Attack on Pearl Harbor

Eighty years ago, on December 7, 1941, Japan’s surprise attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet moored in Hawaii caused profound shock in the
U.S. and precipitated America’s entry into World War II

KEY EVENTS LEADING TO ATTACK

1937: Japan invades China. Ultra-nationalist
military leaders justify occupation of China,
Manchuria and Korea as part of Japan’s “divine right” to unify East Asia under rule of Emperor Hirohito

Jun 1940: President Franklin D. Roosevelt moves U.S. Pacific Fleet from San Diego to Pearl Harbor and imposes embargo on vital raw materials to curb Japan’s advance into French Indo-China

Jan 1941: Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, Commander-in-Chief of Combined Fleet, tasked with planning surprise attack to destroy U.S. naval capability in Pacific, enabling Japan to complete territorial conquests

Feb: Commander Minoru Genda expands plan, which calls for fighters, dive
bombers and torpedo bombers deployed from aircraft carriers to target ships,
airfields, aircraft and dry docks

Jul: Throughout summer months, pilots train in shallow waters of Kagoshima Bay,
which closely resembles Pearl Harbor

Nov 3: Chief of Japanese Naval General Staff approves draft plan

Nov 17: Yamamoto reveals attack plan to naval leadership

Nov 26: Strike Force, comprising six aircraft carriers, sets sail from Hitokappu Bay
in Kuril Islands, under command of Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo

Dec 6: Fleet reaches rendezvous point, beginning high speed approach to Pearl Harbor
as 30 submarines surround Hawaii

TIMELINE OF ATTACK (Hawaiian time, GMT -10 hours)

Dec 7, 03:42 Minesweeper USS Condor spots periscope of midget submarine 3km off entrance to Pearl Harbor – alerts destroyer USS Ward 

06:00 First attack wave of 183 Japanese planes takes off from carriers located 370km north of Oahu. Pilots tune in to Honolulu radio station to guide approach

06:37 USS Ward sinks submarine in first American shots fired in World War II

07:02 Opana radar station detects large flight of planes approaching from north. Initially thought to be B17 Flying Fortresses, en route from California 

07:15 Second attack wave of 167 planes takes off

Rear Admiral Husband Kimmel, commanding officer of U.S. Pacific Fleet, opts to wait for verification of report on submarine contact because of numerous recent “false reports of submarines”

07:33 Washington cracks coded diplomatic message ordering Japanese negotiators to break off talks. Delays in army communications means warning does not reach Lt. Gen. Walter Short, commander of U.S. Army forces in Hawaii, until after attack ends

07:55 Coordinated attack begins. Command centre on Ford Island transmits news of attack: “Air Raid on Pearl Harbor. This is No Drill”

08:10 Armour-piercing bomb hits forward magazine of battleship USS Arizona, causing
cataclysmic explosion that kills 1,177 crew

08.50 Second wave of aircraft joins attack

10.00 Attack ends

Dec 8 U.S. declares war on Japan. President Roosevelt calls December 7, 1941
“a date which will live in infamy”

Route of Task Force Nov 26 – Dec 23 Hitokappu Bay JAPAN Hishirajima Kagoshima Bay PACIFIC OCEAN HAWAII OAHU 150km 93 miles 

First Carrier Strike Force: Six aircraft carriers – each carrying about 70 aircraft – escorted by two battleships, three cruisers, nine destroyers and three reconnaissance submarines. Fleet supplied by seven oil tankers

U.S. LOSSES

Ships: Eight battleships, three cruisers, three destroyers and four other vessels sunk or damaged – all but three return to service

Aircraft 188 destroyed, 159 damaged

Military personnel 2,402 killed 1,282 wounded

JAPANESE LOSSES 29 aircraft and five midget submarines lost. 65 killed or wounded

FIRST WAVE Opana radar station WAIANAE RANGE Ewa Marine Corps Air Station SECOND
WAVE KOOLAU RANGE OAHU Wheeler Field Ford Island Naval Air Station Hickam Field Kaneohe Naval Air Station Bellows Field Honolulu 5km 3 miles

Mitsubishi A6M2 “Zeke” Nakajima B5N2 “Kate” Aichi D3A1 “Val”

Sources: Imperial War Museum, War Against Japan by Sidney C. Moody Jr., and Associated Press Pictures: AP, Getty Images, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration