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In April of 1940, Admiral James O. Richardson, Commander in Chief Pacific Fleet (CINCPAC), was ordered by FDR to sail the fleet from its San Diego base to conduct maneuvers in the waters surrounding the Hawaiian Islands, using Pearl Harbor as a temporary base.
Having completed maneuvers by June 1940, Richardson was requesting orders from the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) to return to San Diego.
After several requests for orders, Richardson was told the Pacific Fleet was being permanently stationed at Pearl Harbor.
Richardson was outraged. At the time, Admiral Richardson was the US Navy's foremost expert on Japanese naval tactics and considered one of the Navy's top operational fleet commanders. Regardless, Richardson was never consulted about the wisdom of such a move, most likely because FDR and the Secretary of the Navy understood Richardson would raise Holy Hell...which is precisely what he did.
Privately and publicly, Richardson guaranteed the Japanese would attack the fleet at Pearl, and predicted the fleet would be decimated if caught moored in the harbor because the single, narrow entrance would limit maneuverability of ships attempting to escape such an attack.
The Admiral traveled back and forth from Pearl Harbor to Washington DC in an effort to convince all that would listen to move the fleet back to San Diego.
For his outspoken efforts, FDR forced Richardson to retire in February of 1941. On the eve of war with Japan, FDR fired his most knowledgeable admiral on Japanese naval tactics.
Admiral Husband Kimmel replaced Richardson, but only after the job had been offered to Admiral Chester Nimitz.
Nimitz would later write in his memoirs that he turned down the command because all operational commanders understood whomever took over CINCPAC was being set up by FDR to take the fall when the Japanese attacked. And, that is precisely what occurred.
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