What was the purpose of the doolittle raid and the problem military planners had to solve to make successful?

Answer 1

The Doolittle Raid of Saturday, 18 April 1942, was designed to be symbolic in nature. It would openly demonstrate to the Japanese & the Allies that the United States could & would strike back at the Japanese directly into their home islands. This raid occurred during a run of several months that the Japanese had a string of victories against the Allies. It signaled that the United States intended to bring the war to the Japanese. It was meant to boost the morale of Americans already fighting the Japanese, the American public, and the Allies (especially the Chinese). It was also intended to undermine Japanese Propaganda and public support for the military leadership of Japan.

The primary difficulty that the US military had to overcome:

Because all US & Chinese land bases were too far away to use the US Army B-17 bomber, then…How do you get an aircraft carrier w/ aircraft close enough to Japan without being detected by the enemy?

The mission analysis determined that it was virtually impossible to get an American aircraft carrier within 250 miles of the Japanese home islands without being detected prior to launching the strike, and then completely impossible to avoid detection after the strike hits Japan. This would endanger all US ships engaged in the raid. The further away from Japan that the aircraft could be launched on the strike, then the better the chance of the raiding ships escaping Japanese air & naval reactions. There was never any intention of the raid being a suicide mission for either the ships or the aircraft pilots.

The US Navy carrier aircraft currently in service did not have the round-trip range to launch from a planned safe distance of at least 400 nautical miles. The only viable solution was to use twin-engine medium-range aircraft.

However that posed its own challenges:

How could a twin-engine medium-range aircraft take-off w/ a bomb-load from an aircraft carrier?

If US Army aircraft are used, is there enough time for the crews to be trained to take-off from a carrier?

Is it possible to lighten the bombers enough to allow for enough fuel & bombs that will not prevent the aircraft from taking off the deck of the carrier?

What other aircraft modifications would be necessary?

Does the aircraft carrier have to be modified?

Is the bomber able to return to the carrier?

If not, then where do they go?

While traveling to the launch point with the bombers on-board, where are the bombers stored? Would the bombers fit on the aircraft carrier's elevators that are used to wheel them from the lower hanger deck to the flight deck?

If the bombers are kept on the flight deck, doesn't this prevent the aircraft carrier from using its own carrier aircraft during the trip?

How could this aircraft carrier protect itself and its escorts without its own carrier fighters?

Answer 2

Purpose: To get payback for the attack on Pearl Harbor