Pearl Harbor: The Seeds and Fruits of Infamy - Ludwig von Mises ...

U.S. Military Plans and Preparations 83
Admiral Kimmel, New Commander-in-
Chief, U.S. Fleet, Strives to Build up
Fleet’s Strength in Pearl Harbor
Kimmel realized that, for strategic reasons, the Fleet did not
belong at Pearl Harbor. He considered Richardson’s arguments
against holding the fl eet there valid. Yet Kimmel realized he
could not oppose the president on this issue and expect to retain
his command. Th e best he could do was to try to get the materiel
needed to defend the fl eet. Over the next year, in letter after letter
to CNO Stark, he asked for personnel, weapons, radar, destroyers,
cruisers, planes, ammunition. 14
CNO Admiral Stark gained a reputation for persistence as
he continued to appeal to Roosevelt for men and materiel. He
once asked FDR for 300,000 men for the Navy. Th ere were a lot
of people in the room at the time. FDR, always jovial when he
had an audience, simply “threw back his head and laughed.” He
then turned to the others in the room and said, “Betty,” referring
to Stark by his nickname, “usually begins working early; he starts
in working a year ahead of time and he follows it up.” 15
To strengthen its defenses, the Navy recommended construction
of a battleship and cruiser dry dock at Pearl Harbor. 16
However, all the funds then available for construction had been
allocated. Admiral Ben Moreell, chief of the Navy’s bureau of
yards and docks, which would be building the dry dock, felt he
should not go ahead without written authorization. He suggested
that Stark ask FDR, in light of the “limited National emergency”
then in eff ect, to authorize the funds in writing. Without being
specifi c as to who had made the request, Stark approached FDR.
When he reported back to Moreell, Stark said he had “never seen
14 Ibid., part 16, pp. 2225–57.
15 Ibid., part 5, p 2273. Stark testimony.
16 Julius Augustus Furer, Administration of the Navy Department in World War II
(Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Offi ce, 1959), p. 404.