Operation K - Aftermath

Aftermath

There were no American casualties. The raid did raise new fears of a potential Japanese invasion of Hawaii.

Japanese media repeated an unsubstantiated Los Angeles radio report of "considerable damage to Pearl Harbor" with 30 dead sailors and civilians, with 70 wounded. Both the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy blamed each other for the explosions, accusing each other of jettisoning munitions into Tantalus.

Another armed reconnaissance mission, scheduled for March 6, or 7, was canceled because of the delay in launching the first raid, damage to Hashizume's airplane, and the aircrews' exhaustion. It was carried out on 10 March 1942, but Hashizume was killed when his flying boat was shot down by Brewster F2A Buffalo fighters near Midway Atoll.

A followup to Operation K was scheduled for May 30, to gain intelligence on the whereabouts of U.S. carriers prior to the Battle of Midway. However the Americans had become aware French Frigate Shoals were a possible IJN rendezvous point, and naval patrols were increased, per Admiral Chester Nimitz's orders. A Japanese submarine spotted two American warships at anchor there, prompting a cancellation of the plan. This left IJN unable to observe U.S. Navy activity, or to keep track of the American aircraft carriers.

The raid did affect U.S. Navy morale. Nimitz's chief of intelligence, Captain Edwin T. Layton, whimsically suggested one of Commander Rochefort's men, Wilfrid J. "Jasper" Holmes, had planned the attack, since it closely followed a story he had written for the Saturday Evening Post before the war, "Rendezvous". Holmes was exonerated.