I'm currently reading the book "Tojo, the Last Banzai", which is a biography of the title character.

According to the author, BEFORE the war, a number of Japanese "fishing" boats were captured in Hawaiian waters. Found aboard were sophisticated (for a fishing boat) radio gear, other intelligence equipment and Japanese naval officers in mufti.

Assuming that this really happened, what happened to those Japanese boats and their crews? Were they released before the war? Imprisoned?

For those that were not aware, the US had a new radar installation on Diamond Head, Honolulu. Perhaps it's better said that radar was new, and they had an installation on Diamond Head. At any rate, the radar did pick up the incoming Pearl Harbor attack planes. The operator called the supervisor and the sighting was dismissed as false signals.

True, but that has nothing to do with his question!

I think that some Japanese planes on radar were also mistaken for the flight of B-17's coming in that was expected. Those bombers flew right into the attack!

I have told the Pearl Harbor story about the army AAA machine gun unit who fired the one belt of ammo they had available.
The next day they were deployed, sandbaged, and shot at everything that moved.
The Japanese were flying float plane raids from a place called Frenchman Shoals.
But that Don't have anything to do with this thread either.
I never heard of Japanese fishing boats being taken before the Pearl Harbor attack.
I would think the guy who wrote that book would explain that. Remember I have told a story about the German liner crew who were being chased up the East Coast by the British.
This chase was being shadowed by the US Navy. The British were at war with the Germans, we were not.
When the British closed in and the Germans scuttled their ship, the Columbus, the crew was interned by the U.S. Navy.
They spent the duration of the war at Fort Stanton, New Mexico, near Ruidoso.

__________________
NRA LIFE MEMBER

The USS Ward sunk a Japanese mini-sub following another ship towards Pearl Harbor early in the morning of 7 Dec., 1941

__________________
PTLAPTA!

Just a shot in the dark here, but since we where not a war with Japan, one would assume that they were released and a diplomatic protest lodged.

Something else that has nothing to do with this thread, it was French Frigate Shoals where they had a seaplane base.

__________________
James L. "Jim" Rhiner

I know it wasn't the topic of the book, but did the author just mention this in passing and then never follow up on it?

__________________
Can open, worms everywhere.

This is from a US Congress report dated 28 Feb 1942. They apparently by this time knew about the Japanese spy boats. Don't see anything about anybody being apprehended or arrested.

FISHING BOATS -- TENTACLES OF JAPAN'S FIFTH COLUMN -- USED IN PREPARATION OF JAPAN'S ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR ON DECEMBER 7, 1941

Unquestionably, Japanese fishing boats played an important role in Japan's successful attack on that most important naval outpost of the United States, Pearl Harbor. The groundwork for the attack, at least in part, was laid by espionage activities of Japanese officers and crew members on these Japanese fishing boats which had always operated, practically unmolested, in and around Hawaii, and notably in the Pearl Harbor area. The committee has in its files numerous photostats of articles and documents which bear directly upon the fact that well-informed persons residing in the Territory of Hawaii had for some time been cognizant of the menace of Japanese fishing boats and had sought to publicize these facts, hoping to enlist public support in securing the enactment of legislation sufficiently adequate to remove the menace.

__________________
NRA LIFE MEMBER

My dad's good friend had been a fighter pilot in the Pacific during WWII. When I was a kid, our families would sometimes take vacations together. I remember sitting in the shade during the afternoons listening to Mr. McCabe talk about some of the engagements they had. I was only about fifteen, so this was a good fifty years ago.

He mentioned that oftentimes when they would spot Japanese fishing boats, they'd turn off their cameras and fire upon them. He didn't mention anything about the possibility of them carrying any hi-tech radio equipment, but said that Japan depended a lot upon the sea for their food, and anything we could do to end the war quicker was "fair game" in the eyes of many of the pilots. Of course, this was after the war had already started, but it's conceivable that Japan could have used fishing boats to obtain information.

__________________
Pack light and cinch tight.

Why turn off the cameras if we were at war? The fleet with USS Hornet certainly opened fire on fishing boats when they presumably spotted the Hornet en route to Japan with Doolittle's B-25's. It was those boats having possibly radioed the location of the fleet that caused the mission to have to launch so early.

The cruisers fired with eight-inch guns to sink those boats. If ships can fire on them, why not aircraft? Were they supposedly civilian craft? What do you suppose would happen to a US or Australian civilian boat in range of Japanese forces?

[QUOTE=Texas Star;137909784]The fleet with USS Hornet certainly opened fire on fishing boats when they presumably spotted the Hornet en route to Japan with Doolittle's B-25's. It was those boats having possibly radioed the location of the fleet that caused the mission to have to launch so early.

QUOTE]

I think at least one of the 'fishing boats' did get off a message about the American fleet. But those on the receiving end didn't believe it so the raid was a surprise. Almost like what happened with the radar at Pear Harbor. I don't think they were fishing boats; they were a screen of patrol boats, radio equipped, to give early warning of the approach of an American fleet.