How would Pearl Harbor change if Japanese aerial torpedoes used a system that produced more successful shallow-water entries?
Short answerConverting even half of the torpedoes that failed or ended on the harbor floor into hits could raise the total to roughly eighteen or twenty and make the attack substantially more destructive.
NotesMany dropped torpedoes were later recovered from the harbor floor. Turning a significant share of those failures into hits would greatly increase damage because the battleships were closely berthed. Delivery reliability could therefore change the attack even with the same strike force and target list.