If the Imperial Japanese Navy had capured Wake and Midway Island, could they have taken Hawaii?

During World War II, of course. They didn't capture Wake or Midway, but if they had, could they have taken Pearl harbour and the rest of Hawaii?

If the Imperial Japanese Navy had capured Wake and Midway Island, could they have taken Hawaii?
They did capture Wake, they did not Midway. I doubt they could have Pearl, even after the attack it was to heavily defended. If they had used their submarines right they could have pretty effectively blockaded it for awhile at least. The problem is they would have been well over extended and the IJN was never focused on Pearl or the American West Coast. The whole idea of the attack was to knock out our navy so they could run wild in the far east seizing resources and colonies they needed for their war effort. Even the Battle of Midway only happened because of the Doolittle raid on Tokyo and the objective was never the island. They wanted to draw our carriers into a fight on the disadvantage and destroy them. Well they might have had an even chance... But how? There were no transports or troops with the striking force. They had very poor amphibious capability throughout the war. Taking Wake was a major operation for them. All it was defended by was a handful of Marines and civilian contracters and a few Wildcat fighters. You can't starve out an island chain as lush as Hawaii. It was in range of heavy bombers from the West Coast. It would have been wonderful for us if they had tried. Even better if they succeeded. It would have let us dystroy a major part of their forces early. If they won we would have isloated it and all defenders like another Rabual in the South Pacific. It would have diverted so much of their military The Philipines might never have fallen and a lot more.....
Reply:What if Japan had attacked Wake and Midway on 7th December 1941, instead of Hawaii?





It's an interesting question. The American plans in the event of a war with Japan were to seek a battleship-led confrontation in mid-Pacific. If these plans had been followed, and eight battleships had been jumped by six carrier-loads of aircraft so that they were sunk several miles deep (of the eight battleships damaged at Pearl, six were back on active service within eighteen months) - well, what then?





It would almost certainly not have changed to outcome of the war - but it might've taken longer for the Allies to win.
Reply:I think it's possible. It would have been a pretty major fight, but they had shown the capacity for large scale warfare in China and the Philippenes Islands. Moreover, taking and holding Hawaii would have made the US task of building up to retake the Pacific a good deal more difficult. I would rate their chances of success at somewhat better than even, but only somewhat. Blockading Hawaii and using their Navy to take some of the outlying Islands while starving down the defenses would have been a likely tactic.
Reply:The Japanese defeated Russia in 1905. They controlled vast areas of China. They held Korea as a vassal state for 400 years. Yep, they could have taken Hawaii. Dorie Miller was the only sailor aboard a ship who had enuf sense to gun down Japanese Zeroes overhead, and he was a brother assigned to the mess. The Navy was filled with racist swagger and no brain just like McCain.
Reply:Eventually, yes. They could of taken Hawaii after the bombing of Pearl Harbor just because the troops stationed there were so thrown off from the attack. If Hawaii fell, the West Coast would have been completely open to invasion and the Pacific War could have had an entirely different outcome.

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