The quoted argument treats the fleet's location as less important than its visible ability to fight. Richardson believed Japan's military leadership could see that ships at Pearl Harbor lacked full crews, training, ammunition, and auxiliaries. He preferred returning the fleet to the Pacific coast, completing maintenance and supply, assembling its train, and then deploying it as a force stripped for war. The passage shows deterrence as a performance of usable capability rather than the mere presence of hulls on a map.
Notable Point · 1:48:31-1:49:28
Richardson tied deterrence to fleet readiness
Admiral Richardson argued that an undermanned and undersupplied fleet at Hawaii looked like a bluff rather than a credible deterrent.