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Attack on Pearl Harbor

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Attack on Pearl Harbor

On December 7, 1941, the Empire of Japan launched a surprise military strike on the United States Pacific Fleet at its naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Hawaii. At the time, the U . was a neutral country in World War II. The air raid on Pearl Harbor, which was launched from aircraft carriers, prompted the U . to declare war on Japan the next day. The Japanese military leadership referred to the attack as the Hawaii Operation and Operation AI, and as Operation Z during its planning. The attack on Pearl Harbor was preceded by months of negotiations between the U . and Japan over the future of the Pacific. Japanese demands included that the U . end its sanctions against Japan, cease aiding China in the Second Sino-Japanese War, and allow Japan access to the resources of the Dutch East Indies. Japan dispatched its naval attack group on November 26, 1941, just prior to receiving the Hull note, which stated the U . desire that Japan withdraw from China and French Indochina. Isoroku Yamamoto, commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet, planned the attack as a pre-emptive strike on the Pacific Fleet, which had been based at Pearl Harbor since 1940 in order to prevent it from interfering with Japan's planned actions in Southeast Asia. Yamamoto hoped that the strike would enable Japan to make rapid territorial gains and negotiate peace. In addition to Pearl Harbor, over seven hours Japan launched coordinated attacks on the U Philippines, Guam, and Wake Island, as well as on the British Empire in Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong. The attacking force, commanded by Chūichi Nagumo, launched its attack at 7:48 a . Hawaiian time (6:18 p . GMT) on December 7, 1941. The base was struck by 353 fighters, level and dive bombers, and torpedo bombers in two waves launched from six aircraft carriers. Of the eight U . battleships present, all were damaged and four were sunk. All but the USS Arizona and the USS Utah were later refloated, and six were returned to service during the war. The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and a minelayer. More than 180 U . aircraft were destroyed. A total of 2,403 Americans were killed and 1,178 others were wounded. Japanese losses totaled 29 aircraft, five midget submarines, and 130 personnel. The three U . carriers assigned to Pearl Harbor were at sea at the time, and important base installations, including its oil storage and naval repair facilities, were not attacked. Japan declared war on the U . and the British Empire later that day (December 8 in Tokyo), but the declarations were not delivered until the next day. On December 8, both the United Kingdom and the U . declared war on Japan. On December 11, though they had no formal obligation to do so under the Tripartite Pact with Japan, Germany and Italy each declared war on the United States, which responded by declaring war on Germany and Italy. While there were historical precedents for unannounced military action by Japan, the lack of a formal warning and perception that the attack had been unprovoked led U . President Franklin D. Roosevelt to famously label December 7, 1941, "a date which will live in infamy". The attack was the deadliest event ever in Hawaii, and the deadliest foreign attack on the U . until the September 11 attacks of 2001.

Infobox

Date
December 7, 1941 (1941-12-07)
Location
Oahu, Territory of Hawaii, US21°21′54″N 157°57′00″W / 21 °N 157 °W / 21 ; -157
Result
Japanese victory

References

  1. Total includes USCGC Taney (WHEC-37), USCGC Reliance (WSC-150), and USCGC Tiger (WSC-152).
  2. Unless otherwise stated, all vessels listed were salvageable.
  3. For the Japanese designator of Oahu.
  4. In 1941, Hawaii was half an hour different from the majority of other time zones. See UTC−10:30.
  5. USS Utah; the former battleship Utah was moored in the space intended to have been occupied by the aircraft carrier Ente
  6. After it was announced in September that iron and steel scrap export would also be prohibited, Japanese Ambassador Horin
  7. This was mainly a Japanese Navy preference; the Japanese Army would have chosen to attack the Soviet Union.
  8. "The Dorn report did not state with certainty that Kimmel and Short knew about Taranto. There is, however, no doubt that
  9. "A torpedo bomber needed a long, level flight, and when released, its conventional torpedo would plunge nearly a hundred
  10. Noted by Arthur MacArthur in the 1890s.
  11. She was located by a University of Hawaiʻi research submersible on August 28, 2002, in 400 m (1,300 ft) of water, 6 nmi
  12. While the nine sailors who died in the attack were quickly lionized by the Japanese government as Kyūgunshin ("The Nine
  13. The Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor, Planning and Execution. First wave: 189 planes, 50 Kates w/bombs, 40 Kates with tor
  14. In the twenty-five sorties flown, USAF Historical Study No credits six pilots with ten planes destroyed: 1st Lieutenant
  15. Odd though it may sound, "not" is correct, in keeping with standard Navy telegraphic practice. This was confirmed by Bel
  16. The gunners that did get in action scored most of the victories against Japanese aircraft that morning, including the fi
  17. The wreck has become a memorial to those lost that day, most of whom remain within the ship. She continues to leak small
  18. USAAF pilots of the 46th and 47th Pursuit Squadrons, 15th Pursuit Group, claim to have destroyed ten. Overall, the Ameri
  19. Wallin had been assigned to go to Massawa in East Africa. The harbor there was blocked by scuttled Italian and German sh
  20. However, one of the pact's objectives was to limit U . intervention in conflicts involving the three nations.
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