Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor is a harbor in Oahu, Hawaii.  In 1941, many of the USA’s planes and ships where located in this one harbor.  The Japanese planned to wipe out the whole harbor in one surprise attack that would bring the United States into the Second World War.

The Japanese started their mission on November 11, 1941 from the east coast of Japan.  There were three squadrons and a special attack force.  The Japanese used level bombers, bombers, dive-bombers, and fighters.  As the Japanese moved forward, a Japanese midget sub was sunk by an American USS Ward at 6:30 A.M.  This was the first warning that the Japanese were near.  The second warning came at 7:02 A.M.  Two army radar operators found a large group of airplanes coming in.  The two took action and called an officer at Fort Shafter.  The officer believed that it was just a group of B-17’s coming in from California, but they soon found out it wasn’t.

On December 7, 1941 at 7:55 A.M. Mitsuo Fuchida led 185 planes on the first wave to Oahu.  At 8:54 Shigekazu Shimazkai led the second wave, 170 planes, for a total of 355 planes.  The main areas that the Japanese were aiming on Oahu were Pearl Harbor, Kaneohe, Bellows, Hickam, and Wheeler.  The level bombers would drop their torpedoes at about 500 yards away from the boat, and then the torpedoes would dive to 33 feet and then rise to about 10 or 20 feet.  The torpedo would hit the bottom of the ship which was about 45 feet deep under water.

In the end, the USA lost 165 planes, 2,403 men and women, and 1,178 were wounded.  The Japanese lost 29 aircrafts, 6 subs, and 185 men were killed.  Then again the Japanese had more than double the amount of Pacific boats in 1941, and the USA still won the war.