Pearl Harbor | Page 3 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

June 26, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ship to Shore

The USS Lexington (CV-2) and sister-ship USS Saratoga (CV-3) were originally designed as battle cruisers. During construction, the cruiser hull was fitted with a flight deck. Instead of the typical 16-inch cruiser guns, they each received four twin turret 8-inch guns and other armament.

The Lexington, the first of the Lexington class carriers, launched December 14, 1925, was the US Navy’s first fleet aircraft carrier. Lexington later served as flagship out of Pearl Harbor on January 11, 1942. (Alex)

The Lexington-class carriers had one major design flaw – the inclusion of their four twin 8-inch/55 caliber gun mounts, which could only be fired in starboard broadsides.

On January 17, 1942, Rear Adm. William S. Pye, acting commander in chief Pacific Fleet, asked if the Hawaiian Department, US Army, was interested in 8-inch naval mounts and guns that might be removed from navy vessels. The Hawaiian Department immediately replied in the affirmative. (Bennett)

Lexington and Saratoga underwent armament refitting. Their original 8-inch guns were replaced with the correct weapon against the carrier’s true foe: enemy carrier aircraft.

In early-1942, these 8-inch guns and turret mountings were removed from Lexington and Saratoga and reused as coastal artillery on the island of Oʻahu.

When selecting locations for the naval turret (NT) batteries, commanders desired to extend fields of fire, chiefly for those areas in which current coverage was light, while placing the turrets far enough inland to function as second lines of defense and to reduce the difficulty of protecting them against small raiding parties.

Four battery sites were picked; on the North Shore were Battery Brodie (later renamed Battery George W Ricker) (775-foot elevation in Waialua;) Battery Opaeula (later renamed Battery Carroll G Riggs) (1,120-foot elevation above the Waialua Agriculture Company’s sugarcane fields near Haleiwa.)

On the South Shore were Battery Salt Lake (later renamed Battery Louis R Burgess) on Damon Estate land at Āliapaʻakai (Salt Lake) (170-190 foot elevation) and Battery Wilridge (later renamed Battery Lewis S Kirkpatrick) on Wiliwilinui Ridge (1,200-foot elevation mauka of Waiʻalae.)

Each 8-inch naval turret (NT) mount included a pair of guns mounted in one slide, both guns elevating and traversing as one unit. The 8-inch gun-mount housings were lightly armored, only providing shelter from the weather and possibly flying splinters.

All 8-inch NT mounts were designed for 360° fire without interfering with each other. The batteries had a high rate of fire (12-16 rounds per battery per minute.) Each gun could send a projectile over 18-miles.

The turrets and battery commanders’ stations were the major above-ground features. All the batteries were constructed of reinforced concrete by cut and cover, with projectile and powder magazines, gas-proof plotting rooms, and bombproof generator rooms 15 to 40-feet below the surface.

Target data was plotted in 24 by 30-foot bombproof and gas-proof plotting rooms. The rooms were equipped with a vertical escape shaft at one end. Metal staple ladders attached to the wall led to small housings on the roofs with steel-plate doors.

Each magazine contained a room for powder and a room for projectiles (holding 250 of each.) An additional 600 projectiles were to be stored in racks in the open. Powder and projectiles were elevated to the turret mounts by the elevating mechanisms.

All four battery sites were extensively camouflaged, including dummy gun positions to make up for the lack of antiaircraft defenses.

Target practices were usually carried out once a week, firing one round from each gun at a hypothetical target off shore. Homes near the batteries occasionally suffered broken window glass during firing practices.

The North Shore batteries, Brodie and Opaeula, covered the waters to the north, east and west, and as far south as the Pearl Harbor entrance. The South Shore batteries, Salt Lake and Wiliwilinui Ridge, covered the waters to the south, southeast and southwest, including the approaches to Honolulu and Pearl Harbors, and could also fire north.

This marked the first time NT mounts had been emplaced on shore as seacoast artillery for the US; it created an engineering and design challenge for the shore-based folks. Upon completion, however, the batteries proved very successful, being rated four of the best seacoast batteries. (Lots of information here from Bennett.)

May 16, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Life in the Islands During WWII

Japan’s method of declaring war on the US was a four-wave air attack on installations in Hawaiʻi on the morning of December 7, 1941. It was executed in what amounted to five phases.

