But, according to an Army history, the Navy was still in shambles after the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, and no ships were capable of bringing reinforcements.
Moreover, the government of Sudan was found liable by a US federal judge in the deaths of 17 U.S. Navy sailors in the Al Qaeda terrorist attack on the USS Cole in Aden Harbor in 2000.
Buoyed by what campaign officials felt was a strong performance in Monday's GOP presidential candidate debate in Arizona, the former Navy pilot and Vietnam prisoner of war used the anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor to lament the state of the armed forces.