Hit and Run

Today we are going to be discussing the period between January and April 1942.  This was a pivotal and dangerous period in the history of the Pacific War for the United States.  With the disaster at Pearl Harbor just a few weeks in the rearview mirror, the US Pacific Fleet was still in a seriously weakened condition…one might say decrepit.  While the fleet may have been decrepit, it wasn’t dead.  Admiral Nimitz had just taken command on December 31, 1941 and was already under immediate pressure from his boss Admiral King, and the American press and public, to strike back at the Japanese in retaliation for Pearl Harbor with whatever he had.  Strike back sure.  But with what, when and where?