Near Failure at Nagasaki Case Study

November 12, 2016

Near Failure at Nagasaki

Case Study

Management 3120

Professor Walsh

By:

Simi Ragnauth

And

Bryan Martinez

Facts:

• On August 6th, 1945, the U.S dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima in Japan.
• The Japanese refused to surrender, so the U.S planned an invasion of Japanese home islands.
• The alternative to this was to drop another atomic bomb on Japan.
• The mission to drop the second atomic bomb was set for August 11th, but was moved up to August 9th due to a bad weather forecast.
• The bomb was called “Fat Man”.
• The Hiroshima mission was executed perfectly, but almost nothing went right in the Nagasaki mission which almost failed.
• The pilot in command for the Nagasaki mission was Maj. Charles W. Sweeney.
• He was chosen for this assignment by Col. Paul W. Tibbets Jr., who flew the Hiroshima mission himself.
• The original target for this mission was Kokura, not Nagasaki.
• Six B-29s were allocated to the mission and Sweeney would fly the lead plane and drop the bomb.
• Sweeney would fly the plane called Bockscar after he switch planes with Capt. Frederick C. Bock, who is now flying The Great Artiste.
• Lt. Col. James I. Hopkins Jr., flew the observation plane called Big Stink.
• Among Sweeny’s crew was the senior weaponeer Navy Cmdr. Frederick L. Ashworth, who had powerful influence on Sweeney.
• The first problem arose when fuel in the reserve tank was not pumping.
• Three aircraft were originally to resemble over Imo Jima, however the rendezvous was moved to Yakushima at 30,000 feet.
• Sweeney circled the rendezvous point for 45 minutes after no planes showed up when was suppose be there for 15 minutes.
• Hopkins plane was in fact at the rendezvous point, but was flying at 39,000 feet and not at 30,000 feet
• This delay had cost Sweeney a lot of time and fuel.
• When Bockscar arrived at Kokura the target was no longer visible, Sweeney decided to head for Nagasaki.
• The bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, 40,000 died instantly
• Sweeney has wasted a lot of time after three bomb runs over Kokura and circling the rendezvous point for 45 minutes.
• As a result, Sweeney was dangerously low on fuel after dropping the bomb.
• Sweeney barely makes it back and was asked by his superiors about the conduct of the mission.
• Blame was being pointed everywhere for the delay at the rendezvous point and other issues that occurred during the mission.
• Many people have credited bombardier Beahan for saving the mission after the excellent job he has done.

KEY ISSUES:

1. Leadership
2. Expectation
3. Crisis Management
4. Accountability

ISSUE #1:

LEADERSHIP

In order to run a successful mission, the team must have a strong leader. Discipline and well defined leadership can make or break a project, mission or business. In such endeavors there is the requirement that all members follow the plan as it was discussed and to not make any changes on their own which would negatively affect the success of the mission. There were various instances in this mission where lack of authority and deviation from the original plan caused delays in the execution of the plan. Furthermore, when the other team members assumed similar authority as the team commander there were problems executing basic parts of the plan as well as failure to adjust properly.