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Attack on Pearl Harbor
Part of the Pacific Theater of World War II
The attackers came in two waves. The first wave was detected by U.S. Army radar at 136 nautical miles (252 km), but was misidentified as USAAF bombers from the mainland.[1]
Date December 7, 1941 Location primarily Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, USA Casus belli Oil and trade embargo by the United States; diplomatic stalemate between Japan and the US. Result Decisive Japanese victory; United States declares war on the Empire of Japan and enters World War II on the side of Allies; Nazi Germany declares war on the United States.
Combatants
United States	Empire of Japan
Commanders
Navy: Husband Kimmel Army: Walter Short	Navy: Chuichi Nagumo
Strength
8 battleships, 8 cruisers, 29 destroyers, 9 submarines, ~50 other ships, ~390 aircraft	6 aircraft carriers, 9 destroyers, 2 battleships, 2 heavy cruisers, 1 light cruiser, 8 tankers, 23 fleet submarines, 5 midget submarines, 414 aircraft
Casualties
2 battleships sunk, 6 battleships damaged, 3 cruisers damaged, 2 destroyers sunk, 1 damaged, 1 other ship sunk, 3 damaged,[2] 188 aircraft destroyed, 155 aircraft damaged, 2,333 military and 55 civilians killed, 1,139 military and 35 civilians wounded[3][4]	4 midget submarines sunk, 1 midget submarine run aground, 29 aircraft destroyed, 55 airmen, 9 submariners killed and 1 captured

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Pacific campaigns 1941-42
Pearl Harbor – Thailand – Malaya – Hong Kong – Philippines – Guam – Wake – Dutch East Indies – New Guinea – Singapore – Australia – Indian Ocean – Doolittle Raid – Solomons – Coral Sea – Midway

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Pacific Ocean theater
Pearl Harbor – Midway – Solomons – Aleutians – Gilberts & Marshalls – Marianas & Palau – Volcano Is & Ryukyu Is

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The attack on Pearl Harbor was a pre-emptive military strike on the United States Pacific Fleet base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii by the Empire of Japan's Imperial Japanese Navy, on the morning of Sunday, 7 December, 1941. Two attack waves, totalling 350 aircraft were launched from six IJN aircraft carriers which destroyed two U.S. Navy battleships, one minelayer, two destroyers and 188 aircraft. Personnel losses were 2,333 killed and 1,139 wounded. Damaged warships included three cruisers, a destroyer, and six battleships. Of those six, one was deliberately grounded and was later refloated and repaired. Two sank at their berths but were later repaired and both rejoined the fleet late in the war. Vital fuel storage, shipyards, and submarine facilities were not hit. Japanese losses were minimal at 29 aircraft and five midget submarines, with 65 Japanese servicemen killed or wounded.

The pre-emptive strike's intent was to protect Imperial Japan's advance into Malaya and the Dutch East Indies – for their natural resources such as oil and rubber – by neutralizing the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Both the US and Japan had long-standing contingency plans for war in the Pacific, developed during the 1930s as tension between the two countries steadily increased, focusing on the other's battleships. Japan's expansion into Manchuria and later French Indochina were greeted with increasing levels of embargoes and sanctions from the United States. In 1940, the US halted further shipments of airplanes, parts, machine tools and aviation gas to Japan, which Japan interpreted as an unfriendly act.^[5] America continued to export oil to Japan, as it was understood in Washington that cutting off exports could mean Japanese retaliation.^[6] In the summer of 1941, the US ceased the export of oil to Japan due to Japan's continued aggressive expansionist policy and because an anticipated eventual American entrance to the war in Europe prompted increased stockpiling and less commercial use of gasoline.^[7] President Franklin D. Roosevelt had moved the fleet to Hawaii, and ordered a buildup in the Philippines, to reduce Japanese aggression in China and deter operations against others, including European colonies in Asia. The Japanese high command was certain any attack on the United Kingdom's colonies would inevitably bring the U.S. into the war.^[8] A pre-emptive strike appeared the only way Japan could avoid U.S. interference in the Pacific.

The attack was one of the most important engagements of World War II. Occurring before a formal declaration of war, it shocked the American public out of isolationism. Roosevelt called December 7, 1941 "… a date which will live in infamy."

Background to conflict

Tensions between Japan and the United States, Britain, and Netherlands increased significantly at the beginning of the more militaristic Showa era as Japanese nationalists and military leaders exerted increasing influence over government policy, promoting creation of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere as part of Japan's alleged "divine right" to unify Asia under emperor Showa's rule^[9] threatening American, French, British and Netherlands colonies in Asia. Increasingly, Japan's expansionist policies brought her into conflict with her neighbors, Russia and China, including Russian expansion into Manchuria and Korea (which Japan saw as a threat and which helped spark the Russo-Japanese War resulting in Japanese victory), Japan's invasion and seizure of Manchuria in 1931, Japan's persistent meddling in Chinese affairs, and finally, the full-scale invasion of China, which began at the Marco Polo Bridge in July 1937. These further complicated matters.

In response to international condemnation particularly by the United States, Britain and the Netherlands of the 1931 conquest of Manchuria and the establishment of the Manchukuo puppet government, in 1933 Japan withdrew from the League of Nations. On January 15, 1936, Japan withdrew from the Second London Naval Disarmament Conference which had refused parity of Japan's naval forces with other major navies (notably the U.S.). The 1937 Japanese attack against China was condemned by the U.S. and by several members of the League of Nations, particularly Britain, France, Australia, and the Netherlands. These states had economic and territorial interests, or formal colonies, in Southeast Asia, and had become increasingly alarmed at Japan's military power and willingness to use it, which they saw as threats to their control in Asia. In July 1939, the U.S. terminated the 1911 U.S.-Japan commercial treaty. These efforts failed to deter Japan from continuing the war in China nor from signing both the Anti-Comintern Pact with Nazi Germany and the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy forming the Axis Powers.

The Tripartite Pact, war with China, increasing militarization and Japan's withdrawal from the League of Nations eventually led the U.S. to embargo scrap metal and gasoline shipments to Japan and to constrain its actions and close the Panama Canal to Japanese shipping. In 1941, Japan moved into northern IndoChina.^[10] The U.S. responded by freezing Japan's assets in the U.S. embargoing oil.^[11] Oil was Japan's most crucial imported resource; more than 80 percent of Japan's oil imports at the time came from the United States^[12] To secure oil supplies, and other resources, Japanese planners had long been looking south, especially the Dutch East Indies. The Navy was (mistakenly) certain any attempt to seize this region would bring the U.S. into the war. In August 1941, Japanese Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe proposed a summit with President Roosevelt to discuss differences. Roosevelt replied Japan must leave China before a summit meeting could be held.

