Soon after taking command, Kimmel wrote that a surprise submarine, air, or combined attack on Pearl Harbor was possible. He said the fleet was taking practical steps both to reduce damage and to make an attacker pay. Critics later described his repeated checks on small tasks as micromanagement, but those checks can be read as follow-through in a headquarters where some officers doubted war would come. The passage makes Kimmel's awareness of the threat explicit while leaving open whether the resources available could make his precautions sufficient.
Notable Point · 1:44:09-1:45:10
Kimmel explicitly planned against surprise attack
A February 1941 memorandum and Kimmel's habit of checking details challenge the claim that he ignored the possibility of attack.