Latest news with #ImperialJapaneseNavy
Irish Independent
2 days ago
- General
- Irish Independent
Max Boot: Ukraine rewrites rules of war with ‘Pearl Harbour' raid
On Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy rewrote the rules of warfare. Almost no one had imagined that the Japanese could sneak across an entire ocean to attack an 'impregnable fortress', as US strategists had described Hawaii.
India Today
3 days ago
- Politics
- India Today
How a Harvard-educated Japanese Admiral planned Pearl Harbour attack on US
In what could be a defining moment in the Russia-Ukraine war, Kyiv launched one of the biggest drone attacks under Operation Spider's Web and struck 4,000 km deep in Russian territory, destroying 41 strategic bombers, some of which were reportedly aircraft capable of carrying nuclear weapons. The Russian media and several pro-Kremlin bloggers referred to the attacks as Russia's "Pearl Harbour" moment, referring to the Imperial Japanese Navy's surprise attack on the US Pacific Fleet in Hawaii in we dive into the historic Pearl Harbour attack, here's why the latest drone attack by Ukraine is being compared to the World War II the special forces' operation on Sunday, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said took "over a year and a half" of planning, Ukraine hit two Russian air bases in Olenya, Murmansk and Irkutsk, Siberia – over 6,000 km apart in different time zones. Such was the magnitude of the drone attack that over 30% of Russia's bomber fleet — Tu-95 and Tu-22s and A-50 airborne radars — was destroyed, suggest the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbour, this drone attack could also change the course of the war. The drone attack comes even as Russia hit Kyiv with missiles last week after Russian President Vladimir Putin's plane was reportedly targeted by Ukraine, a surprise escalation to the war after talks of a US AND JAPAN ENDED ON OPPOSITE SIDES IN WWIIadvertisementThe US foreign policy in the late 1930s hinged on support for China. However, at the beginning of the next decade, in 1941, Japan was deeply embroiled in a war with China to expand its empire across Southeast Asia, mainly for resources such as oil, metals, and per American policy then, aggression against China by Japan meant that Japan would come into direct conflict with the United States. Simultaneously, the Japanese had entered into an alliance with the Axis powers — Germany and the wake of these developments, the US, along with Britain and the Netherlands, imposed severe economic sanctions, including an oil embargo, which threatened Japan's military operations, which by July 1941 had occupied all of Indochina. The US government by this time had severed all commercial and financial relations with JAPANESE ADMIRAL PLANNED PEARL HARBOUR ATTACKJapanese leaders, particularly Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, believed a pre-emptive strike against the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbour, Oahu, Hawaii, would not only hold back the US naval power long enough for Japan to secure its Asian conquests, but also force Washington into negotiations with who had studied English at Harvard and served as a naval attache in Washington, understood America's industrial potential but gambled on a full-blown per Seymour Morris Jr, the author of 'American History Revised: 200 Startling Facts That Never Made to the Textbooks', if Washington had done some serious background checking into Yamamoto's student days when he was a student at Harvard from 1919 to 1921, they would have uncovered useful clues to his psychological makeup, mentions Harvard Magazine's official magazine makes mention of a psychological trait of Yamamoto, quoting Morris, who said, "When they (Yamamoto's classmates) introduced him to the game of poker, he became a fanatical poker player who would stay up all night, winning hand after hand. And what did he do with his poker winnings – lead the good life? No, not at all: he hitchhiked around the country during the summer, exploring America". The Harvard Magazine also mentions that years later, as a naval attache at the Japanese embassy in Washington DC, and still a compulsive poker player, Yamamoto gambled with members of the US military. "Spurred on by his victories," Morris wrote, "he developed contempt for the mental agility of his American naval opponents at the poker table."Two decades later, as the admiral of the Japanese navy, Yamamato's strategy was akin to playing a hand of poker — a surprise aerial assault on Pearl Harbour, using carrier-based