It's possible, but they were also influenced by the British attack on Taranto [1] the previous year in 1940. That battle kind of proved out one of the concepts

It's possible, but they were also influenced by the British attack on Taranto [1] the previous year in 1940. That battle kind of proved out one of the concepts that the Japanese used later at Pearl Harbor: namely using ship-launched torpedo bombers to attack other ships in shallow water. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Taranto#Influence_on_Pearl_Harbor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Taranto#Influence_on...