Doolittle raid question

[mattep74]

USA used two carriers for the Doolittle raid and one was the Enterprise for fighter protection. My question is the picket boats that the USN sank. Did the fleet not have any aircraft scouting ahead?

 

[I want to learn]

This is only a wild guess but I wonder if the accounts that describe the patrol boat being sighted at ~7:30am and sunk shortly afterwards are written from an American perspective, and something like Pearl Harbor standard time. Hundreds (thousands?) of miles and a couple time zones to the east, the lighting conditions may have been more like dawn, and any air patrols might not have gone up yet.

 

[jsb]

Did the fleet not have any aircraft scouting ahead?

Would that not increase the chance of being spotted? After all, it doesn't help if you sink the picket boats after they sight and radio about aircraft? Would putting up aircraft not significantly increase the distance/area you would be spotted?

 

[Carl Schwamberger]

Yes, there was a CAP launched at dawn, which did have a limited scouting function. It did extend the 'horizon' of the TF out beyond 24 NM, & could on order extend it further.

This is only a wild guess but I wonder if the accounts that describe the patrol boat being sighted at ~7:30am and sunk shortly afterwards are written from an American perspective, and something like Pearl Harbor standard time. Hundreds (thousands?) of miles and a couple time zones to the east, the lighting conditions may have been more like dawn, and any air patrols might not have gone up yet.

This. It was not long after dawn. Plus there was a weather front passing, there always is in the Northern Pacific. Overcast & rain squalls limited visibility at random. IIRC the Japanese picket boat did not spot the US cruiser until it was under 8,000 yards

 

[I want to learn]

How did USN task forces resolve the time zone changes?

 

[Finbarr the Fair]

How did USN task forces resolve the time zone changes?

I think all communications had to be stamped using a common time zone, (Zulu Time?).

Probably GMT or Universal Time as it might be called now. So any recipients would be able to work out when it was sent on their local time (and the sender's local tine too.)