War

In July 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy informed Hirohito its reserve bunker oil would be exhausted within two years if a new source was not acquired. On September 6, 1941, at the second Imperial Conference concerning attacks on Occidental colonies, Japanese leaders met to consider the attack plans prepared by Imperial General Headquarters, one day after the emperor had scolded General Sugiyama about the lack of success in China and the likely low chances of victory against the Occidental Powers.^[13]

Prime Minister Konoe argued for more negotiations and possible concessions to avert war. Military leaders (e.g. Hideki Tojo, Sugiyama, and IJN Chief of Staff Fleet Admiral Osami Nagano) argued time had run out and additional negotiations would be pointless and urged swift military actions against all American and European colonies in Southeast Asia and Hawaii. Tojo argued yielding to the American demand to withdraw troops would wipe out all the fruits of the Second Sino-Japanese war, depress the army morale, endanger Manchukuo and jeopardize control of Korea and argued doing nothing is same as defeat and loss of national pride.

On October 16, 1941, Konoe resigned and proposed prince Naruhiko Higashikuni, who was also the choice of the Army and the Navy, as his successor. Hirohito choose Tojo instead, worried, as he told Konoe, about having the Imperial House being held responsible for a war against Western powers.^[14]

On November 3, 1941, Nagano presented a detailed plan for the attack on Pearl Harbor to Hirohito.^[15] On 5 November, Hirohito approved the plan for a war against the United States, Great Britain and Holland, scheduled to start at the beginning of December if no significant changes were achieved through diplomacy.^[16]

On 30 November 1941, Prince Nobuhito Takamatsu warned his brother, Hirohito, the Navy felt the Empire could not fight more than two years against the United States and wished to avoid war. After consulting with Koichi Kido (who advised him to take his time until he was convinced) and Tojo, the Emperor then called Shigetaro Shimada and Nagano who reassured him war would be successful.^[17] On December 1, Hirohito finally sanctioned a "war against United States, Great Britain and Holland" in another Imperial Conference and commence with the surprise attack on the main American pacific force in Hawaii as prepared.^[18]

Prelude to battle

Intelligence gathering

On February 3, 1940, Yamamoto briefed Captain Kanji Ogawa of Naval Intelligence on the potential attack plan, asking him to start intelligence gathering on Pearl Harbor. Ogawa already had spies in Hawaii, including Japanese Consular officials with an intelligence remit, and he arranged for help from a German already living in Hawaii who was an Abwehr agent. None had been providing much militarily useful information. He planned to add 29-year-old Ensign Takeo Yoshikawa. By the spring of 1941, Yamamoto officially requested additional Hawaiian intelligence, and Yoshikawa boarded the liner Nitta-maru at Yokohama. He had grown his hair longer than military length, and assumed the cover name Tadashi Morimura.^[19]

Yoshikawa began gathering intelligence in earnest by taking auto trips around the main islands, and toured Oahu in a small plane, posing as a tourist. He visited Pearl Harbor frequently, sketching the harbor and location of ships from the crest of a hill. Once, he gained access to Hickam Field in a taxi, memorizing the number of visible planes, pilots, hangars, barracks and soldiers. He was also able to discover that Sunday was the day of the week on which the largest number of ships were likely to be in harbor, that PBY patrol planes went out every morning and evening, and that there was an antisubmarine net in the mouth of the harbor.^[20] Information was returned to Japan in coded form in Consular communications, and by direct delivery to intelligence officers aboard Japanese ships calling at Hawaii by consulate staff.

Planning

Expecting war, and seeing an opportunity in the forward basing of the US Pacific Fleet at Hawaii, the Japanese began planning in early 1941 for an attack on Pearl Harbor. For the next several months, planning, and organizing a simultaneous attack on Pearl and invasion of British and Dutch colonies to the South occupied much of the Japanese Navy's time and attention. Pearl Harbor attack planning was a part of the Japanese expectation the U.S. would be inevitably drawn into the war after a Japanese attack against Malaya and Singapore.^[21]

The intent of a preemptive strike on Pearl Harbor was to neutralize American naval power in the Pacific, allowing operations against American, British, and Dutch colonies. Attacks on colonies were judged to depend on successfully dealing with the American Pacific Fleet. Surprise attack posed a twofold difficulty. First, the Pacific Fleet was a formidable force, and would not be easy to defeat or to surprise. Second, for aerial attack, Pearl Harbor's shallow waters made using conventional air-dropped torpedoes ineffective. On the other hand, Hawaii's isolation meant a successful surprise attack could not be blocked or quickly countered by forces from the continental U.S.

Several Japanese naval officers had been impressed by the British Operation Judgement, in which 21 obsolete Fairey Swordfish disabled half the Regia Marina. Admiral Yamamoto dispatched a delegation to Italy, which concluded a larger and better-supported version of Cunningham's strike could force the U.S. Pacific Fleet to retreat to bases in California, thus giving Japan the time necessary to establish a "barrier" defense to protect Japanese control of the Dutch East Indies. The delegation returned to Japan with information about the shallow-running torpedoes Cunningham's engineers had devised.

Japanese strategists were undoubtedly influenced by Heihachiro Togo's surprise attack on the Russian Pacific Fleet at Port Arthur in 1905, and may have been influenced by U.S. Admiral Harry Yarnell's performance in the 1932 joint Army-Navy exercises, which simulated an invasion of Hawaii. Yarnell, as commander of the attacking force, placed his carriers northwest of Oahu and simulated an air attack. The exercise's umpires noted Yarnell's aircraft were able to inflict serious "damage" on the defenders, who for 24 hours after the attack were unable to locate his force.

Yamamoto's emphasis on destroying the American battleships was in keeping with the Mahanian doctrine shared by all major navies during this period, including the U.S. Navy and Royal Navy.^[22]



In a letter dated January 7, 1941 Yamamoto finally delivered a rough outline of his daring plan to Koshiro Oikawa, then Navy Minister, from whom he also requested to be made Commander in Chief of the air fleet to attack Pearl Habour.

A few weeks later, in yet another letter, this time directed at Takijiro Onishi—chief of staff of the Eleventh Air Fleet—Yamamoto requested Onishi study the technical feasibility of an attack against the American base. After consulting first with Kosei Maeda, an expert on aerial torpedo warfare, and being told the harbour's shallow waters rended such an attack almost impossible, Onsihi summonded Commander Minoru Genda. After studying the original proposal put forth by Yamamoto, Genda agreed, "the plan is difficult but not impossible".

During the following weeks, Genda expanded Yamamoto's original plan, highlighting the importance of it being carried out early in the morning and in total secrecy, employing an aircraft carrier force, several different types of bombing, among other aspects which included an actual landing in Hawaii, aimed at forcing American forces to retreat towards the West Coast.^[23]

By April 1941, the Pearl Harbor plan became known as Operation Z, after the famous Z signal given by Admiral Tōgō at Tsushima.

