<P> There was also confusion about the Army's readiness status as General Short had changed local alert level designations without clearly informing Washington . Most of the Army's mobile anti-aircraft guns were secured, with ammunition locked down in armories . To avoid upsetting property owners, and in keeping with Washington's admonition not to alarm civil populations (e.g., in the late November war warning messages from the Navy and War Departments), guns were not dispersed around Pearl Harbor (i.e., on private property). Additionally, aircraft were parked on airfields to lessen the risk of sabotage, not in anticipation of air attack, in keeping with Short's interpretation of the war warnings . </P> <P> Chester Nimitz said later, "It was God's mercy that our fleet was in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 .". Nimitz believed if Kimmel had discovered the Japanese approach, he would have sortied to meet them . With the American carriers absent and Kimmel's battleships at a severe disadvantage to the Japanese carriers, the likely result would have been the sinking of the American battleships at sea in deep water, where they would have been lost forever with tremendous casualties (as many as twenty thousand dead), instead of in Pearl Harbor, where the crews could easily be rescued, and six battleships ultimately raised . </P>

What factors led japan to bomb pearl harbor