Pearl Harbor is a United States Naval Base that was attacked by Japan on December 7th, 1941. The Japanese attempted to take out the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor so they could have a stronger position in the war. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto was the one who carried out the orders to attack Pearl Harbor. The attack took the U.S. by surprise making them enter directly into World War II and domestic isolation disappeared from the U.S.
In the 1930’s the path to war between Japan and the United States began because of differences over China. In 1931 Japan took over Manchuria and in 1937 tried unsuccessfully to take over the rest of China. In 1941 Japan joined Germany in the Axis Alliance and occupied French Indochina, isolating China. The U.S. helped out China by increasing military and financial aid towards China. In 1941 the U.S. cut off oil shipments to Japan and Japan was in a position to where their oil supply would run out in two years unless they made peace with the U.S. or went to war. “The chief of the Navy told the Emperor that if Japan resorted to war, it would be very doubtful that it could win.” (Attack on Pearl Harbor, p. 1) “The decision was war, by going south to seize the resource-rich territories of South East Asia.” (Attack on Pearl Harbor, p. 1) To seize the territories of South East Asia, Japan had to take out the American fleet at Pearl Harbor.
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet, was one to plan out the attack on Pearl Harbor. Yamamoto thought that the surprise attack would secure the Pacific for the Japanese and start the war. “The First Air Fleet had held maneuvers for over a year, and the results were promising. “The First Air Fleet had held maneuvers for over a year, and the results were promising.” (The Attack on Pearl Harbor, p.1) Commander Mitsuo Fuchida had made the impossible task of aerial torpedo attack possible. “Conventional aerial torpedoes plunged to more than one-hundred feet in depth and ran a long distance to arm.” (The Attack on Pearl Harbor, p. 1)
The Essay on Why Did Japan Attack Pearl Harbor
... was going to be invited into the war with an attack from Japan at Pearl Harbor. But was the United States invited in ... involved indirectly with the war but cutting off supplies to Japan and then supplying China with war training, is direct involvement ... into the war. It is a very one sided involvement against Japan. Pearl Harbor ...
“At 6:00 a.m. on December 7th, the six Japanese carriers launched a first wave of one-hundred and eighty-one planes composed of torpedo bombers, dive bombers, horizontal bombers and fighters.” (Attack on Pearl Harbor, p. 1) Before Dawn there was an unidentified submarine that was attacked and sunk by the destroyer U.S.S. Ward but the alert operator didn’t think it was significant enough to take action. The Japanese aircrews started the attack at 0800, catching the American by surprise. They attacked the military airfields and the fleet, “The Navy air bases at Bellows, Wheeler and Hickam were bombed as other elements of the attacking force began their assaults on the ships moored in Pearl Harbor.” (Attack on Pearl Harbor, p. 1) The simultaneous attacks were to destroy American planes before they could be used to fight against the Japanese.
“Before Dawn on December 7th 1941, the American strategic center of gravity in the Pacific reposed in the seven battleships then moored along “Battleship Row”, the six pairs of interrupted quays located along Ford Island’s eastern side.” (Attack on Pearl Harbor, p. 1).
The seven ships were Japan’s primary target because they were one short of equaling Japan’s battle fleet. Japan’s torpedo planes hit the battleships: California, Nevada, Oklahoma, and West Virginia. The battleships, Nevada and West Virginia, sunk minutes after getting hit with the torpedoes. Horizontal and dive bombers came in after the torpedo planes attacked and hit battleships: California, Maryland, Tennessee, West Virginia, and sank Arizona. At about 0830, the battleship Nevada started to move down the channel when there was short lull in the attack but was ordered to beach at hospital point so Japan’s second wave couldn’t sink it in the channel and block the entrance to Pearl Harbor.
Japan then fixed their attention to the Navy Yard and the west side of Ford Island thinking they held battleships or aircraft carriers. The Battleship Utah was hit with two torpedoes and it capsized to port in ten minutes. Sixty crew members were lost with the ship, ten trapped soldiers were later cut free, and the crew member who abandoned ship swam through the oily water and were shot at by Japanese planes. The battleship U.S.S. Raleigh was hit by a torpedo and a bomb but did not capsize. The seaplane tender, Curtiss, was attacked by Japanese planes and was sunk by the destroyer Monaghan.
The Term Paper on Pearl Harbor 7
The bombing of pearl harbor could have been avoided and many lives could have been saved if the united states didn't have over confidence in themselves, if the Americans would have kept better tract of Japanese intelligence, and if Roosevelt would of warned pearl harbor of his knowledge of it going to be attacked. Many things led up to the bombing of pearl harbor. The things that led up to the ...
“The initial Japanese attack wave hit the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard area relatively lightly, with a few torpedoes launched at ships along 1010 Dock and some dive bombers targeting that vicinity and the dry dock area immediately to the southward.” (Attack on Pearl Harbor, p. 1) The torpedo planes hit the cruiser Helena and the blast from the torpedo put a hole in the port side of the minelayer ship Oglala, making it sink. The second Japanese wave wrecked three battleships and damaged the battleship Pennsylvania. Bombers also hit the destroyer ship Shaw and remained afloat but the little tug boat Sotoyomo was burned by Shaw’s fires and sunk. Japan was targeting battleships in the Navy Yard so the vital industries weren’t damaged and so they got to work on rescue, salvage jobs and repair.
The Japanese then focused their attention to destroying the aircraft at the airfield of Oahu so the U.S. fighter planes couldn’t get in the air with big numbers and fight back. Two-thirds of the one-hundred and forty P-40 and P-36 planes were destroyed. “Many airmen were killed at Hickam when the Japanese bombed their barracks.” (Attack on Pearl Harbor, p. 1) Ewa’s aircraft was reduced from fifty to twenty planes, Ford Island lost about half of its planes, and Kaneohe lost all but a few planes. The attack on the airfields stopped the U.S. from fighting back with their planes.
The attack ended before 10:00 a.m. with twenty-one U.S. ships sunk or damaged. “Aircraft losses were on-hundred and eighty-eight destroyed and one-hundred and fifty-nine damaged, the majority hit before they had a chance to take off.” (Attack on Pearl Harbor, p. 1) American casualties were: two-thousand-four-hundred and three killed, and one-thousand-one-hundred and seventy-eight wounded. “The Japanese cancelled a third strike that would have knocked out the vital American oil supply, which proved critical to rebuild Pearl Harbor in the months to come.” (Attack on Pearl Harbor, p. 1) The Japanese lost twenty-nine planes, which was less than ten percent of their attack force.
The Term Paper on The Attack On Pearl Harbor 2
... Japanese planes, not a single crew member moved until the last note was sung. Bibliography 1) Deac, Will. The Pearl Harbor Spy... www.thehistorynet.com/WorldWarII/articles/1997/05973_text.htm 2) Attack ... Schofield Barracks were all damaged, with hundreds of planes destroyed on the ground. After about ... completely rolled over, trapping inside over four hundred crew members. One surviving crew member of ...