Over the summer, pilots trained in earnest on the Japanese island of Kyūshū. Genda chose Kagoshima City for a training area because its geography and infrastructure presented most of the same problems bombers would face at Pearl Harbor. In training, each crew would fly over the 5000-foot (1500 m) mountain behind Kagoshima, dive down into the city, dodging buildings and smokestacks before dropping to an altitude of 25 feet (7 m) at the piers. Bombardiers would release a torpedo at a breakwater some 300 yards (270 m) away.^[24]

Yet even skimming the water would not solve the problem of torpedoes bottoming in the shallow waters of Pearl Harbor. Japan created and tested modifications allowing successful shallow water drops. The effort resulted in a heavily modified version of the Type 91 torpedo which inflicted most of the ship damage during the attack. Japanese weapons technicians also produced special armor-piercing bombs by fitting fins and release shackles to 14 and 16 inch (356 and 406 mm) naval shells. These were able to penetrate the lightly armored decks of the old battleships.

The striking force

Main articles: Carrier Striking Task Force and Attack on Pearl Harbor order of battle

On November 26 1941, the day the Hull note was received from United States Secretary of State Cordell Hull, the Japanese carrier battle group, already assembled in Hitokappu Wan in the Kurile Islands, sortied for Hawaii, under strict radio silence.

The Kido Butai, the Combined Fleet's main carrier force, under the command of Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, included six aircraft carriers carriers (the most powerful carrier force with the greatest concentration of air power in the history of naval warfare to date),^[25] which embarked 359 airplanes,^[26] organized as the First Air Fleet. The carriers Akagi (flag), Kaga, Sōryū, Hiryū, and the newest, Shōkaku and Zuikaku, had 135 Mitsubishi A6M Type 0 fighters (Allied codename "Zeke", commonly called "Zero"), 171 Nakajima B5N Type 97 torpedo bombers (Allied codename "Kate"), and 108 Aichi D3A Type 99 dive bombers (Allied codename "Val") aboard. Two fast battleships, two heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, nine destroyers, and three fleet submarines provided escort and screening. In addition, the Advanced Expeditionary Force included 20 fleet and five two-man Ko-hyoteki-class midget submarines, which were to gather intelligence and sink U.S. vessels attempting to flee Pearl Harbor during or soon after the attack. It also had eight oilers for underway fueling.^[27]

The execute order

On December 1, 1941, after the striking force was en route, Chief of Staff Nagano gave a verbal directive to commander of the Combined Fleet Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, informing him:

Upon completion, the force was to return to Japan, re-equip, and re-deploy for "Second Phase Operations".

Finally, Order number 9, issued on 1 December 1941 by Nagano, instructed Yamamoto to crush hostile naval and air forces in Asia, the Pacific and Hawaii, promptly sieze the main U.S., British, and Dutch bases in East Asia and "capture and secure the key areas of the southern regions".^[27]

On the home leg, the force was ordered to be alert for tracking and counterattacked by the Americans, and to return to the friendly base in the Marshall Islands, rather than the Home Islands.^[28]

| |} U.S. civil and military intelligence had, amongst them, good information suggesting additional Japanese aggression throughout the summer and fall before the attack. At the time, none specifically indicated an attack against Pearl Harbor, nor has any doing so been identified since. Public press reports during summer and fall, including Hawaiian newspapers, contained extensive reports on the growing tension in the Pacific. Late in November, all Pacific commands, including both the Navy and Army in Hawaii, were separately and explicitly warned^[29] war with Japan was expected in the very near future, and it was preferred that Japan make the first hostile act as they were apparently preparing to do.^[29] It was felt that war would most probably start with attacks in the Far East: the Philippines,^[29] Indochina, Thailand, or the Russian Far East. The warnings were not specific to any area, noting only war with Japan was expected in the immediate short term and all commands should act accordingly. Had any of these warnings produced an active alert status in Hawaii, the attack might have been resisted more effectively, and perhaps resulted in less death and damage. On the other hand, recall of men on shore leave to the ships in harbor might have led to still more being casualties from bombs and torpedoes, or trapped in capsized ships by shut watertight doors (as the attack alert status would have required),^[32] or killed (in their obsolescent and obsolete aircraft) by more experienced Japanese aviators. When the attack actually arrived, Pearl Harbor was effectively unprepared: anti-aircraft weapons not manned, most ammunition locked down, anti-submarine measures not implemented (e.g., no torpedo nets in the harbor), combat air patrol not flying, available scouting aircraft not in the air at first light, Air Corps aircraft parked wingtip to wingtip to reduce sabotage risks (not ready to fly at a moment's warning), and so on.

By 1941, U.S. signals intelligence, through the Army's Signal Intelligence Service and the Office of Naval Intelligence's OP-20-G, had intercepted and decrypted considerable Japanese diplomatic and naval cipher traffic, though nothing actually carrying significant information about Japanese military plans in 1940-41. Decryption and distribution of this intelligence, including such decrypts as were available, was capricious and sporadic, and can be blamed in part on lack of manpower. At best, the information was fragmentary, contradictory, or poorly distributed, and was almost entirely raw, without supporting analysis. It was also incompletely understood by decision makers. Nothing in it pointed directly to an attack at Pearl Harbor, and a lack of awareness of Imperial Navy capabilities led to a widespread underlying belief Pearl Harbor was safely out of harm's way. Only one message from the Hawaiian Japanese consulate (sent on 6 December), in a low level consular cipher, included mention of an attack at Pearl; it was not decrypted until 8 December.^[33]

In 1924, General William L. Mitchell produced a 324-page report warning future wars (including with Japan) would include a new role for aircraft, against existing ships and facilities. He even discussed the possibility of an air attack on Pearl Harbor but his warnings were ignored. Navy Secretary Knox had also appreciated the possibility of an attack at Pearl in a written analysis shortly after taking office. American commanders had been warned tests demonstrated shallow-water aerial torpedo attacks were possible, but no one in charge in Hawaii fully appreciated its import. A war game surprise attack against Pearl Harbor in 1932 had been judged a success and to have caused considerable damage.

Nevertheless, because it was believed Pearl Harbor had natural defenses against torpedo attack (e.g., the shallow water), the Navy did not deploy torpedo nets or baffles, which were judged to interfere with ordinary operations. And as a result of limited numbers of long-range aircraft (including Army Air Corps bombers, responsible for search by a prewar arrangement), reconnaissance patrols were not being made as often or as far out as required for adequate coverage against possible surprise attack; they improved considerably, with fewer planes, after the attack. The Navy had 33 PBYs in the islands, but only three on patrol at the time of the attack.^[34] Hawaii was low on the priority list for the B-17s finally becoming available for the Pacific, largely because General MacArthur in the Philippines was successfully demanding as many as could be made available to the Pacific (where they were intended as a deterrent); even the British, which had contracted for them, agreed to accept fewer to facilitate this buildup. At the time of the attack, Army and Navy were both on training status rather than operational alert. There was also confusion about the Army's readiness status as General Short had changed the alert level designations without clearly informing Washington. Most of the Army's mobile anti-aircraft guns were secured, with ammunition locked down in armories. To avoid upsetting property owners, and in keeping with Washington's admonition not to alarm civil populations (e.g., in the late November war warning messages from the Navy and War Departments), guns were not dispersed around Pearl Harbor (i.e., on private property). Additionally, aircraft were parked on airfields to lessen the risk of sabotage, not in anticipation of air attack, in keeping with Short's (uncontradicted) interpretation of the war warnings.

