Pearl Harbor:

The Attack

On December 7, 1941, engineers were minding their own business while they were working for the U.S. Pacific Navy at Pearl Harbor. They saw Japanese planes coming their way. They came closer and closer. Suddenly the planes released bombs and torpedoes. They had no idea what just happened. Then they saw their fellow soldiers being injured and killed. This is what happened on December 7, 1941 at Pearl Harbor.

Background on Pearl Harbor

In 1941, Hideki Tojo became prime minister of Japan. Tojo and other Japanese leaders realized that only the U.S. Navy had the power to block Japan’s attempts to take control of Southeast Asia. The U.S. thought what Japan was doing was cruel, so the United States cut off exports to Japan like scrap metal, food, plastics, oil, and much more. Japan relied on those imports and needed them very badly. Japan then decided to damage the United States Pacific Navy at Pearl Harbor, in Hawaii.

Tojo tried to plan out everything perfectly. He made sure that the weather was good and the time was right. He worked for weeks, planning and setting up the fleets. After he made all the plans he noticed that the Japanese torpedoes that were on every plane wouldn’t work in shallow water. He and other Japanese leaders worked and worked until they found a solution to their problems. Finally after many failing experiments, they found that wooden fins on each torpedo helped them avoid the rocky and shallow bottom of Pearl Harbor.

The Attack on Pearl Harbor

On December 7, 1941, the Japanese launched 348 airplanes without warning against the United States Navy.

A man named Ens. R.C. McCloy was the first to see the Japanese aircrafts on deck at about 7:45. A.M. He told his captain about what he saw. After the captain saw the aircraft he alarmed the base at 7:50. Another crewmember on the top deck saw an object in the water, after studying it, he found out that it was a Japanese missile submarine. It took a long time for the harbor to get ready for battle, so the Japanese had an advantage.

The first wave of Japanese aircraft attacked at about 7:55 a.m. The main targets of the bombing were eight battleships among the 180 ships anchored in Pearl Harbor. The bombing of Pearl Harbor was a great success for Japan. It disabled much of the Pacific Navy Fleet.

A second wave of attacks hit an hour later. By that time 300 of the American planes on Oahu were destroyed so the harbor’s pilots couldn’t fly; 8 battleships, 3 destroyers, and 3 cruisers were put out of action. The Japanese lost only 29 aircraft. The tragic attack killed 2,388 people, injured another 2,000, and left 1,000 people missing.

On December 8, the United States and the other Allied countries declared war on Japan. World War II had become a global conflict.

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