Pearl Harbor

1. Pearl Harbor By Charles McGee World History & Geography 4th Period

2. Pearl Harbor • Pearl Harbor is a simple harbor on the island of O’ahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep water naval base: headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. The attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan on December 7, 1941 brought the United States into World War II.

3. History 1800-1941 • Pearl Harbor was originally an extensive, shallow embayment called WaiMomi (meaning "water of pearl") or Pu'uloa by the Hawaiians. Pu'uloa was regarded as the home of the shark goddess Ka'ahupahau and her brother, Kahi'uka. The harbor was teeming with pearl-producing oysters until the late 1800s. • In the years following the arrival of Captain James Cook, Pearl Harbor was not considered a suitable port due to shallow water. The United States of America and the Hawaiian Kingdom signed the Reciprocity Treaty of 1875 as Supplemented by Convention on December 6, 1884 and ratified in 1887. On January 20, 1887, the United States Senate allowed the Navy to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base (the US took possession on November 9 that year). As a result, Hawai'i obtained exclusive rights to allow Hawaiian sugar to enter the United States duty free. The Spanish-American War of 1898 and the desire for the United States to have a permanent presence in the Pacific both contributed to the decision. • After annexation, Pearl Harbor was refitted to allow for more navy ships. In 1908 the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard was established. In 1917, Ford Island in the middle of Pearl Harbor was purchased for joint Army and Navy use in the development of military aviation in the Pacific. • As the Japanese military pressed its war in China, security concerns caused the U.S. to begin taking defensive measures. On February 1, 1933, the U.S. Navy staged a mock attack on the base at Pearl Harbor as part of a preparedness exercise. The attack "succeeded" and the defense was deemed a "failure". • The actual attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan on December 7, 1941 brought the United States into World War II.

4. History • After annexation, Pearl Harbor was refitted to allow for more navy ships. In 1908 the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard was established. In 1917, Ford Island in the middle of Pearl Harbor was purchased for joint Army and Navy use in the development of military aviation in the Pacific. • As the Japanese military pressed its war in China, security concerns caused the U.S. to begin taking defensive measures. On February 1, 1933, the U.S. Navy staged a mock attack on the base at Pearl Harbor as part of a preparedness exercise. The attack "succeeded" and the defense was deemed a "failure". • The actual attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan on December 7, 1941 brought the United States into World War II.

5. December 7, 1941 • On the morning of December 7, 1941, planes and midget submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy began a surprise attack on the U.S. under the command of Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo. It has to be remarked that the attack might have been no surprise as vital intelligence information about the imminent attack was not passed to the Navy commander Admiral Husband E. Kimmel and Army commander Walter Short. This attack brought the United States into World War II. At 6:00 a.m. on December 7, the six Japanese carriers launched a first wave of 183 planes composed of torpedo bombers, dive-bombers, level bombers and fighters, the most well remembered Japanese plane being the Mitsubishi Zero. The Japanese hit American ships and military installations at 7:55 a.m. They attacked military airfields and at the same time they hit the fleet anchored in Pearl Harbor. The Battleship Arizona was hit with an armor piercing bomb which penetrated the forward ammunition compartment, blowing the ship apart. Of the 2,403 military personnel lost at Pearl Harbor, 1,177 were from the Arizona alone. Overall, twenty-one ships of the U.S. Pacific fleet were damaged and the death toll reached 2,403, along with 68 civilians and 1,178 injured.

6. The Attack on Pearl Harbor • The Attack on Pearl Harbor or Bombing of Pearl Harbor was a surprise attack on the United States naval base on Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii. It was launched on the morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941 (Hawaii time) by Empire of Japan's 1st Air Fleet against the U.S. Pacific Fleet and other US armed forces stationed there at the harbor and also on the other side of the Oahu island. The attack spurred the US into entering World War II. US casualties were heavy and included 2,403 dead; 1,178 wounded; 5 battleships, 3 destroyers, 3 cruisers, and 188 planes. Japan casualties, by contrast, included 64 dead, 1 captured, 29 planes and 4 submarines. The date of the attack is said to "live in infamy," uttered by US President Franklin Roosevelt and is observed each year in the US. • The day after Pearl Harbor, began the Battle of the Philippines (1941-42) a successful Japanese invasion of the US colony of the Philippines.

