US Marine Corps - The Black Vault

166 Amphibians Came To Conquer
way in the Army than in the Navy. The latter had an impressive force-inbeing—the
U. S. Fleet, which was continuously at sea in some phase of operational
training.z’
RKT AND ADMIRAL NOMURA
On 11 March 1941, the Japanese Ambassador, Admiral Kichisaburo
Nomura, at a cocktail party given in his honor by the Japanese Naval
Attache, talked with Rear Admiral Turner briefly and suggested that he
would like to converse with him at greater length. Admiral Nomura tele-
phoned Turner the next day and arranged for the further meeting on the
same day.
In his five-page report of this conversation, Turner reported that Nomura
had stated “his mission was to prevent war between Japan and the United
States” and that “the best interests of the two countries were to maintain
peace.” He “was exploring the ground, as best he could in order to find a
basis on which the two nations could agree.” “
Nomura placed the blame for the war in China and other strong measures
on the ‘“younger radical element” of the Japanese Army. He said: “The
senior officers of the Japanese Navy, on the contrary, had been and still are
in favor of peace with the United States.” Nomura recognized “the value of
a peaceful conquest” versus a wartime conquest of areas in Southeast Asia.
“Japan has not now, and never has had, any desire to extend control over
the Philippines.”
When Rear Admiral Turner explained the special relationship existing
between the United States and Great Britain, Nomura said:
All Japanese Naval officers understood this thoroughly, but unfortunately,
Japanese Army officers did not. He had tried to explain this to them, but they
would not believe him. In his opinion the presence of the United States Fleet
in Hawaii, particularly in combination with the British, forms a stabilizing
influence for affairs in the Pacific.
Rear Admiral Turner came away from the interview with the opinion:
I believe he is fully sincere, and that he will use his influence against further
aggressive moves by the militafy fOrCeSOf JaPan.
Rear Admiral Turner was not alone in that belief. He and others in
= Mark S. Watson, Chief of S/a,fi: Preuar Platzs a)ld Preparation, Vol. I in subseries The War
Department of series UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II (Washington: Historical
Division, Department of the Army, 1950), p. 87.
* RKT to CNO, Report of conversation with Japanese Ambassador, 13 Mar. 1941.