planes. Japanese pilots began training extensively in shallow-water torpedo attacks, as Pearl Harbour was only 40-feet FLEET AT PEARL HARBOUR CAUGHT BY SURPRISEOn December 7, 1941, the war drums rolled and the first wave of Japanese attacks came, lasting almost 50 minutes, from 7:55 am to 8:45 am. The ships, which were moored together, made them easy targets for the Japanese. Over 180 Japanese warplanes from 6 aircraft carriers struck US airfields and battleships in the first wave of the attack, a 1,760-pound armour-piercing bomb hit the USS Arizona's magazine, causing a massive explosion, killing 1,177 sailors. Soon, torpedoes sank the USS Oklahoma, killing 429 naval men. Just five minutes later, a second wave of attacks came with over 160 warplanes that targeted the remaining vessels, the shipyards, and other US intelligence reports suggest they suspected a conflict soon after sanctions against Japan, but they were caught off guard by such a massive assault. An Army radar operator spotted the incoming planes but was told they were expected to be US attack left 2,403 US soldiers dead, and 1,178 wounded. A total of eight US battleships were sunk in the attack and 188 aircraft were next day, on December 8, 1941, the United States entered the Second World War, declaring a war on Japan. Four days later, Axis powers Germany and Italy declared war on the US on December Pearl Harbour attack finally made the US join World War II and changed the course of the war. The attack on its Pacific Fleet also contributed to the US emerging as a global leader in the coming decade. As the OG Pearl Harbour changed the course of history, the "modern Pearl Harbour" could change the shape of things to come.
Irish Independent
3 days ago
- General
- Irish Independent
Russia stunned as Ukraine rewrites rules of war with ‘Pearl Harbour' raid
©Washington Post On Sunday morning, Dec. 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy rewrote the rules of warfare. Almost no one had imagined that the Japanese could sneak across an entire ocean to attack an 'impregnable fortress,' as U.S. strategists had described Hawaii. Yet that is just what they did. Japanese aircraft launched from six aircraft carriers managed to destroy or damage 328 U.S. aircraft and 19 U.S. Navy ships, including eight battleships.
India Today
3 days ago
- Politics
- India Today
5 takeaways from Ukraine's Operation Spider's Web against Russia
Ukrainian special forces carried out simultaneous strikes across the length of the Russian Federation, striking air bases and damaging or destroying 41 Russian strategic bombers while they were on the ground. Estimates suggest that over 30 per cent of the Russian Federation's bomber fleet- Tu-95 and Tu-22s and A-50 airborne radars were destroyed by Ukrainian 100 drones were flown out of shipping containers which discharged the pre-programmed vertical lift drones as they passed near Russian airbases. The bombers were those used to target Ukrainian positions during the war using stand-off weapons like cruise missiles and bombs. Russian media has termed these attacks a 'Pearl Harbour', referring to the Imperial Japanese Navy's surprise attack on the US Fleet in Hawaii in 1941. That attack brought the US into the Second World Ukrainian attacks, however, come in a war that is now in its fourth year. It is one of the tactical high-points of the conflict and just before the second round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul on June 2. The first round, on May 16, led to the largest prisoner swap between the two sides.1. THE LARGEST EVER: In sheer size, scale and complexity, Ukraine has carried out one of the world's largest special forces strikes— hitting two air bases in Olenya, Murmansk and Irkutsk, Siberia— over 6000 km apart and in three time zones. It ticks all the boxes of Admiral William McRaven's theory of Special Operations — a simple plan, carefully concealed, repeatedly and realistically rehearsed, and executed with speed, surprise and purpose. It weaponised civilian logistics, remotely carrying out the attacks without any of its personnel being carried out two of the world's most complex special missions — the hostage rescue at Entebbe airport, Uganda in July 1976, where over 100 Israeli soldiers flew over 3000 km across hostile territory to rescue 106 Israeli passengers, killing the terrorists and destroying one-fourth of the Ugandan Air Force on the ground. In 2023, Mossad booby-trapped pagers in 2023 to kill and wound over 1000 Hezbollah operatives in largest special forces operation. Operation