7. Background • After the Meiji Restoration, the Empire of Japan embarked on a period of rapid economic, political, and military expansion in an effort to achieve parity with the European and North American powers. Military personnel played an increasing role in government. • Japan's economic and military expansion caused many confrontations with other countries. These included the First Sino-Japanese War with China in 1894, in which Japan took control of Taiwan, and the Russo-Japanese War with Russia in 1904, by which Japan gained territory in and around China and the Korean peninsula. From about 1910 through the 1930s, Japan became extensively militarized, building a large and modern navy, third largest in the world at the time. After World War I, the League of Nations awarded Japan custody of most of Imperial Germany's possessions and colonies in East Asia and the Pacific. In 1931, Japan imposed the puppet state of Manchukuo in eastern Manchuria. Starting in 1937, Japan escalated its conflict with mainland China.

8. Background • These attacks against China were condemned by the U.S., the UK, Australia, and the Netherlands, all of which had territorial interests in Southeast Asia and the Philippines. In response to the diplomatic pressure, Japan resigned from the League of Nations. In July 1939, the U.S. terminated the 1911 U.S.-Japan commerce treaty, an action which showed official disapproval and, more concretely, allowed the U.S. to impose trade embargoes. Nevertheless, Japan continued its military campaign in China and later signed with Nazi Germany the Anti-Comintern Pact, which formally ended World War I hostilities and declared common interests. In 1940, Japan signed the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Fascist Italy to form the Axis Powers. • These actions by Japan led the U.S. to embargo scrap metal and gasoline and to close the Panama Canal to Japanese shipping.

9. "X" Day • The Kido Butai (Striking Force) was ordered to “proceed to the Hawaiian Area with utmost secrecy and, at the outbreak of the war, will launch a resolute surprise attack on and deal a fatal blow to the enemy fleet in the Hawaiian Area. The initial air attack is scheduled at 0330 hours, X Day.” • Upon completion, the force was to return to Japan, re-equip, and re-deploy for "Second Period Operations". However, the option of diplomacy was left open. "Directive 5" commanded Yamamoto to "immediately assemble and call back the operational units if the Japanese-American negotiation is successful." • Finally, Order number 9, issued on 1 December 1941 by Navy General Staff Osami Nagano commanded Yamamoto to • “... smash the enemy fleets and air forces in the Orient and at the same time will intercept and annihilate enemy fleets should they come to attack us ... occupy immediately the key bases of the United States, Great Britain, and the Netherlands in East Asia ... and capture and secure the key areas of the southern regions.”

10. United States Preparedness • U.S. civil and military intelligence forces had, between them, good information suggesting additional Japanese aggression throughout the summer and fall before the attack. None of it specifically indicated an attack against Pearl Harbor. Public press reports during summer and fall, including Hawaiian newspapers, contained extensive reports on the growing tension and on developments in the Pacific. • Late in November, all Pacific commands, including both the Navy and Army in Hawaii, were separately and explicitly warned that war with Japan was expected in the very near future, probably in the Far East: the Philippines, Indochina, or Russia. The warnings were not specific to any area, noting only that war with Japan was considered likely in the immediate short term and that all commands should act accordingly. Had any of these warnings produced an active alert status in Hawaii, the attack would likely have been resisted more effectively, and perhaps might have caused less death and damage. Conversely, recall of men on shore leave to the ships in harbor might have led to still more being casualties, and closing watertight doors (as some alert orders would have required) might have left more trapped in capsized ships. When the attack arrived, Pearl Harbor was effectively unprepared: anti-aircraft weapons were not manned, ammunition was locked down, anti-submarine measures were not implemented (e.g., no submarine nets), combat air patrols not flying, available scouting aircraft not in the air at first light, Air Corps aircraft were parked wingtip to wingtip to reduce sabotage risks, and so on.

