The_Attack.page

Pearl Harbor, A Day In History (cont.)

The Attack

As Yamamoto's plan began to be carried out, pilots, sailors, captains, and commanders were gathered together to form the attack crew. As the men were brought together, so were their planes, ships, and ammunition. The fleet was ready for its attack.
On November 26, 1941, the Japanese fleet set sail for its attack on Pearl Harbor. The Japanese maintained radio silence so as not to give away any vital information. The silence remained unbroken until the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The Americans soon noticed that an entire fleet was missing. This sent them into an alert that the Japanese were planning something, but they were not sure what. As Americans waited for some sort of radio transmission, the Japanese were drawing nearer to their destination.

The fleet contained six carriers, four-hundred and twenty-three planes, two battleships, twenty-eight submarines, two cruisers, and eleven destroyers. The fleet was well trained and well stocked. They were ready to attack.

American leaders continued with their search of when or even where the Japanese were going to attack. Pearl Harbor was mentioned several times, yet never taken seriously, although Pearl Harbor was one of Americas best Pacific harbors. Many facts led many people to believe that it would be the target. Yet, no one wanted to believe them, due to the fact that an aerial attack on the harbor would have been utterly impossible. On December 7, 1941 many men and women were proven wrong in thinking such a thought.

Very early that morning an unknown submarine had entered American waters and was soon taken down without anything else being said or done about it. Later that morning, radar had picked up an oncoming fleet of B17 fighter airplanes coming toward the harbor. The U.S. had just figured that it was an oncoming fleet of American aircrafts coming in. Following that incident, Pearl Harbor would come to find that the submarine belonged to the Japanese, and that the oncoming fleet of planes were also the property of Japan.

At 7:49am on December 7, 1941, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's plan was carried out. "Tora! Tora! Tora!" (Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!) radioed back Commander Mitsuo Fuchida to the carrier task force. The translation meant that the element of surprise had been achieved. Through a break in thick clouds, the flight force commander could see that Pearl Harbor was calm and unaware of the oncoming attack.

The first wave of Japanese air fighters had been released for their bombing attempts on Pearl Harbor. This wave consisted of 183 planes. The first wave was successful in their attack attempts. Soon after, the second wave was sent out consisting of 167 planes. Once the second wave had also proved successful, it was time for the third wave of air fighters. But, Fuchida decided to withdraw the third wave of attackers, claiming that they no longer had the element of surprise.

Each wave of fighters had been loaded with a stock of their own weaponry. Most of the aircrafts contained ammunition (for shooting), bombs (for dropping straight down on to the targets), and torpedoes. The torpedoes were truly ironic pieces of weaponry. Normal torpedoes would have proved inadequate for the attack, because the water of the harbor was immensely shallow. Therefore, the torpedoes would have not traveled to their desired targets, rather, they would have gone straight to the bottom. So, the Japanese had equipped each torpedo with wooden fins for traveling through the harbor's shallow waters.

There were 96 ships in the harbor that day. Luckily for the Americans, only 18 ships were damaged or destroyed. The most familiar of these ships were those situated on Battleship Row, which were also the original Japanese targets. These ships included the USS Arizona, the USS Tennessee, the USS Oklahoma, the USS Pennslyvania (in dry dock*), the USS West Virginia, the USS California, the USS Maryland, and the USS Nevada. The USS Shaw (somewhat in dry dock*) was not one of the original targets, but was attacked after it tried to raise fully to dry dock.
When the Japanese aircrafts had left, flames were bursting along the harbor line. Men were jumping from sinking ships in order to keep from drowning with the vessels. Many men and women were dragged into hospitals. Many hospitals became overcrowded and had to turn people away. Most could not be saved, whether they had been admitted in or not. Nurses and doctors worked vigorously to save those that they could, but their supplies ran low. No one was prepared for the magnitude of medical care that would be needed that day. The attack was a horrific sight to all the men and women who were at the harbor that day.

*In dry dock means that the ships were not in the harbor's water.

The Attack

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