Timeline for answer to Why didn’t Japan attack the West Coast of the United States during World War II? by Smith
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
Post Revisions
6 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 23, 2017 at 15:21 | comment | added | Smith | @RonJon Actually, when you dig around West Coast fortifications you find they were built for many reasons that in hindsight seem extreme. The earliest forts at Ft Stevens were from the Civil War, yet it's hard to think that war of having anything happening in Oregon. A lot of the forts were significantly upgraded in/around the Pig War tensions with the UK. We all remember that conflict, right? | |
| Sep 22, 2017 at 2:03 | comment | added | RonJohn | I've always thought that the "huge diversion of resources" was a cynical morale tactic, to remind people that we were actually in a war. | |
| Nov 1, 2016 at 13:42 | comment | added | Smith | From nosing around Ft Stevens, I think it was perceived that the submarine shelling was a ruse to cause the fort to fire back, thereby disclosing their artillery positions and types. The guns were disappearing rifles that would raise and lower behind a gently sloping camouflaged parapet, so they could not be observed from the ocean side. The concrete emplacements are still there and you can walk around and in them. | |
| Oct 31, 2016 at 18:08 | comment | added | Joshua | I was disappointed when at Fort Stevens on learning it did not return fire. In fact the captain of the sub didn't know the fort was there and was trying to attract a destroyer to come out of harbor so he could torpedo it. | |
| Oct 31, 2016 at 17:54 | comment | added | Ian Ringrose | Without the defenses, the threat may not have been fairly marginal, Japan must have know about at least some of the defenses. | |
| Oct 31, 2016 at 13:46 | history | answered | Smith | CC BY-SA 3.0 |