Phase I: Combined torpedo and dive bomber attack lasting from 7:55 am to 8:25 am; Phase II: Lull in attacks lasting from 8:25 am to 8:40 am; Phase III: Horizontal bomber attacks between 8:45 am to 9:15 am; Phase IV: Dive bomber attacks between 9:15 am and 9:45 am and Phase V: General attack. Raid completed at 9:45. (Maj Gen Green)

The first order of business was the issuance of orders immediately essential to the internal security of the Hawaiian Islands. The next was providing means for enforcing those orders. (Maj Gen Green) Later in the morning, the Army’s commanding officer met with Hawaiʻi’s Territorial Governor.

“General, I have thought it through. I feel that the situation is beyond me and the civil authorities and I think the safety of the Territory and its citizens require me to declare martial law.” (Governor Joseph Boyd Poindexter to General Walter Campbell Short, December 7, 1941; Green)

“He asked General Short if he concurred in his conclusion and General Short said that he did. The Governor then asked General Short if he would accept the responsibility and General Short replied that he saw no other way out. Whereupon, the Governor stated that he would declare martial law and inform the President in accordance with Section 67 of the Organic Act.”

The men arose, shook hands and the Governor said, “I wish you luck.” (Maj Gen Green)

A rush of nationalism surged over the country, and everyone did his or her part to support the war effort. Children collected scrap materials, such as rubber and metal, to help supply the armed forces. (Taylor)

Tens of thousands of young men from Hawaiʻi enlisted and were shipped out to bases on the US mainland and to fight in Europe and the Pacific. In their absence, over 500,000 soldiers from outside Hawaii were based in the Islands at the height of the war. (PBS)

Immediately after the attack, Boy Scouts helped to extinguish fires that resulted from the attack, transported supplies and messages, went door to door informing residents of the blackout policy and even stood as sentries on roadways.

Day-to-day life during World War II, whether on the continent or in the Hawaiian Islands, changed. Hundreds of general orders were issued under the name of the commanding general.

Martial law with its seemingly endless string of rules and regulations dictated minute details of daily life, setting limits on things that were once part of daily life: curfews, registration, blackouts, drills, rationing, air raid sirens, censorship … detention (for some.)

The Army also instituted a 6 pm to 6 am curfew for anyone not on official business and drew up intelligence reports on 450,000-people in Hawaiʻi. Every citizen over the age of six years was fingerprinted, registered and issued an identification card.

The military ordered a strictly enforced nighttime blackout. Anyone caught with a lit cigarette, pipe or cigar during the blackout was subject to arrest, as was anyone else if the light of their radio dial or kitchen stove burner could be seen through the house windows.

Homes, schools and businesses were directed to prepare bomb shelters. Everyone was issued a protective gas mask and students were trained in their use and conducted drills where an Army officer would fill a classroom with tear gas and have the students walk through to be sure their masks were functioning properly. (Taylor)

Gasoline was rationed, the possession of arms was prohibited to unauthorized persons, radio transmitting sets and short wave sets were regulated, photo materials were rationed and the local telephone company was taken over to insure the maximum availability of it to the military. (Maj Gen Green)

Food was rationed; sugar was the first food to be rationed. Across the country, to prevent hoarding and skyrocketing prices, the Office of Price Administration issued 123-million copies of War Ration Book One, which contained stamps that could be used to purchase sugar.

Because the islands were so isolated, shipping and receiving supplies, and even mail, became a logistical nightmare. To supplement food needs, Americans planted “victory gardens,” in which they grew their own food.

Transportation between the islands and the mainland was stopped. Only those needed to fill positions in the islands were allowed to travel. (Taylor)

All outgoing mail was read by military censors, and letters that could not be edited with black ink or scissors were returned to the sender to be rewritten. Long-distance telephone calls were required to be in English so that military personnel could listen in. (White & Murphy)

Fearing that Japanese invaders might try to disrupt US currency, the military confiscated and burned more than $200-million in US paper money, and replaced it with bills with HAWAII overprinted on them.

In addition, people in Hawaiʻi were forbidden to make bank withdrawals of more than $200 in cash per month or to carry more than $200 in cash. (White & Murphy)

Japanese in Hawaiʻi had it worst. Many Japanese Americans were incarcerated in at least eight locations on Hawaiʻi. They were put in these camps, not because they had been tried and found guilty of something, but because either they or their parents or ancestors were from Japan and, as such, they were deemed a “threat” to national security.

