From the June 28, 2018, ListVerse "10 coincidences that helped shape US history" by Christopher Dale.
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, was a huge disaster for the United States. The stats: 2,403 Americans killed, nearly 1,200 wounded, over 325 planes destroyed or damaged and 18 ships (including eight battleships) severely damaged or destroyed.
Amazingly, this damage would have been even worse except by the incredible luck that out three aircraft carriers which were supposed to be there were out of harbor that day.
The USS Lexington had left Pearl Harbor on December 5 to transport a bomber division to Midway Island, while the USS Saratoga had recently completed a lengthy retrofit on the mainland and was days away from returning to Pearl Harbor.
Most fortunate of all, the USS Enterprise had been delivering a Marine fighter squadron to Wake Island. The carrier had been scheduled to return to Pearl Harbor on December 6, but bad weather delayed its arrival until the following afternoon, December 7. As a result, the ship missed the attack by just hours.
Considering how vital air power is in modern warfare, the uphill battle to retake the Pacific Ocean from the Japanese would have been much more difficult without these carriers.
A Stroke of Good Luck? --GreGen
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