Chester Nimitz said later, "It was God's mercy that our fleet was in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.". Nimitz believed if Kimmel had discovered the Japanese approach, he would have sortied to meet them. With the American carriers absent and Kimmel's battleships at a severe disadvantage to the Japanese carriers, the likely result would have been the sinking of the American battleships at sea in deep water, where they would have been lost forever with tremendous casualties (as many as twenty thousand dead), instead of in Pearl Harbor, where the crews could easily be rescued, and six battleships ultimately raised.^[35]

Breaking off negotiations

Part of the Japanese plan for the attack included breaking off negotiations with the United States 30 minutes before the attack began. Diplomats from the Japanese Embassy in Washington, including the Japanese Ambassador, Admiral Kichisaburo Nomura, and special representative Saburo Kurusu, had been conducting extended talks with the State Department regarding the U.S. reactions to the Japanese move into Việt Nam in the summer (see above).

In the days before the attack, a long 14-part message was sent to the Embassy from the Foreign Office in Tokyo (encrypted with the Type 97 cryptographic machine, in a cipher named PURPLE by U.S. cryptanalysts), with instructions to deliver it to Secretary of State Cordell Hull at 1 p.m. Washington time. The last part arrived late Saturday night (Washington time) but due to decryption and typing delays, and to Tokyo's failure to stress the crucial necessity of the timing, her Embassy personnel did not deliver the message breaking off negotiations to Secretary Hull until several hours after the attack.

The United States had decrypted the 14th part well before the Japanese Embassy managed to, and long before the Embassy managed a fair typed copy. The final part, with its instruction for the time of delivery, prompted General George Marshall, Army Chief of Staff, to send that morning's warning message to Hawaii.^[36] There were delays because General Marshall couldn't be found (he was out for a morning horseback ride), trouble with the Army's long distance communication system, a decision not to use the Navy's parallel facilities despite an offer to permit it, and various troubles during its travels over commercial cable facilities (somehow its "urgent" marking was misplaced, adding additional hours to its travel time). It was actually delivered to General Walter Short, by a young Japanese-American cycle messenger, several hours after the attack had ended.

Japanese records, admitted into evidence during Congressional hearings on the attack after the War, establish that the Japanese government had not even written a declaration of war until hearing news of the successful attack. The two-line declaration of war was finally delivered to U.S. Ambassador Grew in Tokyo about 10 hours after the attack was over. He was allowed to transmit it to the United States where it was received late Monday afternoon (Washington time).

Approach and attack

Reconaissance and launch

During the operation, according to General Order 7, the Kido Butai was instructed to attack the enemy fleet if encountered, since war was officially declared by the Japanese government.^[37]. A commercial freighter had scouted the proposed route earlier in the year. Yamamoto and senior Navy staff intended there be three waves of attack, but Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo decided to break off after the second. There were also supporting submarines and midget submarines assigned to engage U.S. ships should they succeed in leaving the harbor. The location of the attack force remained unknown to the U.S. until after the Japanese ships were already returning to the Eastern Pacific; they were not located after the attack, in part because such searches as were organized were conducted south of Oahu despite aircraft and radar reports of the attacking force that morning. (This was partially due to direction finding mistakenly placing searchers on a reciprocal bearing.^[38]) The total number of planes involved in the attack was 350.^[39] 39 were engaged in protection of the Kido Butai during the attack.^[40]

The strike launched 200 nautical miles (370 km) north of Oahu,^[41] with orders to attack "a powerful enemy surface fleet" if one appeared.^[42]

On December 5, Yoshikawa went on his final “sightseeing” flight over Pearl Harbor in a small Piper Cub.^[43] Via the Consulate, he cabled Tokyo that there were 8 battleships,^[44] 3 light cruisers, and 16 destroyers in the harbor.^[45] Also, two Aichi E12A Type 0 float scouts (Allied codename "Jake"), one each from Tone and Chikuma (Mikuma's Cruiser Division 8) secretly scouted the Lahaina Road anchorage and Pearl Harbor^[46] for the Pacific Fleet.

First wave

The first wave of attack consisted of 49 B5Ns, 51 D3As, 40 B5Ns, and 43 A6Ms (a total of 183 aircraft), launched north of Oahu, commanded by Captain Mitsuo Fuchida. It comprised:

• 1st Group
• 50 Nakajima B5Ns armed with 800 kg (1760 lb) Armor piercing bombs, in four sections.
• 40 B5Ns armed with Type 91 torpedoes, also in four sections.
• 2nd Group - 55 Aichi D3As armed with 550 lb general purpose bombs
• 27 D3As - Hangars and aircraft on Ford Island
• 27 D3As - Hangars and aircraft on Wheeler Field
• 3rd Group - 45 A6Ms for air control and strafing, divided into three sections:
• 18 A6Ms - Ford Island and Hickam Field
• 15 A6Ms - Wheeler Field and Barbers Point
• 12 A6M - Kāneʻohe Marine Corps Air Station,^[47]

The first attack wave divided into 3 groups. One unit went to Wheeler Field. Each of the aerial waves started with the bombers and ended with the fighters to deter pursuit.

At 03.42^[48] Hawaiian Time, even before Nagumo began launching, the minesweeper USS Condor spotted a midget submarine outside the harbor entrance and alerted destroyer USS Ward. Ward carried out an unsuccessful search. The first shots fired, and the first casualties in the attack, occurred when Ward eventually attacked and sank a midget submarine, possibly the same one, at 06:37.



Five midget submarines had been assigned to torpedo U.S. ships after the bombing started. None of these returned, and only four have since been found. Of the ten sailors aboard, nine died; the only survivor, Kazuo Sakamaki, was captured, becoming the first Japanese prisoner of war.^[49] United States Naval Institute analysis of photographs from the attack, conducted in 1999, indicates one of these mini-subs entered the harbor and successfully fired a torpedo into the USS West Virginia, what may have been the first shot by the attacking Japanese. Her final disposition is unknown.^[50]

On the morning of the attack, the Army's Opana Point station (an SCR-270 radar, located near the northern tip of Oahu, which had not entered official service, having been in training mode for months), detected the first wave of Japanese planes and called in a warning. Although the operators at Opana Point reported a target echo larger than anything they had ever seen, an untrained new officer at the new and only partially activated Intercept Center, Lieutenant Kermit A. Tyler, presumed the scheduled arrival of six B-17 bombers was the cause because of the direction from which the aircraft were coming (only a few degrees separated the two inbound courses);^[51] because he presumed the operators had never seen a formation as large as the U.S. bombers' on radar;^[52] and possibly because the operators had only seen the lead element of incoming attack.

