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Attack on Pearl Harbor

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Attack on Pearl Harbor
Part of the Pacific Theater of World War II

Photograph from a Japanese aircraft of the Pearl Harbor area including Battleship Row at the beginning of the attack.
Date December 7, 1941
Location Primarily Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, USA
Result Clear Japanese tactical victory, strategic and grand strategic failure;
Empire of Japan declares war on the United States and the British Empire; United States declares war on the Empire of Japan; Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy declare war on the United States, which enters World War II on the side of Allies.
Belligerents
Flag of the United States United States Flag of the Empire of Japan Empire of Japan
Commanders
Navy:
Flag of the United States Husband Kimmel
Army:
Flag of the United States Walter Short
Navy:
Flag of the Empire of Japan Chuichi Nagumo
Strength
8 battleships,
8 cruisers,
29 destroyers,
9 submarines,
~50 other ships,
~390 aircraft
Mobile Unit:
6 aircraft carriers,
9 destroyers,
2 battleships,
2 heavy cruisers,
1 light cruiser,
8 tankers,
23 fleet submarines,
5 midget submarines,
414 aircraft
Casualties and losses
5 battleships sunk,
2 destroyers sunk, 1 damaged
1 other ship sunk, 3 damaged
3 battleships damaged,
3 cruisers damaged
[1]
188 aircraft destroyed, 155 aircraft damaged,
2,345 military and 57 civilians killed,
1,247 military and 35 civilians wounded[2][3]
4 midget submarines sunk,
1 midget submarine run aground,
29 aircraft destroyed,
55 airmen, 9 submariners killed and 1 captured

The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise attack against the United States' naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii by the Japanese navy, on the morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941, resulting in the United States becoming involved in World War II. It was intended as a preventive action to remove the US Pacific Fleet as a factor in the war Japan was about to wage against Britain, the Netherlands, and the United States. Two aerial attack waves, totaling 353[4] aircraft, launched from six Japanese aircraft carriers, intending to reduce or eliminate United States' military power in the Pacific.

The attack wrecked two U.S. Navy battleships, one minelayer, and two destroyers beyond repair, and destroyed 188 aircraft; personnel losses were 2,388 killed and 1,178 wounded. Damaged warships included three cruisers, a destroyer, and six battleships (one deliberately grounded, later refloated and repaired; two sunk at their berths, later raised, repaired, and eventually restored to Fleet service). Vital fuel storage, shipyard, maintenance, and headquarters facilities were not hit. Japanese losses were minimal, at 29 aircraft and five midget submarines, with 65 servicemen killed or wounded.

The intent of the strike 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 U.S. and Japan had long-standing contingency plans for war in the Pacific, continuously updated as tension between the two countries steadily increased during the 1930s. Japan's expansion into Manchuria and French Indochina were greeted with steadily increasing levels of embargoes and sanctions by the United States and others. In 1940, under the Export Control Act, the U.S. halted shipments of airplanes, parts, machine tools, and aviation gasoline, which Japan saw as an unfriendly act.[5] Nevertheless, the U.S. continued to export oil to Japan, in part because it was understood in Washington cutting off oil exports would be an extreme step, given Japanese dependence on U.S. oil exports,[6][7] likely to be taken as a provocation by Japan. In the summer of 1941, after Japanese expansion into French Indochina, the U.S. ceased oil exports to Japan, in part because of new American restrictions on domestic oil consumption.[8] President Franklin D. Roosevelt had earlier moved the Pacific Fleet to Hawaii and ordered a buildup in the Philippines, hoping to deter Japanese aggression in the Far East. The Japanese high command was (mistakenly)[9] certain an attack on the United Kingdom's colonies would bring the U.S. into the war,[9] so a preventive strike appeared to be the only way[9] Japan could avoid U.S. interference in the Pacific.[10] While it accomplished the intended objective, unbeknownst to Isoroku Yamamoto, who planned the attack and commanded the attacking force, the attack was pointless. The U.S. Navy in 1935 had abandoned any intention of attempting to charge across the Pacific towards the Philippines at the outset of war (in keeping with the evolution of War Plan Orange), and in 1940 adopted "Plan Dog", which emphasized keeping the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) out of the eastern Pacific and away from the shipping lanes to Australia, while the U.S. concentrated on defeating Nazi Germany.

