How Did The Doolittle Raid

The Doolittle Raid occurred on April 18, 1942, in reaction to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The raid was an aerial attack on the Japanese home islands. During and after the attack, it was recognized that Japan was exposed to any air attacks. When news of the raid reached Americans, morale boosted immensely as they waited for the retaliation from the Japanese. There was a lot of planning for the raid during those months when President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave the OK for an attack on December 21, 1941.
14 days after Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt held a meeting with US Navy Admiral Ernest King. King, during the planning, was bombarded with questions from concerned Americans, “Where is the Navy? Why isn’t anything getting done?
Doolittle initially wanted the plan to be easy; take off from the Hornet, bomb Japan, and land in Vladivostok, Russia. Russia, however, refused to let the Americans use one of their bases. Not wanting to cause problems with Japan, Russia declined by stating they were not at war with Japan. Therefore, this caused the Raiders to fly an additional six hundred miles to China.
The bombs used for the raid were not really damaging in terms of power, but they did pack a hefty punch. Five of the bombs were wired with the medals of friendship given to the United States by Japan telling them, “Take these back.” The aircraft for the raid had to limit how many bombs could be held in the bomb bay of the B-25s. About four 500 lbs. bombs were held in the bomb bays of each aircraft. Strapped tightly together, the bombs would separate and scatter after being
During takeoff, the Enterprise’s fighter jets were drawn to an open battle between the Nashville and a Japanese picket. The picket was easily taken down, but soon the Nashville discovered an additional 16 pickets in the area. The pickets were able to quickly send a radio transmission to the home islands about the suspected American attack. More planes from the Hornet, Enterprise, and Nashville quickly started to sink the pickets. Several pickets went down, but not all due to the high waves, giving the pickets somewhat of an advantage. The fighter jets returned to their carriers as they waited for the announcement of the success of the Doolittle Raiders. The Raiders, however, because of the radio transmission, were forced to fly an additional 180 miles than scheduled.
Tokyo, at the time, was currently unaware of the B-52s headed straight for them. A ‘Radio Tokyo’ station was broadcasting English propaganda when there was frantic yelling in Japanese before air raid alarms went off. The bombs were dropped around Tokyo, Yokosuka, Nagoya, Kobe, and Yokohama. Bombs targeted power plants, steel mills, a new light carrier named Ryuho, and oil tanks. Some bombs were accidentally dropped on schools and an army hospital. During the raid, several international ambassadors were discussing a possible negotiation in