It was out in the middle of the Pacific, making attack from any direction possible. Admiral Richardson complained about this twice to Roosevelt and got fired for doing so. Roosevelt then offered the command to Chester Nimitz, who turned it down. This seems kind of odd to me, turning down a command like that, that's what a Navy officer wants, ordinarily. Nimitz took the command after Peral Harbor, had been attacked. He did a great job; the Pacific was turned around, in just over six months. So he was a very capable commander.
Of course it was. It was only attacked once by air and a ground invasion was never mounted. The Island it self provided great natural obstacles and excellent observation. The beaches were only capabale of accomodating small unit manuevers and even then only during a small window of tide conditions. Kaneohe and Waikiki were the only beaches that leant themselves to amphibious assault and were never used for training. Maui was more suited for amphibious training as well as Hilo, Lanai and Moloki. The Marine Raiders took advantage of Oahu's north shore, rugged coast line and steep terrain to train for missions early in the War. During the War Hawaii was home to no less than 4 Divisions at once 25th Infantry Division, 24th Infantry Division, 2nd Marine Division (Maui) 4th Marine Division also on Maui. Not to mention a host of transient units that departed through Pearl Harbor. Several Marine Airwings also transitioned through Oahu and Maui.
Of course it was. It was only attacked once by air and a ground invasion was never mounted. The beaches were only capabale of accomodating small unit manuevers and even then only during a small window of tide conditions. Kaneohe and Waikiki were the only beaches that leant themselves to amphibious assault and were never used for training. Maui was more suited for amphibious training as well as Hilo, Lanai and Moloki. During the War Hawaii was home to no less than 4 Divisions at once 25th Infantry Division, 24th Infantry Division, 2nd Marine Division (Maui) 4th Marine Division also on Maui. Not to mention a host of transient units that departed through Pearl Harbor. Several Marine Airwings also transitioned through Oahu and Maui. Pearl Harbor was hard to defend against air attack, because an attack could come from any direction. If the fleet had stayed in San Diego, where it would have been almost impossible, for the IJN to attack the US fleet of battleships.
Well obviously an air attack can always come from any direction. The idea of the US fleet being moved to Pearl Harbor was to be able to project seapower further out into the Pacific. War Plan Orange 3 called for the USN to sail to the rescue of US forces in the Philippines when and if war broke out with Japan. To do so from the Hawaiian Islands would take less time than a "relief column" coming from San Francisco or San Diego. Yes it was an exposed position, but at the time of the attack, the Japanese were expected to strike south towards the PI, British and Dutch areas, not at Pearl. The Japanese did not have the capbility to strike at the US west coast without neutralizing the outpost at Pearl Harbor first. And their capability of neutralizing Pearl Harbor was out of their reach. Yes, they could strike at it, but that's about it.
