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World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/Attack on Pearl Harbor
From Month/Year
December / 1941
To Month/Year
December / 1941
Description The attack on Pearl Harbor, also known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor, the Hawaii Operation or Operation AI by the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters, and Operation Z during planning, was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory, on the morning of December 7, 1941. The attack led to the United States' entry into World War II.
Japan intended the attack as a preventive action to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with military actions the Empire of Japan planned in Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States. Over the next seven hours there were coordinated Japanese attacks on the U.S.-held Philippines, Guam and Wake Island and on the British Empire in Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong.
The attack commenced at 7:48 a.m. Hawaiian Time. The base was attacked by 353 Imperial Japanese fighter planes, bombers, and torpedo planes in two waves, launched from six aircraft carriers. All eight U.S. Navy battleships were damaged, with four sunk. All but Arizona were later raised, and six were returned to service and went on to fight in the war. The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and one minelayer. 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed; 2,403 Americans were killed and 1,178 others were wounded. Important base installations such as the power station, shipyard, maintenance, and fuel and torpedo storage facilities, as well as the submarine piers and headquarters building (also home of the intelligence section) were not attacked. Japanese losses were light: 29 aircraft and five midget submarines lost, and 64 servicemen killed. One Japanese sailor, Kazuo Sakamaki, was captured.
The attack came as a profound shock to the American people and led directly to the American entry into World War II in both the Pacific and European theaters. The following day, December 8, the United States declared war on Japan. Domestic support for non-interventionism, which had been fading since the Fall of France in 1940,[19] disappeared. Clandestine support of the United Kingdom (e.g., the Neutrality Patrol) was replaced by active alliance. Subsequent operations by the U.S. prompted Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy to declare war on the U.S. on December 11, which was reciprocated by the U.S. the same day.
From the 1950s, several writers alleged that parties high in the U.S. and British governments knew of the attack in advance and may have let it happen (or even encouraged it) with the aim of bringing the U.S. into war. However, this advance-knowledge conspiracy theory is rejected by mainstream historians.
There were numerous historical precedents for unannounced military action by Japan. However, the lack of any formal warning, particularly while negotiations were still apparently ongoing, led President Franklin D. Roosevelt to proclaim December 7, 1941, "a date which will live in infamy". Because the attack happened without a declaration of war and without explicit warning, the attack on Pearl Harbor was judged by the Tokyo Trials to be a war crime.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
December / 1941
To Month/Year
December / 1941
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
Memories December 7th began as a beautiful and typical Hawaiian day. There were just a few clouds in the sky as I watched the sun rise over the Pali. The tropical awnings were up after we arrived in port the previous Friday. I looked at my watch, 0750 by Pacific Time. Suddenly I heard aircraft droning in the sky, an odd occurence at this time of morning, and then I observed fighter and bomber aircraft approaching from the east. On them were displayed red MEATBALLS as they began to swoop down from the sky. We were under enemy attack!
Bombs began falling from the incoming planes as I ran immediately to the Quarter Deck, notifying the Petty Officer of the Watch that we were at war. Down came the tropical awnings as he sounded the General Quarters alarm. On my way to my battle station of Fire Control above the Bridge, I ran into Lieut. Bill Farrell. He was the Officer of the Day, Gun Boss and First Lieutenant. Lieut. Farrell was racing out of the Ward Room. There was a very brief collision as we left to our appointed stations. Mine was the Pointer for the Fire Control System.
We began taking on fuel from the docks as we brought up ammunition from MUGFORD?s magazines to the upper handling rooms and mounts. The deck was being littered with empty shell casings. This was a very hazardous situation, for the sparks from the explosions and bombs were everywhere. We fired 250 rounds of 5 inch 38 caliber projectiles that morning as we engaged the enemy. We began then to arm the depth charges and torpedoes with their warheads.
We could see Battleship Row almost completely on fire and blazes all over Ford Island Naval Air Station. Planes came from the direction of Fort Kam and Hospital Point. The sky was full of planes and anti-aircraft fire. Two survivors from the West Virginia, covered with bunker fuel, swam across the channel and climbed up the fantail. A couple of sailors from the OGLALA came aboard to join us. The CASSIN and the DOWNS were in the flooded dock ahead of the CALIFORNIA . The SHAW was being repaired on the marine railway-she lost her bow.
One of the planes veered over the top of the HammerheadCrane, and flew between us and the ship on the other side of the pier. We knocked him right out of the sky. Then another plane approaching the Gantry Crane and Hospital Point got the same final treatment from our guns. We watched the operator of the Crane abandon ship and slide down straight to the deck without touching a single step. Every time our after batteries fired the USS SACRAMENTO colors disappeared into shreds from the force of the concussions.
All around the Harbor there were burning ships and oil covered waters. MUGFORD had survived it all, and at 12.20 we cleared the Harbor, and headed out to sea, to avenge the Fleet. Ahead of us steamed the USS JARVIS, first to engage an enemy submarine as she began, with us, her long voyage across the Pacific, to find, encounter and destroy the Sons of the Rising Sun, wherever they might be.
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