“Rat tat tat tat” The sound of machine gun fire was was pounding in my head and was defeating. I couldn’t believe it. Had the Allied and the Axis gone to the war? What was happening? I ran from the rising sun of the Japanese fighter planes. Is Pearl Harbor being attacked? But I thought we were still at peace with the Japanese. These questions raced through my head… “Boom!” The USS Arizona exploded. NOO!! Father was on that ship. But more importantly, I needed to help the injured. I saw an old man being shot at. I ran to go help him, but… “BAM” I heard a tremendous boom, and then I heard nothing at all.
The Powers To understand what happened on the day that will live in infamy, we have to understand the masterminds behind the attacks on
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This was a row of major U.S. Ships. These were the Nevada, Arizona, Tennessee, Maryland, West Virginia, Oklahoma, and California. Although these were the main targets, many others were destroyed. At a little before 8 a.m., Hawaiians would see an ominous sight, but to understand, we have to travel back in time. A few months before, a Japanese fleet had set out, bent on destroying Pearl Harbor. This attack was unlike any other because usually battles were carrier to carrier, but this attack was aircraft to carrier, a strategy never tried before. The first wave was catastrophic. The U.S. Navy was not expecting an attack from Japan because we gas not actively been actively participating in the war. But we were dead wrong. In the month before the attack, 6 Japanese aircraft carriers sent off, ready to cripple the Pacific Fleet. These carriers were trying out a new strategy which caused the Mexicans to be very unprepared. Japanese aircraft were ferociously picking off men 1 by 1. I am now realizing that this must have been a catastrophe for the pacific warfare. We are expecting enemy force soon battle with carriers out at sea, not coming inland with aircraft Also, the U.S. was probably not expecting the Japanese to attack Pearl Harbor. This is important because this was a key …show more content…
He lived for several years in America and he knew they could not beat the U.S. in a full on battle. But, he had a plan. Instead of the traditional carrier to carrier, he thought he they could win using a surprise aircraft attack. He also thought of a way to destroy enemy hulls. What they would do is aircraft would drop torpedoes. Torpedoes air like boys but they have a propeller on the back and would travel in the water and destroy enemy hulls. All in all, the attack on Pearl Harbor was quite ingenious.
December 7, 1941: Attacks on Pearl Harbor: Around November 25, the US intercepted a message of an imminent attack on US soil. In addition, Japan started to move its navy towards Hawaii. Washington’s response to this was a warning to Hawaii, indicating the anticipated attack. However, on December 7, 1941, a fleet on Japanese bombers approached Pearl Harbor with the intent to bomb the navy port. US navy ships were left defenseless as the Japanese torpedoes starting to sink them. Within two hours, US lost eight battleships, two cruisers, and more than a hundred planes. About two thousand soldiers died and one thousand were injured. As a result of this attack, President Roosevelt addressed the Congress, asking for the declaration of war. On
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was not quite as random as people may think, they didn't just attack us without reason. They saw our acts of helping the moving of cargo for allied ships as us helping the allies, and Pearl Harbor was their retaliation.
As Harry Albright once said, “Underlying every successful naval or military operation there must be a plan,” and after accessing the damage, President Roosevelt would recuperate and strike back. In terms of destruction and fatality, 2300 American servicemen died and 68 civilians perished as well in the attack. Many of the vessels docked in Pearl Harbor were lost or destroyed, 18 of them, and 188 aircraft was damaged (Richardson). The Japanese decided the attack “would come in two waves one hour apart. First target priority would be the large American aircraft carriers, then the battleships and the cruisers,” (Albright p.51).
Pearl harbor at 6:30 a.m. on December 7, 1941 six Japanese carriers launched its first wave of attack which consisted of one hundred and eighty-one different kinds of planes such as torpedo bombers, dive bombers, horizontal bombers, and fighters; as it was an unexpected attack in the hours before dawn U.S. Navy Vessels spotted an unidentified submarine near the entrance to pearl harbor. That very same submarine was attacked and reported as sunk by the navy destroyer U.S.S. Ward. One of the United States patrol plane's reported to an operator at the Army Radar Station at Opama. The pilot said "the first wave of attack is on it's way". The officer in charge did not act upon the pilot's information reason being of vague information. The officer took caution in making any judgments on what to do so he put the entire military base on standby. According to the radar sightings the planes were passed off as American Planes due for landing at Pearl Harbor Military Base. The purpose of the wave of attack was to destroy our aircrafts so they would not rise and intercept their fighters and bombers, also twenty-one ships of the U.S. Pacific Fleet was sunk or damaged.
fleet there was the only one that could stand up to the Japanese in the pacific at that time so by attacking it the U.S. would be crippled in the pacific making Japans next actions met with a lot less immediate resistance. On December 2nd, 1941 the final go ahead was called in so the Japanese fleet sailed in total radio silence across the North Pacific. Although the attack was seen as a success, there were a lot of dry docks and oil storage tanks that were unharmed so most of the ships were fixable. Oklahoma and Arizona were the battle ships in “Battleship Row” that could not be salvaged.