In the Islands, between 1,200 and 1,400 local Japanese were interned, along with about 1,000 family members – 120,000 people were interned on the continent. (Not a single Japanese American in Hawaiʻi was ever convicted of espionage, treason or sedition.) (NPS)

Although originally it was believed that martial law would last only a short time, it lasted for almost three years. After it was terminated, curfews and blackouts still remained in effect until October 24, 1944. (Schneider)

To get a glimpse of conditions in the Islands at the time, read and see ‘Under the Blood Red Sun,’ written by Graham (Sandy) Salisbury. (Nelia reads the book to her 5th grade class each year at Kainalu.)

March 15, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pearl Lochs

The island of Oʻahu is divided into 6 moku (districts), consisting of: ‘Ewa, Kona, Koʻolauloa, Koʻolaupoko, Waialua and Waiʻanae. These moku were further divided into 86 ahupua‘a (land divisions within a moku.)

‘Ewa was divided into 12-ahupua‘a, consisting of (from east to west): Hālawa, ‘Aiea, Kalauao, Waimalu, Waiau, Waimano, Mānana, Waiʻawa, Waipi‘o, Waikele, Hōʻaeʻae and Honouliuli.

‘Ewa was at one time the political center for O‘ahu chiefs. This was probably due to its abundant resources that supported the households of the chiefs, particularly the many fishponds. (Cultural Surveys) ʻEwa was the second most productive taro cultivation area on Oʻahu (just behind Waikīkī.) (Laimana)

The salient feature of ‘Ewa, and perhaps its most notable point of difference, is its spacious coastal plain, surrounding the deep bays (“lochs”) of Pearl Harbor, which are actually the drowned seaward valleys of ‘Ewa’s main streams, Waikele and VVaipi’o.

The Hawaiian name for Pearl Harbor was Ke-awa-lau-o-Pu‘uloa, The-many (lau)-harbors (awa)-of-Pu‘uloa. Pu‘uloa was the rounded area projecting into the sea at the long narrow entrance of the harbor. Another and more poetic name was Awawa-lei, Garland (lei)-of-harbors.

The English name ‘Pearl’ was given to it because of the prevalence of pearl oysters (pipi) in the deep harbor waters. (Handy, Handy & Pukui)

In Hawaiian traditions, Pu‘uloa (Pearl Harbor) consists of three distinct awalau, or lochs, including Kaihuopala‘ai (West Loch), Wai‘awa (Middle Loch) and Komoawa (East Loch). (Nohopapa, KSBE) For some time, Pearl Harbor was also known as Pearl Lochs and Pearl River.

These bays offered the most favorable locality in all the Hawaiian Islands for the building of fishponds and fish traps into which deep-sea fish came on the inflow of tidal waters. (Handy, Handy & Pukui)

In Hawaiian traditions, Pu‘uloa (Pearl Harbor) consists of three distinct awalau, or lochs, including Kaihuopala‘ai (West Loch), Wai‘awa (Middle Loch) and Komoawa (East Loch). (Nohopapa, KSBE)

‘Loch’ is a Scottish and/or Irish term that refers to a lake or bay that is nearly landlocked. So, when and why did the term ‘loch’ come in as names these awalau?

Let’s look back …

Liholiho was the son of Kamehameha I. Upon his father’s death Liholiho became Kamehameha II. Liholiho’s reign was also noted for his efforts to ensure the lasting independence of the Hawaiian kingdom.

In 1823, Liholiho and his favorite wife, Kamāmalu, sailed to England to meet with King George IV, the first Ali‘i to travel to England. King George IV scheduled a meeting for June 21, but it had to be delayed; Liholiho and Kamāmalu became ill. The Hawaiian court had caught measles, to which they had no immunity.

It is believed they probably contracted the disease on their visit to the Royal Military Asylum (now the Duke of York’s Royal Military School).

Virtually the entire royal party developed measles within weeks of arrival, 7 to 10 days after visiting the Royal Military Asylum housing hundreds of soldiers’ children. On the 8th of July the Queen died, a few days later, King Liholiho died. His reign was approximately 5-years.

In 1824, Great Britain sent the bodies of Kamehameha II and his Queen back to Hawai‘i on the HMS Blonde, under the command of Lord Byron.

The British Government took advantage of this opportunity to acquire more detailed information concerning the islands; and to that end, included in the personnel of the ship a party of scientists.

Among these was a Lieut. Charles Malden, a surveyor, who during the stay of the ship, made a comprehensive and extensive survey of several harbors and roadsteads (offshore ship mooring areas).