The attack was one of the most important engagements of World War II. Occurring as it did before a formal declaration of war, it pushed U.S. public opinion from isolationism to an acceptance war was unavoidable, as Roosevelt called December 7, 1941 "... a date which will live in infamy."


Background to conflict

Image:Pearl Harbor 30 Oct 1941.jpg
Pearl Harbor on 30 October 1941.

War between Japan and the United States had been a possibility each nation had been aware of (and developed contingency plans for) since the 1920s, though tension did not begin to grow serious until Japan's 1931 invasion of Manchuria. Over the next decade, Japan continued to expand into China leading to all out war between the two in 1937. In 1940, Japan invaded French Indochina, partly in an effort to control supplies reaching China, and partly as a first step to improve her access to resources in Southeast Asia. This move prompted an American embargo on oil exports to Japan, which in turn caused the Japanese to decide to commence the planned takeover of oil supplies in the Dutch East Indies.[11]

Preliminary planning for an attack at Pearl Harbor, to protect this move into the "Southern Resource Area" (the Japanese term for the East Indies and Southeast Asia generally), had begun in very early 1941, under the auspices of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, then commanding Japan's Combined Fleet.[12] He won assent to formal planning and training for an attack from the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff only after much contention with Naval Headquarters, including a threat to resign his command.[13] Full-scale planning was underway by early spring 1941, primarily by Captain Minoru Genda. Over the next several months, pilots trained, equipment was adapted, and intelligence gathered. Despite these preparations, the actual approval of the attack plan was not issued by Emperor Shōwa until 5 November, after the third of four Imperial Conferences which considered the matter.[14] Final authorization to attack was not given by him until December 1, after a majority of Japanese leaders had advised him that the "Hull Note" would "destroy the fruits of the China incident, endangered Manchukuo and undermined control of Korea."[15] Hostilities between the U.S. and Japan were expected by many observers, including President Roosevelt, who read a decrypted Japanese message and told his assistant Harry Hopkins, "This means war."[16]

Approach and attack

See also: Attack on Pearl Harbor order of battle
Route followed by the Japanese fleet to Pearl Harbor and back
Route followed by the Japanese fleet to Pearl Harbor and back

At 03:42[17] Hawaiian Time, hours before commanding Admiral Chuichi Nagumo began launching strike aircraft, the minesweeper USS Condor spotted a midget submarine outside the harbor entrance and alerted destroyer USS Ward. Ward was initially unsuccessful in locating the target. Hours later, Ward fired America's first shots in the Pacific theater of WWII when she attacked and sank a midget submarine, perhaps 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.[18] 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.[19]

First wave

Image:Pearlmap1.png
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.
Top:
A. Ford Island NAS B. Hickam Field C. Bellows Field D. Wheeler Field
E. Kaneohe NAS F. Ewa MCAS R-1. Opana Radar Station R-2. Kawailoa RS R-3. Kaaawa RS
G. Haleiwa H. Kahuku I. Wahiawa J. Kaneohe K. Honolulu
0. B-17s from mainland 1. First strike group 1-1. Level bombers 1-2. Torpedo bombers 1-3. Dive bombers 2. Second strike group 2-1. Level bombers 2-1F. Fighters 2-2. Dive bombers
Bottom:
A. Wake Island B. Midway Islands C. Johnston Island D. Hawaii
D-1. Oʻahu1. USS Lexington 2. USS Enterprise 3. First Air Fleet
Image:Pearlmap2.png
Image:Phdepth.png Targets:
1: USS California
2: USS Maryland
3: USS Oklahoma
4: USS Tennessee
5: USS West Virginia
6: USS Arizona
7: USS Nevada
8: USS Pennsylvania
9: Ford Island NAS
10: Hickam field
Ignored:
A: Oil storage tanks
B:CINCPAC headquarters building
C: Submarine base
D: Navy Yard

The first attack wave launched north of Oʻahu, commanded by Captain Mitsuo Fuchida. It included:[20]