Several U.S. aircraft were shot down as the first wave approached land; one at least radioed a somewhat incoherent warning. Other warnings were still being processed, or awaiting confirmation, when the planes began bombing and strafing. It is not clear any warnings would have had much effect even had they been interpreted correctly and much more promptly. For instance, the results the Japanese achieved in the Philippines were essentially the same as at Pearl Harbor, though MacArthur had almost nine hours warning the Japanese had attacked at Pearl (and specific orders to commence operations) before they actually struck his command. The air portion of the attack on Pearl Harbor began at 7:48 a.m. December 7 Hawaiian Time (3:18 a.m. December 8 Japanese Standard Time, as used by the Kido Butai), with the attack on Kaneohe.^[53] Japanese planes attacked in two waves; a total of 353 planes reached Oʻahu. Slow, vulnerable torpedo bombers led the first wave, exploiting the first moments of surprise to attack the most important ships present (the battleships), while dive bombers attacked U.S. air bases across Oʻahu, starting with Hickam Field, the largest, and Wheeler Field, the main AAC fighter base. The 170 planes in the second wave attacked the Air Corps' Bellows Field near Kaneohe on the windward side of the island, and Ford Island. The only significant air opposition came from a handful of P-36 Hawks and P-40 Warhawks that flew 25 sorties.^[54]

Men aboard U.S. ships awoke to the sounds of bombs exploding and cries of "Away fire and rescue party" and "All hands on deck, we're being bombed" and other various calls to General Quarters. (The famous message, "Air raid Pearl Harbor. This is not drill.",^[55] was originated from the headquarters of Patrol Wing Two, the first senior comand in Hawaii to respond.) Despite the lack of preparation, which included locked ammunition lockers, aircraft parked wingtip to wingtip to prevent sabotage, and no heightened alert status, and on at least one battleship, all watertight doors open throughout the ship in preparation for an inspection, many American military personnel served with distinction during the battle. Rear Admiral Isaac C. Kidd, and Captain Franklin Van Valkenburgh, commander of USS Arizona, both rushed to the bridge to direct her defense, until both were killed by an explosion in the forward magazine from an armor piercing bomb hit next to turret two. Both were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. Ensign Joe Taussig got his ship, USS Nevada, under way from a dead cold start during the attack. One of the destroyers, USS Aylwin, got underway with only four officers aboard, all Ensigns, none with more than a year's sea duty. That ship operated at sea for four days before her commanding officer managed to get aboard. Captain Mervyn Bennion, commanding USS West Virginia (Kimmel's flagship), led his men until he was cut down by fragments from a bomb hit in USS Tennessee, moored alongside.

Gallantry was a commonplace. In all, 14 officers and sailors were awarded the Medal of Honor.^[56] A special military award, the Pearl Harbor Commemorative Medal, was later authorized for all military veterans of the attack.

Second wave composition

The second wave consisted of 54 B5Ns, 78 D3As, and 35 A6Ms (a total of 167), launched from much the same location, commanded by Lieutenant-Commander Shigekazu Shimazaki. This wave and its targets comprised:

• 1st Group - 54 B5Ns armed with 550 lb and 120 lb general purpose bombs
• 27 B5Ns - Aircraft and hangars on Kaneohe, Ford Island and Barbers Point
• 27 B5N - Hangars and aircraft on Hickam Field
• 2nd Group
• 78 D3As armed with 550 lb general purpose bombs, in four sections
• 3rd Group - 36 A6Ms for defense and strafing
• 9 A6M - Ford Island
• 9 A6M - Hickam Field
• 9 A6M - Wheeler Field
• 9 A6M - MCAS Kāneʻohe

The second wave was divided into three groups. One unit was tasked to attack Kāneʻohe, the rest Pearl Harbor proper. The separate sections arrived at the attack point almost simultaneously, from several directions.

Ninety minutes after it began, the attack was over. 2,386 Americans died (55 were civilians, most killed by unexploded American anti-aircraft shells landing in civilian areas), a further 1,139 wounded. Eighteen ships were sunk, including five battleships.^[3][4] Nearly half of the 1102 American fatalities were caused by the explosion and sinking of USS Arizona, the result of her forward magazine exploding after it was hit by a modified 40 cm (16in) shell.^[57]

Nevada attempted to exit the harbor, but was deliberately beached to avoid blocking the harbor entrance. Already damaged by a torpedo and on fire forward, Nevada was targeted by many Japanese bombers as she got underway, sustaining more hits from 250 lb (113 kg) bombs as she beached.

USS California was hit by two bombs and two torpedoes. The crew might have kept her afloat, but were ordered to abandon ship just as they were raising power for the pumps. Burning oil from Arizona and West Virginia drifted down on her, and probably made the situation look worse than it was. The disarmed target ship USS Utah was holed twice by torpedoes. USS West Virginia was hit by seven torpedoes, the seventh tearing away her rudder. USS Oklahoma was hit by four torpedoes, the last two above her belt armor, which caused her to capsize. USS Maryland was hit by two of the converted 40 cm shells, but neither caused serious damage.

Although the Japanese concentrated on battleships (the largest vessels present), they did not ignore other targets. The light cruiser USS Helena was torpedoed, and the concussion from the blast capsized the neighboring minelayer USS Oglala. Two destroyers in dry dock were destroyed when bombs penetrated their fuel bunkers. The leaking fuel caught fire; flooding the dry dock in an effort to fight fire made the burning oil rise, and so the ships were burned out. The light cruiser USS Raleigh was holed by a torpedo. The light cruiser USS Honolulu was damaged but remained in service. The destroyer USS Cassin capsized, and destroyer USS Downes was heavily damaged. The repair vessel USS Vestal, moored alongside Arizona, was heavily damaged and beached. The seaplane tender USS Curtiss was also damaged. USS Shaw was badly damaged when two bombs penetrated her forward magazine.^[58]



Almost all of the 188 American aircraft in Hawaii were destroyed or damaged, 155 of those on the ground. Almost none were actually ready to take off to defend the base, having been parked wingtip to wingtip as a sabotage protection measure. Of 33 PBYs in Hawaii, 24 were destroyed, and six others damaged beyond repair. (The three on patrol returned undamaged.) Attacks on barracks killed additional personnel. Friendly fire brought down several U.S. planes, including at least one inbound from USS Enterprise.

Fifty-five Japanese airmen and nine submariners were killed in the action. Of Japan's 387^[59] available planes (350 took part in the attack), 29 were lost during the battle (nine in the first attack wave, 20 in the second),^[60] with another 74 damaged by antiaircraft fire from the ground.