11. Attack Japanese tactics for attack • The task force was ordered (Order Number 7) to engage the enemy fleet if encountered. • The location of the attack force remained unknown to the U.S. until after the Japanese pilots were already on the return to the Eastern Pacific; they were not located after the attack, in part because such searches as were organized were conducted south of Oahu. (This was in part because of direction finding mistakenly placing searchers on a reciprocal bearing.) The total number of planes involved in the aerial attack was 350. Ninety-one planes were engaged in protection of aircraft carriers and other ships during the attack. The fleet launched 200 miles (370km) north of Oahu. On the home leg, the task force was instructed to respond aggressively should American forces locate and engage them, and re-routed south to the friendly base in the Marshall Islands.

12. Battle • Even before Nagumo began launching, at 04.30 Hawaiian Time, the minesweeper USS Condor spotted a midget submarine outside the Harbor entrance and alerted USN destroyer Ward. Ward carried out an unsuccessful search. The first shots fired and the first casualties in the attack on Pearl Harbor, occurred when Ward eventually attacked and sank a midget submarine, possibly the same one, at 06:37. Five Ko-hyoteki-class midget submarines had been assigned to torpedo U.S. ships after the bombing started. None of these made it back safely, and only four out of the five have since been found. Of the ten sailors aboard the five submarines, nine died; the only survivor, Kazuo Sakamaki, was captured, becoming the first prisoner of war taken by the Americans in World War II. Sakamaki's survival was considered traitorous by many Japanese, who referred to his dead companions as "The Nine Young Gods." United States Naval Institute analysis of photographs from the attack, conducted in 1999, indicates that one of these mini-subs entered the harbor and successfully fired a torpedo into the West Virginia, in what may have been the first shot by the attacking Japanese. The final disposition of that submarine is unknown. • On the morning of the attack, the Army's Opana Point station, detected the first wave of Japanese planes, but the warning it called in to the new and only partially activated Intelligence Center in Honolulu was interpreted by an untrained new officer (Lieutenant Kermit A. Tyler) as B-17s. Tyler assumed the pending, scheduled arrival of 6 B-17 bombers was the cause because of the direction from which the aircraft were coming, and possibly because the radar operators had only seen the first element of incoming attackers. Several U.S. aircraft were shot down as the first attack wave approached land. It is not clear that these warnings that morning could have had much effect even if they had been interpreted correctly and much more promptly. MacArthur had had nine hours of warning that the Japanese had attacked at Pearl before they actually attacked, though. • The air portion of the attack on Pearl Harbor began at 7:53 a.m. December 7 Hawaiian Time. Japanese planes attacked in two waves; a total of 353 planes reached O’ahu. Slow, and vulnerable, torpedo bombers led the first wave of 183 planes, exploiting the first moments of surprise to attack the most important ships present (the battleships), while dive bombers attacked U.S. air bases across O’ahu, starting with Hickam Field, the largest, and Wheeler Field, the principal fighter base. The 170 planes in the second wave attacked Bellows Field and Ford Island. The only significant air opposition came from a handful of P-36 Hawks and P-40 Warhawks that flew 25 sorties, and may have been shot down by naval anti-aircraft fire.

13. Battle • Men aboard U.S. ships awoke to the sounds of bombs exploding and cries of "Away fire and rescue party" and "All hands on deck, we're being bombed" and other various calls to General Quarters. (The famous message, "Air raid Pearl Harbor. This is no drill." was broadcast by Commander Logan Ramsey from the headquarters of Admiral Patrick Bellinger, commander of the PBY squadron in Hawaii.) Despite the lack of preparation, which included locked ammunition lockers, aircraft parked wing to wing to prevent sabotage, and no heightened alert status, there were many American military personnel who served with distinction during the battle. Rear Admiral Isaac C. Kidd, and Captain Franklin Van Valkenburgh, commander of Arizona, both rushed to the bridge to direct her defense, until both were killed by an explosion in the forward ammunition magazine from an armor piercing bomb that hit next to turret two. Both were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. Ensign Joe Taussig got his ship, Nevada, under way from a dead cold start during the attack. One of the destroyers, Aylwin, got underway with only four officers aboard, all Ensigns, none with more than a year's sea duty. That ship operated for four days at sea before her commanding officer caught up with her. Captain Mervyn Bennion, commanding West Virginia, led his men until he was cut down by fragments from a bomb hit in Tennessee, moored alongside. • The earliest aircraft kill credit went to submarine Tautog. Probably the most famous single defender is Doris "Dorie" Miller, an African-American cook aboard West Virginia, who went beyond his duty assignment and training when he took control of an unattended anti-aircraft gun, on which he had no training, and used it to fire on attacking planes, even while bombs were hitting his ship. He was awarded the Navy Cross. In all, 14 sailors and officers were awarded the Medal of Honor. A special military award, the Pearl Harbor Commemorative Medal, was later authorized to all military veterans of the attack.