One of these surveys was a fairly complete charting of the whole of Pearl Harbor, with soundings taken throughout the entrance channel and the three main lochs. The chart resulting from this survey was printed in 1841 by the British Hydrographic Office. (Navy)

Today, that map is also identified as Registered Map #437, Honolulu Harbor, South Coast of O‘ahu. (A copy of it is included in the album associated with this post.) It seems others replicated the names of the lochs of that 1825 map in what we now refer to as Pearl Harbor.

The answer to the previous question of when and why the awalau were called ‘lochs’ comes from the Diary of James Macrae, who was aboard the Blonde and sailed with Malden. Macrae wrote,

“Pearl River is about seven miles west of Hanarura, and is improperly called a river, being rather inlets from the sea, branching off in different directions. There are three chief branches, named by the surveyors, the East, Middle and West Lochs.” (Macrae)

While we are familiar with the East, Middle and West Lochs, there were other areas within Pearl Harbor that were also referred to as lochs: Southeast Loch, West Loch Branch and, later, Magazine Loch, Quarry Loch and Merry Loch.

February 7, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Fleet Problem Number 13

It is important to learn from our experiences …

“The aircraft was invented in 1903 and, almost immediately, the military started to look at how to use the technology in combat. But different military branches from different nations moved at different speeds, and many navies considered planes an observation platform and nothing more.”

“In World War I, pilots bombed enemy targets by throwing munitions from their planes, but aerial bombing was still considered a stunt by many, and the U.S. Navy brass was convinced that airplanes weren’t a threat to their capital ships.” (Nye)

“Between the wars, aviation pioneers tried to get the Navy and Army to understand how important planes would be in the next war. Army Gen. William ‘Billy’ Mitchell had some success in 1921 when his men sank the captured German battleship Ostrfriesland in a test.” (Nye)

“[F]rom 1923 to 1940, the Navy ran a series of exercises, collectively called the Navy Fleet Problems, that provided opportunities to test new technology, revise outdated doctrine, prepare for future conflict, and advance a common understanding of naval operations.”

“The fact that the Navy learned lessons in areas such as carrier aviation and submarine tactics with little danger to ships, resources, or personnel made the exercises noteworthy.”

“The Fleet Problems represented a unique period when Admirals, those at the highest level of naval command, critiqued their commanders in an open forum to improve the fleet. Likewise, the commanders, motivated by the same reasons, also felt free to point out institutional deficiencies.” (Sun, US Navy Fleet Problems)

Then … “Lights out, radios silenced, two carriers and their escorts slipped through the night, hiding in squalls and dark clouds. Before dawn, they struck.”

“Fighters snarled across the decks, then scout/attack aircraft, then dive bombers, then torpedo planes. Flashing blue flames, they banked to the southwest toward Oahu. It was a Sunday, and all of Hawaii slept.”

“Below lay Pearl Harbor.”

“The fighters dove first. They demolished aircraft on the ground, knocked out guns and pinned officers and men inside their barracks.”

“Then came the bombers and torpedo planes. They sank every battleship and cruiser in the harbor. ‘Everything went beautifully and according to plan’” an officer wrote afterward. ‘Our squadrons struck their targets shortly after it got light, taking them all by complete surprise.’”

“The date was Sunday, the seventh. But the month was February. And the year was 1932. The attacking carriers were the Saratoga and the Lexington. The fighters were Boeing-built U.S. F-4Bs. And the dive bombers were BM-1s. The sneak attack was commanded by of the U.S. Navy.”

“It was just an exercise.” (LA Times)

“Fleet Problem Number 13 was a mock attack by a ‘militaristic, Asian, island nation against the military base at Pearl Harbor.’”

“The exercise was designed to test Pearl’s defenses and assess its vulnerability to an attack. The attacking force was under the command of Rear Admiral Harry Yarnell.”

“The admiral was a qualified naval aviator, one of the few admirals to have earned his aviator wings at a time when battleship command was still the path to promotions.”

“In 1927, he took command of the aircraft carrier Saratoga and was instrumental in developing carrier tactics. At the time, carriers were classified as ‘fleet scouting elements.’ They were not valued as capital ships and were considered expendable.”

“Yarnell maintained that Japan ‘had always started operations by attacking before a declaration of war.’ Accordingly, he designed an attack plan that utilized carrier aviation to launch a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.”

“Pearl’s defenders had anticipated that Yarnell would attack with his battleships. Instead, he left his battleships behind and advanced with the carriers Saratoga and Lexington to a point north-northeast of Hawaii.”