Jackpot, planned by the Indian Navy and carried out by Mukti Bahini naval commandos on the night of August 15, 1971, simultaneously attacked four Pakistani ports across (then) East Pakistan, sinking and damaging 22 merchant ships. The attacks were carried out at four ports — Chittagong, Chalna-Mongla, Narayanganj and Chandpur — in a 500 square km box.2. DENIABILITYThe Russia-Ukraine war, it can be argued, is a proxy war between Moscow and NATO. Ukrainian soldiers fight on the ground using Western-supplied weapons and communications gear. These have been sore points for Russia, which has threatened to attack NATO bases and ammunition dumps in Spider's Web however, Ukraine has emphasised that the attacks were carried out on its own without NATO / Western support. President Volodomyr Zelenesky emphasised in a post on X that the 'result was achieved solely by Ukraine'. This was done to minimise potential fallout on the West. The attack used Ukrainian drones and was quickly owned up by the Ukrainian government. No Western-supplied weapons like the long-range Taurus missiles were used. Ukraine released images to show they used commercially available high-resolution satellite imagery to target the bombers parked in the open.3. WILL RUSSIA USE NUCLEAR WEAPONS?advertisementRussia has threatened to use nuclear weapons at least once during the four-year conflict. The June 1 attack is problematic because it struck Russia's strategic bomber fleet. This means Russia now has fewer aircraft to launch nuclear weapons with in case of a full-scale war. Russian officials have threatened retaliation for the June 1 Ukrainian attacks. Russia launched a wave of over 400 drones on Ukraine on June 1, soon after the Ukrainian attacks. It could do what it has done in the past-- fire the Oreshnik, hypersonic but conventionally armed missile, which cannot be intercepted.4. THE AGE OF DRONE WARFARE HAS ARRIVEDEven before 2022, there were indications of this in the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict and in the Houthis' strike on the Saudi Arabian oil refineries suggested drones were an adjunct of all conflict. The Russia-Ukraine war ushered in a new age of drone warfare where drones have replaced every single platform from manned fighter aircraft to small arms. Both Russia and Ukraine are using tens of thousands of First Person View (FPV) drones, and their descendants, the wire-guided FPV drones (which cannot be jammed), to create dense, impenetrable drone has led to a World War 1 kind of scenario where the advent of artillery and the machine gun made open movement on the battlefield incredibly dangerous, leading to trench warfare where both sides dug into the earth for protection, creating elaborate trench systems.5. LESSONS FOR INDIAIndia extensively used drones to target Pakistan during the four-day Operation Sindoor air strikes, using them as decoys and to attack Pakistani military targets. But the bigger lessons are for Pearl Harbour-style attacks on Indian targets. In 2021, Pakistani non-state actors struck at an Indian air base in attack saw two quadcopter sized drones dropping two improvised explosive devices which exploded without killing anyone. It was a warning shot because the attackers missed several helicopters parked in the open. The composition of the IED- a military-grade shaped charge - suggested state involvement in the attack. Pakistan could use similar tactics to carry out mass, simultaneous strikes on Indian airbases and other installations. Aircraft and helicopters are most vulnerable when they are parked on the ground, and in the open. The easy availability of commercial satellite imagery means the location of all aircraft and warships and submarines is easily is an urgent need for all military aircraft to be covered in blast-proof structures. All air bases must be secured with multiple indigenous counter-UAS systems.
Washington Post
4 days ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
Ukraine just rewrote the rules of war
On Sunday morning, Dec. 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy rewrote the rules of warfare. Almost no one had imagined that the Japanese could sneak across an entire ocean to attack an 'impregnable fortress,' as U.S. strategists had described Hawaii. Yet that is just what they did. Japanese aircraft launched from six aircraft carriers managed to destroy or damage 328 U.S. aircraft and 19 U.S. Navy ships, including eight battleships. The Pearl Harbor attack signaled the ascendance of aircraft carriers as the dominant force in naval warfare.
