Pearl Harbor

A tragic event in U.S. and global history occurred on December 7^th, 1941. This day led to America’s involvement in World War II and is possibly the reason why the “Axis of Evil” lost the war. After the United States increased their support to China for their war against Japan along with increasing military presence, the Japanese viewed this as an act of war and responded with the bombing of the naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

The attack was carried out by Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. Japan wanted to go to war with the U.S., but the fleet positioned at Pearl Harbor posted a large threat. He decided to make a surprise attack on the island using aircraft carriers and planes at a huge scale. The Japanese fleet included six large aircraft carriers, 24 smaller warships, and submarines to sink American ships. The Japanese left for Hawaii on November 26 avoiding the normal route ships take to keep in secrecy.

At 6 am the first wave of 181 planes took off to Pearl Harbor. The U.S. got a few signs that something wasn’t right. First, there was a spotting of an enemy submarine near the entrance of Pearl Harbor which was reported attacked and destroyed and not much attention directed to it. The second spotting was that of the wave of planes, but the naval base was expecting some of their own planes to arrive that morning so it was also ignored.

The attack started almost simultaneously targeting both the naval force and the air force. The Japanese wanted to destroy all the planes before they could even take off. They destroyed most of their targeted battleships and the explosion of the USS Arizona alone killed 1,177 soldiers. The second wave of 170 Japanese planes was sent to finish of the American forces. The attack ended two hours after it began, but the destruction Pearl Harbor faced was of huge proportions. Twenty one ships where sunk or damaged, 188 planes were destroyed and another 159 damaged, and the number of Americans who died was 2,403 with another 1,178 injured.

The loss of the Japanese fleet was much smaller. Only 29 airplanes didn’t return to their carriers, and several of these weren’t shot down, but where instead kamikazes meaning they would crash into the ships on purpose to inflict even more damage. The attack was of great success to the Japanese, but they failed to destroy any aircraft carriers which had been sent off by luck, and the facilities of the Naval Base which later on where important in finishing off the Axis. The attack also succeeded in uniting America, and all doubts of going to war where eliminated. The Japanese won the battle, but they didn’t win the war.

Source:

Naval Historical Center. The Pearl Harbor Attack, 7 December 1941http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq66-1.htm, 1/31/2008