Yorktown, Ranger, and Wasp were serving in the Atlantic, Hornet was still working up, and Saratoga was moving from Puget Sound toward San Diego. Lexington was loading at Pearl Harbor while Enterprise was near Wake Island. Neither available Pacific carrier could plausibly make the first sighting. Warning on 4 December nevertheless leaves enough time to recall Enterprise, send Lexington out, and concentrate two carrier groups near Hawaii for the later response. Their broad engagement rules reflected a political climate in which war with Japan was treated differently from war with Germany. One proposed explanation is that memories of World War I made Germany seem a much harder opponent, while some American politicians underestimated the difficulty of fighting Japan.
Notable Point · 25:22-28:12
Where the American carriers were on 4 December
Enterprise and Lexington could eventually form the core of an ambush, while Saratoga and the Atlantic carriers were unavailable for the initial discovery.