“At dawn, on Sunday February 7, 1932, Yarnell launched his attack with a force of 152 planes from the two carriers. His attack force first attacked the airfields and then proceeded to attack the ships along battleship row.”

“Yarnell achieved total surprise. The airfields were put out of commission, with not a single plane getting airborne during the attack. The attacking force scored multiple hits, they dropped sacks of white flour to simulate bombs, on the battleships.” (Military-com)

“In 1938, the same wargames were being played again to test Pearl Habor’s defenses. The attacking force was led by Admiral Ernest King, and Admiral Yarnell was working in the background to run the experiment a second time.”

“King took a single aircraft carrier escorted by destroyers to attack Pearl Harbor from the air. Coming in over the Koolau Range, he surprised the military base and won a decisive victory — just as Admiral Yarnell had done so in 1932.”

“As WWII got underway in the Pacific, Japan knew that it could not fend off a full-on assault by the U.S. Navy if the U.S. entered the war. Instead, they needed to launch a pre-emptive strike and hobble the U.S.’s ability to interfere with Japanese operations in the Pacific.”

“Thus, on December 7th, 1941, Japan’s Admiral Yamamoto pulled out the same military plans that Admiral Yarnell used almost 10 years before and launched his own assault on Pearl Harbor. This time, however, his planes would not be carrying ‘flour bombs’ and flares.”

“That Sunday morning, Yamamoto’s planes burst through a wall of clouds over the Koolau Range — and its fighters strafed the U.S. airfields before bombers descended on the island – and only then did the U.S. Navy accept that it should have paid heed to Admirals Yarnell and King when slight embarrassment was the only price it needed to pay.” (Medium)

“Some think it was distinctly edifying to the Japanese, who [after Yarnell’s decisive exercise] executed what Arthur Radford, a young lieutenant commander and an aide to Yarnell, calls ‘almost a perfect duplicate.’”

“To Americans, however, the exercise was hardly edifying enough. Incredibly, the United States never woke up to the fact that Pearl Harbor–and, therefore, America itself–was vulnerable.”

“In 1932, Radford says, when Yarnell crept up on Hawaii and launched his planes, the exercise was ‘pretty well publicized.’ But Americans paid little attention. The nation was in a seminal transition. Provincial, self-indulgent and distracted by the Great Depression, America was struggling to reawaken to the world.” (LA Times)

December 7, 2023 by Peter T Young 4 Comments

Postcards, Sails, Sheets, Lights, Ads, Fires and Radio Signals

The attack on the US military installation at Pearl Harbor and other parts of Oʻahu by Japan’s Imperial military was one of the most successful surprise attacks in military history.

But an often-overlooked component of the successful attack is that the Japanese Empire had contracted with Bernard Otto Julius Kuehn, a German Nazi, to spy on the American military operations at Pearl Harbor from 1935 (an early ‘sleeper agent’ in espionage.)

The family had been contracted as agents of the Japanese government with the assistance of the Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. The arrangement was promoted and negotiated by Goebbels as a byproduct of his relationship with Kuehn’s attractive 17-year old daughter, Susie Ruth. (Washington Times)

The execution of the plan was reminiscent of “one, if by land, and two, if by sea,” the phrase coined by American poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his poem, Paul Revere’s Ride.

It references the secret signal during Revere’s ride from Boston to Concord on the verge of American Revolutionary War alerting patriots about the route the British troops would take to Concord (two lanterns were shown, the British rowed over to Cambridge.)

The Kuehns arrived in Hawaiʻi in 1935; they started their spying then. They blended in, and waited.

No one seriously suspected that Caucasians would carry on espionage for the Empire of Japan, so Kuehn, his wife Friedel, their daughter and son, Hans Joachim, were virtually inconspicuous as a white family on the windward side.

Kuehn had houses in Hawaiʻi, lots of money, but no real job. Investigations by the Bureau and the Army, though, never turned up definite proof of spying. (FBI)

However, every member of the family contributed towards collecting and documenting military activities at Pearl Harbor from 1935 right up to the day the bombs fell from Japanese aircraft.

Paid for his services, in three years he banked more than $70,000; one payment was $14,000 in $100 bills. They had houses in Lanikai and Kailua; these later served as the means of their intricate, yet simple, signaling system. (Pearl Harbor Board)

The Kuehn family took various means to gather information.

Kuehn would scout the ships at Pearl Harbor. Daughter Susie Ruth set up a beauty parlor and used it to gather gossip and random information from wives and girlfriends of the military men stationed at Pearl Harbor. Mother Friedel kept track of all the notes.

