The leading navies of the world were situated in a challenging period between the age of fighting sail and the age of nuclear propulsion when fuel was consumable and therefore a critical limit on their reach. Once the team steaming replaced sailing in the naval lexicon, the concept of an operating radius took root. "If an enemy lay beyond that radius, the fleet might as well be chained to a post," a maritime historian wrote.
(from
Neptune's Inferno, by James D. Hornfischer)
This statement may give some small insight into the reason behind the attack on Pearl Harbor. In order to move forward their imperial ambitions, Japan had to have oil. To have oil, they had to conquer the oil-rich East Indies area. In order to do that, they had to remove the U. S. from the area.
Navy oiler/tanker
No comments:
Post a Comment