The Attack on Pearl Harbor

During WWII Japan had its eye on more territory. Due to the fact that they were allied with Germany, Japan had gotten a good bit bolder. It had already marched its way into China. The U.S. was hoping that oil embargoes would stop Japanese progress. In 1941 the Japanese sent ambassadors to Washington. However, in Japan they were preparing for war.

At 3:42 AM on December 7,1941, a U.S. minesweeper, Condor, was on patrol less than 2 miles from the entrance to Pearl Harbor. It noticed a submarine, that was not authorized, heading past them. It was immediately reported. At 6:10 PM, 235 miles north of Hawaii 183 fighters, bombers, and torpedo planes began their flight to Pearl Harbor. Using the sound of a radio station to guide them. The U.S. destroyer Ward found and sank the midget sub found by the minesweeper, Condor earlier, by shooting two torpedoes and a number of depth charges at it at 6:45 AM. Eight minutes after the sinking of the sub, the Ward’s Capitan sent a message to the 14th Naval Headquarters saying that they had shot and fired depth charges on a submarine in the defensive waters near Pearl Harbor.

7:02 AM a radar operator in Oahu spotted at least 50 unidentified aircraft heading for Hawaii This report was dismissed when the receiver thought the planes were U.S. Bombers scheduled to arrive from California. At 7:40AM the nearly 200 Japanese planes flew over the Northern tip of Oahu. Nine minutes later the commander ordered the attack. The U.S.S. Oklahoma was hit by at least five torpedoes; it rolled over. The surviving men inside took turns hammering SOS in Morse code until the next day. December 8,1941, 32 of them were rescued.

The U.S.S. Arizona was hit by an armor piercing bomb that ignited over a million pounds of gunpowder. It exploded into a tremendous fireball killing 1,177 men. The U.S.S Virginia was hit by at least 6 torpedoes and sank to the harbor’s bottom. One hundred-three men died. Three men found an air-tight chamber and survived until Dec. 23, when they died from lack of oxygen. The U.S.S. Utah was not on the Japanese hit list. It was mistaken for an aircraft carrier, torpedoed, and capsized. Fifty-four men died. The Japanese then targeted the U.S. warplanes parked conveniently wingtip to wingtip. Most were destroyed.

The U.S. destroyer, Shaw, was hit by a Japanese bomber. Its pieces showered down over a half-mile away. By 10:00 AM the Japanese were victoriously leaving for their carriers and the wounded Americans were overflowing the hospitals. A second wave of 167 Japanese planes arrived at 8:54 AM.

The Japanese angered America so much that the entire nation banded together as never before or since against Japan. On Dec. 8, 1941, President Roosevelt addressed the Nation and said, “Yesterday, December 7th, a date which will live in infamy -- the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.” The President then asked Congress for a declaration of war against Japan.

The Japanese had not crushed the Americans at all. Instead they had ”Awakened a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve,” as an admiral of the Japanese military stated. Little did that admiral know how right he was in that in about four years America would drop nuclear bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Due to the events of Pearl harbor: 2335 US military personnel dead 64 Japanese dead 1177 of the dead were from the U.S.S. Arizona - 55 airmen, - 9 submariners 21 ships of the US Pacific Fleet sank or were damaged 4 Japanese submarines including 5 battleships, 3 destroyers, and 3 cruisers sunk 188 American planes destroyed 29 Japanese planes 155 planes damaged destroyed 68 civilians dead 1178 American wounded 1 Japanese captured

Pearl Harbor: Photo Album The anomic mushroom cloud from “little boy” dropped over Hiroshima.

The Arizona exploding.

The minesweeper condor that first sighted the Japanese midget sub.

A painting of the plane Enola Gay that dropped the Hiroshima bomb “little boy.”

The after effects of Pearl Harbor The Japanese flag

A Japanese plane bombing a U.S. warship The Wreckage of U.S. Planes

President RooseveltA U.S. unity poster

References http :// images.google.com/imghp?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tab=wi Spielvogel, J. (2005) World history: Modern Times. Columbus, Ohio: McGraw- Hill Companies, Inc.