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| West Virginia, California, and Nevada were all refloated, extensively overhauled/modernized, and went back into combat. Arizona essentially had her back broken when the magazine exploded.
The Japanese were absolutely hoping to get flattops at Pearl too, it was mainly just luck and timing which had them out to sea. Enterprise was returning from delivering fighters to Wake Island, and was close enough that she launched aircraft ahead of coming into port that were engaged by Japanese aircraft during the attack, and then had more shot up by nervous American gunners later in the day of the attack. As to the other points you mentioned, yes it totally changed things from the big-gun tradition to carrier warfare. Carriers and submarines were really the only things that could strike back after Battleship Row was wrecked. Common knowledge would have it that the Doolittle raid was the first counterattack, but in fact the carriers raided several occupied islands in February 1942 which was very surprising to the Japanese and started the chain of events leading to the showdowns at Coral Sea and Midway.
Kevin, if you really are interested in some reading on the subject, I'd highly recommend this from Ian Toll, and then his follow-on book The Conquering Tide. He's easy to read, and covers the whole spectrum from equipment to admirals to the lowliest seaman's experiences. His earlier book Six Frigates, about the very beginnings of the US Navy, is fascinating too if you have any interest in the age of sail and the political struggles at the start of this country.
http://www.amazon.com/Pacific-Crucible-War-Sea-1941-1942-ebook/dp/B... | |
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Arizona in Pearl Harbor