Ten-year-old Hans was dressed in a sailor suit and with his father would walk down near the docks. Many of the sailors thought the little guy was quite cute and some gave him unofficial “tours” of their ships.

Coached by his father, he would ask specific questions and observe everything he saw. Later he would be systematically debriefed by his parents.

The Kuehn family was not working alone; they worked with other Japanese spies attached to the Japanese consulate.

If the Consulate wanted to contact Kuehn, they would send a postcard signed “Jimmie” to his Post Office Box 1476 in Honolulu. (Pearl Harbor Board)

On December 2, days before the attack, he provided specific – and highly accurate – details on the fleet in writing. That same day, he gave the consulate the set of signals that could be picked up by nearby Japanese submarines. (FBI)

The set of signals contained eight combinations, each signal represented a number and each number represented the status of the naval fleet at Pearl Harbor.

No. 1 – battle fleet prepared to leave
No. 2 – scouting force prepared to leave
No. 3 – battle fleet left 1 to 3 days ago
No. 4 – scouting fleet left 1 to 3 days ago
No. 5 – air craft carriers left 1 to 3 days ago
No. 6 – battle fleet left 4 to 6 days ago
No. 7 – scout force left 4 to 6 days ago
No. 8 – aircraft carriers left 4 to 6 days ago

Signals were given that represented these respective code numbers. Part of how they did this was to shine lights out windows and hang sheets on the laundry line. These were done from their homes in Lanikai and Kailua (using lights in a dormer window.)

One light shining from the window between 7 and 8 pm meant No. 1; one light from 8 to 9 pm meant No. 2 and so forth for Nos. 3 and 4. Two lights shining from the window from 7 to 8 meant No. 5, etc. Hanging sheets on the laundry line carried the similar code.

An alternative display of the code used different patterns in the sail of Kuehn’s boat off Lanikai; a sail with/without a star and numbers at different hours represented corresponding references back to the code.

They also arranged the signal through KGMB Want Ads – different advertised items represented different numbers (ie Chinese rug, chicken farm, beauty parlor operator wanted, etc.)

Two other signaling means included garbage fires on a friend’s property on the side of Haleakala on Maui between certain times, representing different code numbers. Signals were also sent via shortwave radio. (Pearl Harbor Board)

Following the fateful attack of December 7, 1941, Honolulu Special Agent in Charge Robert Shivers immediately began coordinating homeland security in Hawaiʻi and tasked local police with guarding the Japanese consulate. They found its officials trying to burn reams of paper. These documents – once decoded – included a set of signals for US fleet movements. (FBI)

All fingers pointed at Kuehn. He had the dormer window, the sailboat and big bank accounts. Kuehn was arrested the next day and confessed, though he denied ever sending coded signals. (FBI)

On February 21, 1942, just 76 days after the tragic attack on Pearl Harbor, a military court in Honolulu found Bernard Otto Julius Kuehn guilty of spying and sentenced to be shot “by musketry” in Honolulu. His sentence was later commuted to 50 years of hard labor.

He served time in Leavenworth Penitentiary from December 1, 1942 to June 6, 1946 (when his sentence was commuted in order to deport him.) On December 3, 1948, he was deported to Buenos Aires, Argentina. (FBI)

Kuehn was one of 91-people convicted of spying against the United States from 1938 to 1945. (FBI)

20040901-08 PRG SPY HOUSE There are two houses at 557 Kainalu in Kailua that are built very close to each other. This is the two story A fame house that is on the right side of the property. During the late 1930’s it served as a den for a German spy who provided intelligence for the Japanese military leading up to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The present owner, John Piper (225-3555) bought the houses in 1999. PHOTO BY DENNIS ODA. SEPT. 1, 2004. Nikon D2H Focal Length: 13mm White Balance: Direct sunlight Color Mode: Mode I (sRGB) 2004/09/01 12:35:19.1 Exposure Mode: Shutter Priority AF Mode: AF-C Hue Adjustment: 0¡ JPEG (8-bit) Fine Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern Tone Comp.: Auto Sharpening: Auto Image Size: Large (2464 x 1632) 1/250 sec – f/15 Flash Sync Mode: Not Attached Noise Reduction: OFF Exposure Comp.: 0 EV Lens: 12-24mm f/4 G Sensitivity: ISO 200 Image Comment: [#End of Shooting Data Section]