Quaxar said:
Now, I'm going to get a couple things right out of the way before I get into this. To be honest, I don't particularly care if I'm wrong. It doesn't affect me at all. Secondly, why I came about believing this. Note, this is not an argument or proof of any kind. In grade 11, I had a history teacher who had studied military history for over ten years at various schools. Mostly McGill (in Montreal), if I remember correctly, but also visiting some ivy league schools to study. Now, as I type this out, I'm realizing how ludicrous this claim seems, especially considering how I went to a public school. This man, Adrian Nunes, had actually spent the majority of his career in business, after graduating. He was pretty old when I had him a teacher, and he said "I'm only here for fun". He just liked teaching kids shit, I guess.
Anyways, he was pretty into conspiracy theories, few of which I believed, though he was pretty knowledgeable. The conspiracy we're talking about right now is one of them. He explained it pretty briefly, but it seemed logical enough to me, so I looked it up on the internet later that night and I was convinced.
Clearly, it's very possible I'm wrong. I've never put much thought into the whole thing beyond that night of research, and I'll admit I've forgotten some of the evidence in the first place. Regardless, I do believe it is a sound theory which I will stand behind for the time being.
So let's go, I suppose. The idea that the code was deciphered the say after is unverifiable, as are claims it was deciphered the day before. The information is secret. However, the USA deciphering program had access to both "purple" and "IJN" frequencies. Claiming it was deciphered the day after is perfect for the government; they were working on it, so the public doesn't lose complete confidence, and it came shortly after, but they were still caught unawares. I believe they HAD deciphered the transmissions before the attack.
The claim I made earlier about battleships, I believe, still holds water, despite the Enterprise and the Lexington being on scouting (expendable) missions. Those were only two. The rest were on the west coast. Whether or not they knew about the attack itself, it has been confirmed by the US military that Pearl Harbor had been warned about a
possible attack. If they truly wanted to defend themselves, they would have had several at Pearl Harbor. I've also heard before that it was battleships, not aircraft carriers, that were regarded at the most precious naval asset. Although that may have been true for certain countries (mostly those who could not afford them so therefor downplayed their importance) the USA clearly put an emphasis on their importance. As I previously mentioned, the Enterprise was on recon, an expendable position. It may have returned, but it was not seen as important.
I have to do some more work now, but I'm sure what I've posted so far gives a lot to refute and or argue about.
For reference, I'm still in the middle of investigating this Wikipedia article and the citations it's giving:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Harbor_advance-knowledge_conspiracy_theory
It's an article that gives evidence for both sides, though it leans towards my position. Obviously Wikipedia articles of this kind are not the best sources of information, so I've been mostly sticking to their citations and using the paragraphs as context.