It was just an ordinary, lazy, Sunday morning to the thousands of military personnel at the Pearl Harbor Naval Station. Then, the unthinkable happened. Over the loud-speaker a call came to warn the people about the impending attack that was about to take place only a few short minutes away. They were unprepared for what was about to happened. Within minutes, the Japanese planes flew over bombing the Naval station leaving a trail of total destruction. Because of this one horrific act, the United States of America joined the allies in what would be the beginning of a long, bloody war.
At 7.55am on Sunday 7 December 1941, the Japanese began their attack on the US Pacific Fleet, at Pearl Harbor. Within two hours, five battleships had been sunk, another 16 damaged, and 188 aircraft destroyed. Only chance saved three US aircraft carriers, usually stationed at Pearl Harbor but assigned elsewhere on the day. The attacks killed under 100 Japanese but over 2,400 Americans (Source:A) The Japanese plan was simple: Destroy the Pacific Fleet.
The Japanese lost twenty nine aircraft, sixty four men, mostly aircrew, and five miniature submarines. Another point of the Japanese strategy was to destroy the Pacific Fleet, which was a Pacific Ocean theater level component command of the United States Navy that provides naval forces to the United States Pacific Command. It carried aircrafts and was able to command from its base. “By 1900 the U.S. Navy had grown from twelfth to third largest in the world... In 1908 it began building a naval base at Pearl Harbor (Heineman 9)”
and Japan, had very different numbers. The U.S. had thousands of men on the ground at the time of the attack, they were all able to fight and outnumber the Japanese who only had a few hundred fighter planes. What allowed the Japanese to cause so much damage was the element of surprise. This resulted in the U.S. forces were not properly organized to defend themselves and the Japanese were very organized in how they wanted to execute their attack. The Japanese were also at a disadvantage with technology and transportation.
Introduction On December 7th of 1941 one of the most critical events on America’s history occurred, the surprise attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor, which brought the United States into the Second World War and changed the course of history (Gordon). This occurrence marked history due to the lack of explanation given by the Japanese at the time. To this day the reasoning behind their attack is still unknown. 1939 is a fundamental year, which marks the start of World War II.
One year ago today on the 7th of December 1942, the tragic, malicious attack on The United States Naval Base of Pearl Harbor occurred. The Imperial Japanese made a surprise attack onto our country, an attack that affected our country in a negative way, and forced our hand into war. Over the past year, the United States of America have taken actions, starting just the day after the attack on Pearl Harbour, and we have regained our strength and are fighting against evil.
What happened during this battle? The Japanese really practiced and prepared carefully for their attack on Pearl Harbor.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his war speech and asserted December 7, 1941 as, “a date which will live in infamy.” The United States’ naval bases stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii were struck by Japanese planes intentionally and promptly. The news of this attack on the Pearl Harbor shocked the world. It was devastating to the nation that were still in the throes of depression. Witnesses of this event painted a portrait of a nation stunned, but determined to rise again. The United States’ government had not disclosed a Pearl Harbor story to the public--that the U.S. had failed to act on advance information about a planned Japanese attack. Japan 's move against the United States was audacious enough to be considered no more than a slight possibility, although the potential for an attack had been widely discussed.
But with the fleets being so close to each other it was hard for them to move about for more tactical placement. So, with the size of the Japanese fleet and the fact that they got off with the attack first lead them to sink one of the Allied carriers. But also with the amount of damage the Japanese fleet took, the Allied forces used that to push harder and win battles against the naval fleets of Japan. So on the grand scale of things this battle was a Japanese tactical victory, but later to prove that it was an American strategic victory. So most Naval expert have the argument that overall battle was a win for the Allied fleet, due to the heavy loss of aircraft from the Japanese fleet. When other’s stand by the lost carrier of the Allied to the Japanese fleet. I believe that when you look at total damage to both fleets to include aircraft. I still think that the Japanese fleet won this battle. When you look more into larger scale the information that is present yes it was a strategic victory for the Allied forces. With being able to repair and push the ships back into battles and the fact that they still had many of their seasoned aircraft crews. Helped down the road for an overall victory over the Japanese. In many Naval books this battle is used as an example on how a small battle can still affect the overall victory and how in this case it did. It also is
In July 1940, the U.S. placed an embargo on Japan, hoping they would restrain Japan 's military aggression in China. Japan, a proud nation, would not hear of being dictated to by the United States and began to prepare for the attack on Pearl Harbor in early 1941. Meanwhile, there was some warning of the attack on America, but it went without being duly acknowledged. The day before the attack occurred, a code-breaker intercepted a message from the Japanese concerning the movement of ships at Pearl Harbor. The operator relayed the message to the superior officers who said they would get back to the radioman on Monday, December 8, 1941 (Socolow 43). Also, on the morning of the attack, a radar operator saw a large group of airplanes on the radar screen, and when he reported this, the senior officer said it was probably just some US Bombers and not to worry about them (HistoryNet.Com). The Japanese planes flew under the radar by flying through a pass in the mountains called Kolekole Pass. This maneuver added to the surprise of the attack. The frantic attack began on Sunday at 7:55 in the morning. A little before ten the entire attack was over (Pearl Harbor, Attack On). The men of Pearl Harbor fought with valor.