14. Battle • Ninety minutes after it began, the attack was over. 2403 Americans died (68 were civilians, most killed by American anti-aircraft shrapnel and shells landing in civilian areas, including Honolulu), a further 1178 wounded. Eighteen ships were sunk, including five battleships. • Nearly half of the American fatalities — 1,102 men — were caused by the explosion and sinking of Arizona. She was destroyed when the forward main magazines exploded after it was hit by a bomb (a modified 40cm {16in} naval gun shell) dropped by Tadashi Kusumi from a bomber. The hull of Arizona has become a memorial to those lost that day, most of whom remain within the ship. She continues to leak small amounts of fuel oil, 65 years after the attack.

15. Battle • Although the Japanese concentrated on battleships (the largest vessels present), they did not ignore other targets. The light cruiser Helena was torpedoed, and the concussion from the blast capsized the neighboring minelayer Oglala. Two destroyers in dry dock were destroyed when bombs penetrated their bunkers. The leaking fuel caught fire; flooding the dry dock in an effort to fight fire made the burning oil and so the fire damage, rise which burned out the ships. The light cruiser Raleigh was hit by a torpedo and holed. The light cruiser Honolulu was damaged but remained in service. The destroyer Cassin capsized, and destroyer Downes was heavily damaged. The repair vessel Vestal, moored alongside Arizona, was heavily damaged and beached. The seaplane tender Curtiss was also damaged. • Almost all of the 188 American aircraft in Hawaii were destroyed or damaged, and 155 of those were hit on the ground where they were parked in a sabotage risk reduction pattern. Almost none were actually ready to take off in defense of the base. Attacks on barracks killed additional pilots and other personnel. Friendly fire brought down several U.S. planes (including at least one inbound from Enterprise) which was heading for Pearl at the time of the attack.

16. Immediate Aftermath I Declare War!!!!!! • On December 8, 1941, Roosevelt addressed a joint session of Congress, calling 7 December 1941 "a date which will live in infamy". Amid outrage at the attack and the late delivery of the note breaking off relations, actions considered treacherous, Congress declared war on Japan with Jeannette Rankin (Republican of Montana) casting the only dissenting vote. Roosevelt signed the declaration the same day. Continuing to intensify its military mobilization, the U.S. government finished converting to a war economy, a process begun by provision of weapons to the Soviet Union and Great Britain. • The Pearl Harbor attack immediately galvanized a divided nation into action. Public opinion had been moving towards support for entering the war during 1941, but considerable opposition remained until the Pearl Harbor attack. Overnight, Americans united against Japan, and that response probably made possible the unconditional surrender position later taken by the Allied Powers. Some historians believe the attack on Pearl Harbor doomed Japan to defeat simply because it awakened the "sleeping U.S. behemoth", regardless of whether the fuel depots or machine shops had been destroyed or even if the carriers had been caught in port and sunk. U.S. industrial and military capacity, once mobilized, was able to pour overwhelming resources into both the Pacific and Atlantic theaters. Others believe Japanese trade protection was so incompetent, U.S. submarines could have strangled Japan into defeat alone. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Declaration of War against Japan on the day following the attack.

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18. The End • This is the end of my presentation. • Thank You! By Charles McGee