Possible third wave

Several Japanese junior officers, including Fuchida and Genda, urged Admiral Nagumo to carry out a third strike in order to destroy as much of Pearl Harbor's fuel storage, maintenance, and dry dock facilities as possible.^[61] Some military historians have suggested the destruction of these oil tanks and repair facilities would have crippled the U.S. Pacific Fleet far more seriously than did loss of its battleships. If these vital facilities had been wiped out, "serious [American] operations in the Pacific would have been postponed for more than a year."^[62] Nagumo, however, decided to forgo a third attack in favor of withdrawal for several reasons:

• American anti-aircraft performance had improved considerably during the second strike, and two-thirds of Japan's losses were incurred during the second wave (20 out of 29 lost planes).^[63] Nagumo felt if he launched a third strike, he would be risking three-quarters of the Combined Fleet's strength to wipe out the remaining targets (which included the port facilities) while suffering higher aircraft losses.^[64]
• The location of the American carriers remained unknown to Nagumo. In addition, the Admiral was concerned his force was now within range of American land-based bombers.^[65] Nagumo was uncertain whether the U.S. had enough surviving planes remaining on Hawaii to launch an attack against Japan's carriers.^[66]
• A third wave attack would have required substantial preparation and turn-around time, and would have meant returning planes would have faced night landings. At the time, no Navy had developed night carrier techniques, so this was a substantial risk.
• The task force's fuel situation did not permit him to remain in waters north of Pearl Harbor much longer since he was at the very limits of logistical support. To do so risked running unacceptably low on fuel, perhaps even having to abandon destroyers en route home.^[67]
• He believed the second strike had essentially satisfied the main objective of his mission—the neutralization of the Pacific Fleet—and did not wish to risk further losses.^[68]

At a conference aboard Yamato the following morning, Yamamoto initially supported Nagumo's decision to withdraw.^[69] In retrospect, however, Nagumo's decision to spare the vital dockyards, maintenance shops, and oil depots meant the U.S. could respond relatively quickly to Japanese activities in the Pacific. Yamamoto later regretted Nagumo's decision and categorically stated it had been a great mistake not to order a third strike.^[70]

Aftermath

American response

On December 8, 1941, Roosevelt addressed a joint session of Congress, calling December 7, 1941 "a date which will live in infamy". Amid outrage at the attack and the late delivery of the note breaking off relations, actions considered treacherous, Congress declared war on Japan with Jeannette Rankin (Republican of Montana) casting the only dissenting vote. Roosevelt signed the declaration the same day. Continuing to intensify its military mobilization, the U.S. government finished converting to a war economy, a process begun by provision of weapons to the Soviet Union and Great Britain.

The Pearl Harbor attack immediately galvanized a divided nation into action. Public opinion had been moving towards support for entering the war during 1941, but considerable opposition remained until the Pearl Harbor attack. Overnight, Americans united against Japan, and probably made possible the unconditional surrender position later taken by the Allied Powers. Some historians believe the attack on Pearl Harbor doomed Japan to defeat simply because it awakened the "sleeping beast", regardless of whether the fuel depots or machine shops had been destroyed or even if the carriers had been caught in port and sunk. U.S. industrial and military capacity, once mobilized, was able to pour overwhelming resources into both the Pacific and Atlantic theaters. Others believe Japanese trade protection was so incompetent, U.S. submarines could have strangled Japan into defeat alone.

Perceptions of treachery in the attack before a declaration of war sparked fears of sabotage or espionage by Japanese sympathizers residing in the U.S., including citizens of Japanese descent and was a factor in the subsequent Japanese internment in the western United States. Other factors included misrepresentations of intelligence information (none) suggesting sabotage, notably by General John DeWitt, commanding Coast Defense on the Pacific Coast, who had personal feelings against Japanese Americans.^[71] In February 1942, Roosevelt signed United States Executive Order 9066, requiring all Japanese Americans to submit themselves for an internment.

Germany declares war

Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy declared war on the United States on December 11, allowing the US to formally enter the war in Europe. Hitler and Mussolini were under no obligation to declare war under the mutual defense terms of the Tripartite Pact. However, relations between the European Axis Powers and the United States had deteriorated since 1937. Earlier in 1941, the Nazis learned of the U.S. military's contingency planning to get troops in Continental Europe by 1943; this was Rainbow Five, made public by sources unsympathetic to Roosevelt's New Deal, and published by the Chicago Tribune. Hitler decided war with the United States was unavoidable, and the Pearl Harbor attack, the publication of Rainbow Five, and Roosevelt's post-Pearl Harbor address, which focused on European affairs as well as the situation with Japan, probably contributed to the declaration. Hitler underestimated American military production capacity, the nation's ability to fight on two fronts, and the time his own Operation BARBAROSSA would require. Similarly, the Nazis may have hoped the declaration of war, a showing of solidarity with Japan, would result in closer collaboration with the Japanese in Eurasia, particularly against the Soviet Union. Regardless of Hitler's reasons, the decision was an enormous strategic blunder and allowed the United States to enter the European war in support of the United Kingdom and the Allies without much public opposition.

Hitler awarded Imperial Japanese ambassador to Nazi Germany Hiroshi Oshima the Grand Cross of the Order of the German Eagle in Gold (1st class) after the attack, praising Japan for striking hard and without first declaring war.^[72]

Logistical and strategic analysis

The attack on Pearl Harbor failed to sight or destroy any of the Pacific Fleet's aircraft carriers that, alongside any present battleships, were the primary targets of Japanese attack plans.^[73] At the time of the Japanese attack, the United States was itself preparing for hostile Japanese action directed at US interests closer to Japan such as the Philippines or Allied bases in Borneo.^[29] The carriers Lexington and Enterprise were ferrying additional fighters to American bases on the islands of Wake and Midway.^[75] The attack resulted in the permanent loss of Arizona and Oklahoma, and removed several other battleships (including Nevada, West Virginia, and California) from the order of battle for months. However, all of these were older designs, too slow to serve as escorts for the carrier task forces which became central to the Pacific War, in any case. The most immediate consequences of the attack were the destruction of over 155 aircraft and shock to American pride.

