The debate inside the Japanese government as to its oil and gasoline situation was leading to invasion of the Dutch East Indies but this would mean war with the U.S. whose Pacific fleet was a threat to their flank. This situation led to the decision to attack the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor before proceeding with the Dutch East Indies invasion. On 7 December 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, and the next day the Netherlands declared war on Japan which initiated the Dutch East Indies campaign. But the Japanese missed a golden opportunity at Pearl Harbor. "All of the oil for the fleet was in surface tanks at the time of Pearl Harbor," Admiral Chester Nimitz, who became Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet, was later to say. "We had about of oil out there and all of it was vulnerable to .50 caliber bullets. Had the Japanese destroyed the oil," he added, "it would have prolonged the war another two years."