IPFS News Link • WAR: About that War
The Secret Weapons Behind The Japanese Attack On Pearl Harbor
• http://www.popsci.com, By Krislyn PlacideAt least it was at first. The December 1966 Popular Science feature, "The Secret Weapons That Hit Pearl Harbor," cites two main factors (among other factors) for Japan's success: its shallow-water aerial torpedoes and the fleet's ability to escape detection.
Pearl Harbor was too shallow for conventional torpedoes; they would've just dived in and stuck to the bottom of the ocean floor. So a few months before the attack, Japanese designers created finned torpedoes that could perform "a feat like that of an acrobat high-diving in shallow water."