Genda's plan and Nagumo's execution, left the shore installations at Pearl Harbor almost untouched, excluding aircraft hangars. The Arizona was sunk and beyond repair. Its hull underlies the Arizona Memorial. The Oklahoma capsized, was raised, stripper of guns and superstructure, sold for scrap and sunk under tow to San Francisco Bay in 1947. These were the only battleships lost that day. California, Tennessee, West Virginia, Maryland, Nevada, and Pennsylvania were repaired and would later exact some revenge on Japanese battleships during the Battle of Surigao Strait. Cruisers, essential to carrier task forces later in the war, were considered tertiary targets and three suffered damage. Of 27 destroyers present, only two were lost: Cassin, and Downes. (Even so, machinery, stores, and weapons were salvaged from all ships written off.) Tank farms, containing 140 million gallons (530 million liters) of bunker oil, were unscathed providing a ready source of fuel for American submarines at the submarine base. Critical to the initial phase of the War and to commerce raiding throughout, these facilities would later illustrate the folly in Japanese planning. The Navy Yard, critical to ship maintenance, and repair of ships damaged in the attack was undamaged. The engineering and initial repair shops, as well as the torpedo store, were intact. Other items of base infrastructure and operation such as the power station continued to operate. Also most critical, the cryptanalysis unit, HYPO, located in the basement of the old Administration Building, was undamaged and benefited by gaining staff from unemployed ship's bands.^[76]

The Army Air Force's loss of aircraft must be balanced against the fact its P-40s were obsolete (already scheduled for replacement by the P-38) and P-36. Japan might have achieved a good deal more with not much additional effort or loss.^[77]

Nagumo's hesitation, and failure to find and destroy the American carriers, may have been a product of his lack of faith in the attack plan, and of the fact he was a gunnery officer, not an aviator. In addition, Yamamoto's targeting priorities, placing battleships first in importance, reflected an out-of-date Mahanian doctrine, and an inability to extrapolate from history, given the damage German submarines did to British trade in World War I. In the end, Japan achieved surprisingly little for all her daring and apparent success.^[78]

The politics of a "Europe First" strategy, loss of air cover over Pearl Harbor, and subsequent loss of the Philippines, meant the U.S. Navy and Army Air Force were unable to play a significant role in the Pacific War for several months. Japan was temporarily free of worries about the rival Pacific naval power, which was at least part of what had been intended for the attack. Japan conquered Southeast Asia, the Southwest Pacific, and extended her reach far into the Indian Ocean, without interference.

In retrospect, the attack was a strategic disaster for Japan. It spurred the United States into a determination to fight to complete victory. The War resulted in the destruction of the Japanese armed forces, the Occupation of the Home Islands (a state never before achieved in Japan's history), and the loss of Okinawa and the Ryukyu Islands to the United States until 1972, while the Soviet Russian re-annexation of the Kurile islands and Sakhalin Island's southern part, and China's seizure of Formosa [Taiwan], and the loss of Korea have not been reversed to this day.

Investigations and blame

President Roosevelt appointed an investigating commission, headed by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Owen Roberts to report facts and findings with respect to the attack on Pearl Harbor. It was the first of many official investigations (nine in all). Both the Fleet commander, Rear Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, and the Army commander, Lieutenant General Walter Short (the Army had been responsible for air defense of Hawaii, including Pearl Harbor, and for general defense of the islands against hostile attack), were relieved of their commands shortly thereafter. They were accused of "dereliction of duty" by the Roberts Commission for not making reasonable defensive preparations. None of the investigations conducted during the War, nor the Congressional investigation afterward, provided enough reason to reverse those actions. The decisions of the Navy and War Departments to relieve both was controversial at the time and has remained so. However, neither was court-martialed as would normally have been the result of dereliction of duty. On May 25, 1999, the U.S. Senate voted to recommend both officers be exonerated on all charges, citing "denial to Hawaii commanders of vital intelligence available in Washington".

Japanese views

Although the Imperial Japanese government had made some effort to prepare their population for war via anti-U.S. propaganda, it appears most Japanese were surprised, apprehensive, and dismayed by the news they were now at war with the U.S., a country many Japanese admired. Nevertheless, the people at home and overseas thereafter generally accepted their government's account of the attack and supported the war effort until their nation's surrender in 1945.^[80]

Japan's national leadership at the time appeared to have believed war between the U.S. and Japan had long been inevitable. In any case, Japanese-American relationships had already significantly deteriorated since Japan's invasion of China beginning in the early '30s, of which the United States strongly disapproved. In 1942, Saburo Kurusu, former Japanese ambassador to the United States, gave an address in which he talked about the "historical inevitability of the war of Greater East Asia."^[81] He said war had been a response to Washington's longstanding aggression toward Japan. For example, provocations against Japan included the San Francisco School incident, (the United States' racist policies on Japanese immigrants), Naval Limitations Treaty, other Unequal treaties, the Nine Power Pact, constant economic pressure against Japan, culminating in the "belligerent" scrap metal and oil embargo in 1941 by the United States and Allied countries to contain and/or reverse the actions of the Empire of Japan especially in IndoChina during her expansion of influence and interests throughout Asia. In light of Japan's dependence on imported oil, the trade embargoes were especially significant. These pressures directly influenced Japan to go into alliance with Germany and Italy through the Tripartite Pact. According to Kurusu, because of these reasons, the Allies had already provoked war with Japan long before the attack at Pearl Harbor, and the United States was already preparing for war with Japan. Kurusu also states the United States was also looking for world domination, beyond just Asia, with "sinister designs" ^[82]. Some of this view seems to have been shared by Adolf Hitler, when he called it one of the reasons Germany declared war on the United States. He also had mentioned European imperialism toward Japan many years before. Therefore, according to Kurusu, Japan had no choice but to defend herself and so should rapidly continue to militarize, bring Germany and Italy closer as allies and militarily combat the United States, Britain, and the Netherlands.

Japan's leaders also saw herself as justified in her conduct, believing that they are building the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. They also explained Japan had done everything possible to alleviate tension between the two nations. The decision to attack, at least for public presentation, was reluctant and forced on Japan. Of the Pearl Harbor attack itself, Kurusu said it came in direct response to a virtual ultimatum from the U.S. government, the Hull note, and so the surprise attack was not treacherous. Since the Japanese-American relationship already had hit its lowest point, there was no alternative; in any case, had an acceptable settlement of differences been reached, the Carrier Striking Task Force could have been called back.

Perception of the attack today

Some Japanese today feel they were compelled to fight because of threats to their national interests and an embargo imposed by the United States, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. The most important embargo was on oil on which its Navy and much of the economy was dependent.^[83] For example, the Japan Times, an English-language newspaper owned by one of the major news organizations in Japan (Asahi Shimbun), ran numerous columns in the early 2000s echoing Kurusu's comments in reference to the Pearl Harbor attack.^[84]

In putting the Pearl Harbor attack into context, Japanese writers repeatedly contrast the thousands of U.S. servicemen killed there with the hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians killed in U.S. air attacks later in the War,^[85] even without mentioning the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States.

However, in spite of the perceived inevitability of the war by many Japanese, many also believe the Pearl Harbor attack, although a tactical victory, was actually part of a seriously flawed strategy for engaging in war with the U.S. As one columnist eulogizes, "The Pearl Harbor attack was a brilliant tactic, but part of a strategy based on the belief that a spirit as firm as iron and as beautiful as cherry blossoms could overcome the materially wealthy United States. That strategy was flawed, and Japan's total defeat would follow."^[86] In 1991, the Japanese Foreign Ministry released a statement saying Japan had intended to make a formal declaration of war to the United States at 1 p.m. Washington time, 25 minutes before the attack at Pearl Harbor was scheduled to begin. This officially acknowledged something that had been publicly known for years. Diplomatic communications had been coordinated well in advance with the attack, but had failed delivery at the intended time. It appears the Japanese government was referring to the "14-part message", which did not actually break off negotiations, let alone declare war, but did officially raise the possibility of a break in relations. However, because of various delays, the Japanese ambassador was unable to make the declaration until well after the attack had begun.

