but with surprise gone suffered proportionally more damage [ the Japanese lost a total29 planes, and five midget subs], with the pilots complaining about smoke obscuring the targets. Within two hours of the first wave's arrival, the Japanese had cleared Hawaiian airspace and headed back to their carriers. But that happened only after a major argument between Nagumo, Genda, Adm. Tamon Yamaguchi [Commander of Carrier Div.2, and probably Japan's best carrier Admiral]. Genda and Yamaguchi wanted to launch a third wave to attack the oil storage tanks, the dry docks and other repair facilities. Nagumo, literally interpreting his orders, concerned with the safety of his fleet, and aware that no U.S. carriers were in Pearl Harbor declined to do so, and the KIDO BUTAI sailed for home.
Was the operation a success? Tactically speaking in the short term, yes. It freed the Japanese to run wild for seven months in the Pacific. Strategically, no. Nagumo would have been much better served if he was spotted, and the U.S. fleet had sallied into the deep waters of the Pacific. All of the battleships, except ARIZONA were raised. Although they were fuel hogs, after repairs, most served, in one capacity or another in the Pacific War. Several participated in the last battleship to battleship engagement ever fought [Surigao Strait. None of the carriers had been sunk. And the failure to destroy the dry docks and oil farm was a major blunder.
KIDO BUTAI went on to raid the Indian Ocean [minus KAGA], support the Wake Island landings [Carrier Div. 2], engage elements of the U.S fleet at Coral Sea [Carrier Div. 5], and finally confront the U.S. carriers at Midway [Carrier Divs. 1 and 2]. And by the time that battle was over AKAGI, KAGA, SORYU and HIRYU were at the bottom of the sea. KIDO BUTAI was reconstituted around Carrier Division 3 [SHOKAKU and ZUIKAKU], but it was never the same. When the Japanese built a new large, modern fleet carrier [TAIHO], it was sunk on its first operation. By the end of the war, ALL Japanese fleet carriers were sunk [ZUIKAKU, the last of the Pearl Harbor attack force was sunk during the Leyte Gulf battles]. And never was KIDO BUTAI as strong, nor as effective as when it had saled east from Tankan Bay.
