Above -- Aboard a Japanese carrier before the attack on Pearl
Harbor, crew members cheer departing pilots. Below -- A photo taken
from a Japanese plane during the attack shows vulnerable American
battleships, and in the distance, smoke rising from Hickam Airfield
where 35 men having breakfast in the mess hall were killed after a
direct bomb hit.
Above -- The USS Shaw explodes during the Japanese air raid. Below
Left -- The battleship USS Arizona after a bomb penetrated into the
forward magazine causing massive explosions and killing 1,104 men.
Below Right -- Dousing the flames on the battleship USS West Virginia,
which survived and was rebuilt. (Photo credits: U.S.
National Archives)
***According to the affidavits taken by Henry
Clausen in 1943, and he wore a bomb pack on his chest to destroy
himself and the Magic codes as he took those affidavits in both Europe
and the Pacific Theaters so as to prove his bonifidies, Lt. Col.
Carlisle Dusenbury could have prevented Pearl Harbor if he had
followed his orders and called the army chief of staff just after
midnight, which was Sunday morning, December 7th, when the 14th point
was decoded and the additional message that these fourteen points were
to be handed over to Secretary Hull, later in the day, at exactly 1pm
Sunday afternoon. I would consider changing the information on your
Pearl Harbor page based on Clausen's affidavits. This is all detailed
in Pearl Harbor: Final Judgment.
Sequence of Events
Saturday, December 6 - Washington D.C.
- U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt makes a final appeal to the
Emperor of Japan for peace. There is no reply. Late this same day, the
U.S. code-breaking service begins intercepting a 14-part Japanese
message and deciphers the first 13 parts, passing them on to the
President and Secretary of State. The Americans believe a Japanese
attack is imminent, most likely somewhere in Southeast Asia.
Sunday, December 7 - Washington D.C. -
The last part of the Japanese message, stating that diplomatic
relations with the U.S. are to be broken off, reaches Washington in
the morning and is decoded at approximately 9 a.m. About an hour
later, another Japanese message is intercepted. It instructs the
Japanese embassy to deliver the main message to the Americans at 1
p.m. The Americans realize this time corresponds with early morning
time in Pearl Harbor, which is several hours behind. The U.S. War
Department then sends out an alert but uses a commercial telegraph
because radio contact with Hawaii is temporarily broken. Delays
prevent the alert from arriving at headquarters in Oahu until noontime
(Hawaii time) four hours after the attack has already begun.
Sunday, December 7 - Islands of
Hawaii, near Oahu - The Japanese attack force under the command of
Admiral Nagumo, consisting of six carriers with 423 planes, is about
to attack. At 6 a.m., the first attack wave of 183 Japanese planes
takes off from the carriers located 230 miles north of Oahu and heads
for the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor.
Pearl Harbor - At 7:02 a.m., two Army
operators at Oahu's northern shore radar station detect the Japanese
air attack approaching and contact a junior officer who disregards
their reports, thinking they are American B-17 planes which are
expected in from the U.S. west coast.
Near Oahu - At 7:15 a.m., a second attack
wave of 167 planes takes off from the Japanese carriers and heads for
Pearl Harbor.
Pearl Harbor is not on a state on high alert.
Senior commanders have concluded, based on available intelligence,
there is no reason to believe an attack is imminent. Aircraft are
therefore left parked wingtip to wingtip on airfields, anti-aircraft
guns are unmanned with many ammunition boxes kept locked in accordance
with peacetime regulations. There are also no torpedo nets protecting
the fleet anchorage. And since it is Sunday morning, many officers and
crewmen are leisurely ashore.
At 7:53 a.m., the first Japanese assault
wave, with 51 'Val' dive bombers, 40 'Kate' torpedo bombers, 50 high
level bombers and 43 'Zero' fighters, commences the attack with flight
commander, Mitsuo Fuchida, sounding the battle cry: "Tora! Tora!
Tora!" (Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!).
The Americans are taken completely by
surprise. The first attack wave targets airfields and battleships. The
second wave targets other ships and shipyard facilities. The air raid
lasts until 9:45 a.m. Eight battleships are damaged, with five sunk.
Three light cruisers, three destroyers and three smaller vessels are
lost along with 188 aircraft. The Japanese lose 27 planes and five
midget submarines which attempted to penetrate the inner harbor and
launch torpedoes.
Escaping damage from the attack are the prime
targets, the three U.S. Pacific Fleet aircraft carriers, Lexington,
Enterprise and Saratoga, which were not in the port. Also escaping
damage are the base fuel tanks.
The casualty list includes 2,335 servicemen
and 68 civilians killed, with 1,178 wounded. Included are 1,104 men
aboard the Battleship USS Arizona killed after a 1,760-pound
air bomb penetrated into the forward magazine causing catastrophic
explosions.
In Washington, various delays prevent the
Japanese diplomats from presenting their war message to Secretary of
State, Cordell Hull, until 2:30 p.m. (Washington time) just as the
first reports of the air raid at Pearl Harbor are being read by Hull.
News of the "sneak attack" is
broadcast to the American public via radio bulletins, with many
popular Sunday afternoon entertainment programs being interrupted. The
news sends a shockwave across the nation and results in a tremendous
influx of young volunteers into the U.S. armed forces. The attack also
unites the nation behind the President and effectively ends
isolationist sentiment in the country.
Monday, December 8 -
The United States and Britain declare war on Japan with President
Roosevelt calling December 7, "a date which will live in
infamy..."
Thursday, December 11
- Germany and Italy declare war on the United States. The European and
Southeast Asian wars have now become a global conflict with the Axis
powers; Japan, Germany and Italy, united against America, Britain,
France, and their Allies.
Wednesday, December 17 - Admiral
Chester W. Nimitz becomes the new commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet.
Both senior commanders at Pearl Harbor; Navy
Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, and Army Lt. General Walter C. Short, were
relieved of their duties following the attack. Subsequent
investigations will fault the men for failing to adopt adequate
defense measures.
