In 1908 Congress passed an appropriation bill for 1-million dollars to fund the development of Pearl Harbour as the Navy's main Pacific base. The Navy Department therefore took the opportunity of the Fleet visit to have a special board headed by Rear Admiral Seaton Schroeder to investigate the site.
Among the young officers to visit the site were Ensigns Harold R. Stark and Husband E. Kimmel. Kimmel, as Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Fleet, and Stark, Chief of Naval Operations, 35-years later, would share responsibility for the lack of preparedness of the facility on December 7, 1941.
Cheers
Sean