Imperial Japanese military leaders appear to have had mixed feelings about the attack. Fleet Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto was unhappy about the botched timing of the breaking off of negotiations. He is rumored to have said, "I fear all we have done is awakened a sleeping giant and filled him with terrible resolve". Even though this quote is unsubstantiated, the phrase seems to describe his feelings about the situation. He is on record as having said, in the previous year, that "I can run wild for six months ... after that, I have no expectation of success."^[87]

The first Prime Minister of Japan during World War II, Hideki Tojo later wrote, "When reflecting upon it today, that the Pearl Harbor attack should have succeeded in achieving surprise seems a blessing from Heaven."

Yamamoto had said, regarding the imminent war with the United States, "Should hostilities once break out between Japan and the United States, it is not enough that we take Guam and the Philippines, nor even Hawaii and San Francisco. We would have to march into Washington and sign the treaty in the White House. I wonder if our politicians (who speak so lightly of a Japanese-American war) have confidence as to the outcome and are prepared to make the necessary sacrifices?" ^[88]

Impact

A common view is that the Japanese fell victim to victory disease because of the perceived ease of their first victories. It has also been stated by the Japanese military commanders and politicians who visited and lived in the United States, that their leadership (mostly military personnel) took the war with the United States relatively lightly, compared to them. For instance, Yamamoto's quote and Battle of Iwo Jima commander Tadamichi Kuribayashi's opinions expressed the views and concerns about the greater industrial power of the United States in comparison to Japan.

Despite the perception of this battle as a devastating blow to America, only three ships were permanently lost to the U.S. Navy. These were the battleships Arizona, Oklahoma, and the old battleship Utah (then used as a target ship); nevertheless, much usable material was salvaged from them, including the two aft main turrets from Arizona. Heavy casualties resulted from Arizona’s magazine exploding and the Oklahoma capsizing. Four ships sunk during the attack were later raised and returned to duty, including the battleships California, West Virginia and Nevada. California and West Virginia had an effective torpedo-defense system which held up remarkably well, despite the weight of fire they had to endure, resulting in most of their crews being saved. Many of the surviving battleships were heavily refitted, including the replacement of their outdated secondary battery of anti-surface 5 inch (127 mm) guns with more useful turreted dual-purpose (antiaircraft and antiship) guns, allowing them to better cope with the new tactical reality.^[89] Addition of modern radar to the salavaged vessels would give them a marked qualitative advantage over those of the IJN, and the slow battleships (incapable of operating with carrier task forces, unlike the Iowas) would prove useful delivering pre-invasion bombardment for the island hopping offensive against the Japanese in the pacific. Destroyers Cassin and Downes were total losses as ships, but their machinery was salvaged and fitted into new hulls, retaining their original names, while Shaw was raised and returned to service.

Of the 22 Japanese ships that took part in the attack, only one survived the war. As of 2006, the only U.S. ships in Pearl Harbor during the attack still remaining afloat are the Coast Guard Cutter Taney and the yard tug USS Hoga. Both remained active over 50 years after the attack and have been designated museum ships.

In the long term, the attack on Pearl Harbor was a strategic blunder for Japan. Indeed, Admiral Yamamoto, who conceived it, predicted that even success here could not win a war with the United States, because American productive capacity was too large. One of the main Japanese objectives was to destroy the three American aircraft carriers stationed in the Pacific, but they were not present: Enterprise was returning from Wake, Lexington from Midway, and Saratoga was under refit at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. Putting most of the U.S. battleships out of commission was regarded—in both navies and by most military observers worldwide—as a tremendous success for Japan.

Though the attack was notable for its large-scale destruction, the attack was not significant in terms of American fuel storage, maintenance and intelligence capabilities. Had Japan destroyed the American carriers, the U.S. would have sustained significant damage to the Pacific Fleet's ability to conduct offensive operations for a year or so (given no further diversions from the Atlantic Fleet). As it was, the elimination of the battleships left the U.S. Navy with no choice but to place its faith in aircraft carriers and submarines—the very weapons with which the U.S. Navy halted and eventually reversed the Japanese advance. A major flaw of Japanese strategic thinking was a belief the ultimate Pacific battle would be between battleships of both sides, in keeping with the doctrine of Captain Alfred Mahan. As a result, Yamamoto (and his successors) hoarded his battleships for a "decisive battle" that never happened.

Ultimately, targets not on Genda's list, such as the Submarine Base and the old Headquarters Building, were more important than any battleship. It was submarines that immobilized IJN's heavy ships and brought Japan's economy to a standstill by crippling transportation of oil and raw materials. And in the basement of the old Administration Building was the cryptanalytic unit, HYPO, which contributed significantly to the Midway ambush and the Submarine Force's success.

Rise of anti-Japanese sentiment

Main article: Anti-Japanese sentiment

The attack on Pearl Harbor coupled with Japanese alliance with the Nazis and the ensuing war in the Pacific fueled anti-Japanese sentiment, racism, and xenophobia. Japanese, Japanese-Americans and Asians having a similar physical appearance were regarded with deep seated suspicion, distrust and hostility. The attack was viewed as having been conducted in an extremely underhanded way and also as a very "treacherous" or "sneaky attack."

Media

Historical significance

The attack had history-altering consequences. Prime Minister Winston Churchill, on hearing of the attack, wrote, "Being saturated and satiated with emotion and sensation, I went to bed and slept the sleep of the saved and thankful."^[90] By opening the Pacific War, which ended in the unconditional surrender of Japan, it broke the power of an Asian check on Soviet expansion. The Allied victory in this war and subsequent U.S. emergence as a dominant world power, eclipsing Britain, have shaped international politics ever since.

Moreover, Japan had complained since the Versailles Treaty of being treated as "second class" due to race. After WW2, and the example of the Holocaust, racism was far less acceptable; Japan in defeat had achieved what she could not in victory.



Pearl Harbor is generally regarded as an extraordinary event in American history, remembered as the first time since the War of 1812 America was attacked on its home soil by another country. While this assertion is technically erroneous, as Hawaii was not a state at the time, it was widely regarded as "home soil". It has become synonymous with "surprise attack" ever since in the U.S. Unfortunately, the mistakes of intelligence collection, sharing, and analysis leading to the Japanese success at Pearl Harbor did not, in the end, lead to lessons.^[91]

See also

• Attacks on North America during World War II
• Day of Deceit: The Truth about FDR and Pearl Harbor
• List of United States Navy losses in World War II
• Pearl Harbor
• Pearl Harbor advance-knowledge debate
• Pearl Harbor Survivors Association
• USS Arizona Memorial
• Tora! Tora! Tora!

References