Prepping for Pearl Harbor: American Defenses - Episode 516

The Unauthorized History of the Pacific War

Captain William Toti, USN

Naval History And Heritage Command, History, Imperial Japanese Navy, Sam Cox, Admiral King, Cruisers, Spruance, Fargo, Seth Paridon, Fighters, Pacific War, Stavridis, Cactus Air Force, December 7, Station Hypo, William Toti, Bombers, Bill Toti, Navy, Halsey, Submarines, Society & Culture, Education, Us Navy, Mush Morton, Cincpoa, Documentary, Guadalcanal, Imperial Japan, World War Ii, Midway, Aircraft Carriers, Cryptology, Wake Island, Nimitz, Cincpac, Macarthur, Pearl Harbor, Wahoo, Courses, Battleships, New Guinea

4.9 • 872 Ratings

🗓️ 19 August 2025

⏱️ 100 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week Seth Paridon and Jon Parshall take a look at the American preparations, or lack thereof, for an attack on Pearl Harbor. The guys take a dig into Admiral Husband Kimmel and General Walter Short by looking at their personalities, history, leadership and, above all, steps for an eventual war with Japan and how to deal with it. Diving into the US intelligence we see just exactly what was known, what wasn't, and how we, specifically Kimmel and Short as well as the US Government, dealt with it. Jon dishes on the Japanese spy Yoshikawa and what effect his spying actually had on the air raid, and Seth goes through the two "War Warnings" sent to the Navy and Army in the last days of peace before the attack. This episode is absolutely fascinating and continues our multi-episode dive into what led to Pearl Harbor and eventually the history of the attack. #wwiihistory #wwiihistory #ww2 #usnavy #usa #usarmy #medalofhonor #enterprise #aircraft #aircraftcarrier #cv6 #midway #wwii #wwiihistory #ww2 #worldwar2 #usnavy #usnavyseals #usmc #usmarines #saipan #usa #usarmy #aircraft #aircraftcarrier #battleship #battleships #ussenterprise #aircraftcarriers #museum #essex #halsey #taskforce38 #wwii #wwiihistory #ww2 #usnavy #usa #usarmy #medalofhonor #enterprise #aircraft #aircraftcarrier #cv6 #midway #wwii #wwiihistory #ww2 #worldwar2 #usnavy #usnavyseals #usmc #usmarines #saipan #usa #usarmy #aircraft #aircraftcarrier #battleship #battleships #ussenterprise #aircraftcarriers #museum #hollywood #movie #movies #books #mastersoftheair #8thairforce #mightyeighth #100thbombgroup #bloodyhundredth #b17 #boeing #airforce wwii #wwiihistory #ww2 #usnavy #usa #usarmy #medalofhonor #enterprise #aircraft #aircraftcarrier #cv6 #midway #wwii #wwiihistory #ww2 #worldwar2 #usnavy #usnavyseals #usmc #usmarines #saipan #usa #usarmy #aircraft #aircraftcarrier #battleship #battleships #ussenterprise #aircraftcarriers #museum #hollywood #movie #movies #books #oldbreed #1stMarineDivision #thepacific #Peleliu #army #marines #marinecorps #worldwar2 #worldwar #worldwarii #leytegulf #battleofleytegulf #rodserling #twilightzone #liberation #blacksheep #power #prisoner #prisonerofwar #typhoon #hurricane #weather #iwojima#bullhalsey #ace #p47 #p38 #fighter #fighterpilot #b29 #strategicstudying #tokyo #boeing #incendiary #usa #franklin #okinawa #yamato #kamikaze #Q&A #questions #questionsandanswers #history #jaws #atomicbomb #nuclear #nationalarchives #nara #johnford #hollywood #fdr #president #roosevelt #doolittle #doolittleraid #pearlharborattack

Transcript

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0:00.0	The
0:07.0	The The
0:23.6	The Hello and welcome to episode 516 of the Unauthorized History of the Pacific War podcast.
0:47.4	My name is Seth Perid and historian and deputy director of the Mississippi Armed Forces Museum.
0:50.9	And with me as always is my co-host, the esteemed author and historian and good buddy, John Parshal, how are you this fine July
0:57.8	day, John?
0:58.8	I am very well.
1:00.6	Thank you.
1:01.3	I think you and I both are continuing to nerd out watching the exploration that's going
1:08.2	on with the Nautilus team over in Iron Bottom Sound.
1:12.7	We found Japanese destroyer Tarzuki last night and found her stern this morning.
1:19.6	And I just, we should give a shout out because there are some people on the scientist channel on that expedition.
1:28.3	Randy Stone is really knowledgeable.
1:31.3	John Womack.
1:33.3	Jonathan Womack.
1:34.3	That guy, I don't know what's going on there, but yeah, he was the one that this morning as we're transiting to another target.
1:42.3	He was like, wait a minute, that looks like that could be the stern.
1:45.4	And they, you know, stopped the ROV and went back and put it down.
1:49.5	And sure as hell, there was Tarzuki Stern.
1:51.9	So gold star for Jonathan, gold star for the people on that channel, just in general.
1:57.6	It's been really fascinating watching that whole interchange on that, on that chat group.
2:03.6	So it has been great fun and it's been an honor to be a part of it, so as a speech.
	...

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