The 1944 Navy court of inquiry provides a major contrast with the Roberts Commission. The court found Kimmel's decisions reasonable given the intelligence available to him and criticized Harold Stark's failure to pass warnings and verify their timely transmission. Its findings were sealed because they exposed American cryptographic success against Japanese naval codes. Secretary James Forrestal nevertheless rejected the result as too lenient and demanded the superior judgment he believed Kimmel's rank required. Richardson then refused to lead another inquiry because he believed a complete investigation would also assign responsibility to the President.
Chapter · 47:13-55:37
The Navy inquiry, Stark, and Forrestal's response
A 1944 Navy court of inquiry judged Kimmel's actions reasonable on the information available and focused criticism on failures to pass warnings, but Forrestal sought a harsher reassessment.