Interwar Assignments
Yarnell then rotated between sea and shore duty until ordered to aircraft carrier Saratoga (CV-3) September 1927, as prospective commanding officer. He served as captain of the carrier from her commissioning until 17 August 1928, when he was appointed Chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering as Rear Admiral. While in that capacity, advising the General Board on the design of a fleet submarine, Yarnell opposed smaller types, presciently noting, "our prospective opponent has always started operations by attacking before a declaration of war".
From January to April 1930, Admiral Yarnell was Naval Adviser to the American delegation at the London Naval Conference, and, in October 1936, he became Commander in Chief, Asiatic Fleet, with the rank of Admiral. His tour there was notable for the sagacious and firm manner with which he handled a most explosive international situation.
In February 1932, Yarnell pioneered carrier tactics in an exercise that later came to be discussed as Fleet Problem 13. Rear Admiral Yarnell commanded the carriers Lexington and Saratoga in an effort to demonstrate that Hawaii was vulnerable to naval air power. The expectation was that Yarnell would attack with battleships, but instead he left his battleships behind and proceeded only with his carriers to the north of Hawaii where it was less likely he would be detected. With a storm as cover, at dawn on Sunday, 7 February, Yarnell’s 152 planes attacked the harbor from the northeast, just as the Japanese would ten years later. The army airfields were first put out of commission after which battleship row was attacked - with multiple hits on Navy ships. No defending aircraft were able to launch. The Navy’s war-game umpires declared the attack a total success, prompting Yarnell to strenuously warn of the Japanese threat.
The New York Times reported on the exercise, noting the defenders were unable to find the attacking fleet even after 24 hours had passed. U.S. intelligence knew Japanese writers had reported on the exercise. Ironically, in the U.S., the battleship admirals voted down a reassessment of naval tactics. The umpire's report did not even mention the stunning success of Yarnell's exercise. Instead they wrote, "It is doubtful if air attacks can be launched against Oahu in the face of strong defensive aviation without subjecting the attacking carriers to the danger of material damage and consequent great losses in the attack air force."
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