Did Admiral Kimmel exercise his fleet north of Oahu 21st to 24th Nov 1941 ?

OK this puzzle is OT from climate but a fascinating part of the Pearl Harbor story.
This year I have read (and reread) the “revisionist” Pearl Harbor book “Day of Deceit” by Robert Stinnett and I have my reservations about some claims he makes about intelligence the US was deriving from IJN radio traffic.
Moving on from that –
on pages 146 to 150 of the hardcover 2000 edition of “Day of Deceit” Stinnett recounts in detail how units of Kimmel’s Pacific Fleet conducted Exercise 191 north of Oahu in the vicinity of the composer seamounts to meet a hypothetical threat from an intruder “Black Fleet” the central force of which was played by the US carrier Lexington. The defensive forces part of Exercise 191 were termed “White Fleet”.
This exercise was terminated on 24 November 1941 apparently on orders from Washington and all units returned to Pearl and subsequently the two carriers Lexington and Enterprise left to deliver fighter aircraft to islands further out in the Pacific. The IJN First Air Fleet was secretly assembled at Hitokappu Bay in the Kuriles and departed to attack Pearl Harbor at 0600 26Nov1941 (still the 25th in Hawaii).
My question arises because I do not see a reference to Exercise 191 or any such fleet activities north of Oahu on those dates in my 1982 book “At Dawn We Slept” that I have read and reread over decades. “At Dawn We Slept” is written in general timeline order and I have examined the pages from the start of Chapter 44 page 353 to page 372 and have not seen any reference to Exercise 191 or any sorties by Pacific Fleet units to the area north of Oahu.
Does any reader have confirmation from another source that Exercise 191 took place as the late Robert Stinnett claimed? I can scan those few pages 146-150 from “Day of Deceit” if anybody wants. page144page145page146page147page148page149page150page151.

7 thoughts on “Did Admiral Kimmel exercise his fleet north of Oahu 21st to 24th Nov 1941 ?”

  1. Here are a couple of Pearl Harbor timelines that could be built on and maybe merged.
    This over years.
    www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4206060
    and this just the day of attack.
    www.omaha.com/news/military/timeline-of-pearl-harbor-attack-what-happened-on-dec/article_c02f0b0a-8058-5032-8116-17ae16c43077.html
    Puzzling too that as Exercise 191 was ended it might have struck Kimmel or his staffers or the Army that this was an opportune time to commence a routine of air reconn out around the composer seamounts, get those Catalina’s working plus anything else that could fly.

  2. “Puzzling too that as Exercise 191 was ended it might have struck Kimmel or his staffers or the Army that this was an opportune time to commence a routine of air reconn out around the composer seamounts, get those Catalina’s working plus anything else that could fly.”

    My father was stationed in the Philippines in 1941 and that fall made regular patrols in his PBY Catalina off toward French Indochina to see if the Japanese were doing anything. Of course, the major Japanese air power was located in Formosa (now Taiwan) and that was the origin of the blow that fell on December 8th.

  3. Odd that Robert Stinnett’s book “Day of Deceit” has no bibliography. I have just realized there is no reference in his Index to Gordon Prange author of “At Dawn we Slept”.
    He does refer to the book Infamy: Pearl Harbor And Its Aftermath, 1982 by historian John Toland.

  4. Just got the 1982 John Toland book –
    Infamy: Pearl Harbor And Its Aftermath
    I see he does not reference the 1982 book At Dawn we Slept – by Gordon Prange.

  5. Google easily finds Exercise 191 in the inquiries docs – if you google – pearl harbor exercise 191
    books.google.com.au/books?id=9UJvzLZHVA0C&pg=PA1445&lpg=PA1445&dq=pearl+harbor+exercise+191&source=bl&ots=qYuEoByCKO&sig=ACfU3U1KPEfC8dLm3YOeE1ma-yvujDPPnw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi998KJmLfqAhUHxTgGHUslCxEQ6AEwDHoECAwQAQ#v=onepage&q=pearl%20harbor%20exercise%20191&f=false

    so end of that search. Obviously the great book “At Dawn We Slept” left out any ref to Exercise 191 – amazing.

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