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N0KFQ > TODAY 24.09.13 17:11l 47 Lines 2077 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 4978_KB0WSA
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Sep 24
Path: IZ3LSV<IW0QNL<VE2PKT<KA0MOS<GB7YEW<GB7MAX<N0KFQ<KB0WSA
Sent: 130924/1430Z 4978@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQK1.4.55
Sep 24, 1941:
Japanese gather preliminary data on Pearl Harbor
On this day in 1941, the Japanese consul in Hawaii is instructed
to divide Pearl Harbor into five zones and calculate the number
of battleships in each zone_and report the findings back to
Japan.
Relations between the United States and Japan had been
deteriorating quickly since Japan's occupation of Indo-China and
the implicit menacing of the Philippines, an American
protectorate. American retaliation included the seizing of all
Japanese assets in the States and the closing of the Panama Canal
to Japanese shipping. In September 1941, Roosevelt issued a
statement, drafted by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill,
that threatened war between the United States and Japan should
the Japanese encroach any farther on territory in Southeast Asia
or the South Pacific.
The Japanese military had long dominated Japanese foreign
affairs. So, although official negotiations between the U.S.
secretary of state and his Japanese counterpart to ease tensions
were ongoing, Hideki Tojo, the minister of war who would soon be
prime minister, had no intention of withdrawing from captured
territories. He also construed the American "threat" of war as an
ultimatum and prepared to deliver the first blow in a
Japanese-American confrontation: the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
In September 1941, Nagai Kita, the Japanese consul in Hawaii, was
told to begin carving up Pearl Harbor into five distinct zones
and to determine the number of warships moored in each zone.
Little did Japan know that the United States had intercepted the
message; unfortunately, it had to be sent back to Washington for
decrypting. Flights east were infrequent, so the message was sent
via sea, a more time-consuming process. When it finally arrived
at the capital, staff shortages and other priorities further
delayed the decryption. When the message was finally unscrambled
in mid-October_it was dismissed as being of no great consequence.
It would be found of consequence on December 7.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
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