How Did Pearl Harbor Happen and How Can It Happen Again

May 17, 2022 Post a Comment

Pearl Harbor is a U.S. naval base near Honolulu, Hawaii, that was the scene of a devastating surprise attack by Japanese forces on Dec 7, 1941. Simply before eight a.m. on that Sunday morning, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes descended on the base of operations, where they managed to destroy or damage almost twenty American naval vessels, including eight battleships, and over 300 airplanes. More than than 2,400 Americans died in the attack, including civilians, and another 1,000 people were wounded. The day afterward the attack, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan.

Japan and the Path to War

The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise, but Nippon and the United States had been edging toward state of war for decades.

The United States was particularly unhappy with Nihon's increasingly belligerent mental attitude toward China. The Japanese government believed that the simply way to solve its economic and demographic problems was to aggrandize into its neighbour'south territory and take over its import market place.

To this stop, Nihon declared war on China in 1937, resulting in the Nanking Massacre and other atrocities.

American officials responded to this aggression with a battery of economic sanctions and merchandise embargoes. They reasoned that without access to money and goods, and especially essential supplies like oil, Japan would take to rein in its expansionism.

Instead, the sanctions made the Japanese more than determined to stand their ground. During months of negotiations betwixt Tokyo and Washington, D.C., neither side would budge. Information technology seemed that war was all but inevitable.

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Where Is Pearl Harbor?

Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, is located near the center of the Pacific Body of water, roughly 2,000 miles from the U.S. mainland and about 4,000 miles from Japan. No one believed that the Japanese would kickoff a war with an attack on the distant islands of Hawaii.

Additionally, American intelligence officials were confident that any Japanese attack would have identify in 1 of the (relatively) nearby European colonies in the South Pacific: the Dutch East Indies, Singapore or Indochina.

Because American armed services leaders were not expecting an attack and then shut to habitation, the naval facilities at Pearl Harbor were relatively undefended. Most the entire Pacific Armada was moored around Ford Island in the harbor, and hundreds of airplanes were squeezed onto next airfields.

To the Japanese, Pearl Harbor was an irresistibly like shooting fish in a barrel target.

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USS Arizona

The Japanese program was simple: Destroy the Pacific Armada. That way, the Americans would non be able to fight dorsum every bit Japan'due south armed forces spread across the South Pacific. On December 7, after months of planning and practice, the Japanese launched their attack.

At nearly 8 a.m., Japanese planes filled the sky over Pearl Harbor. Bombs and bullets rained onto the vessels moored beneath. At 8:10, a 1,800-pound bomb smashed through the deck of the battleship USS Arizona and landed in her forward ammunition magazine. The ship exploded and sank with more than 1,000 men trapped inside.

Side by side, torpedoes pierced the shell of the battleship USS Oklahoma. With 400 sailors aboard, the Oklahoma lost her balance, rolled onto her side and slipped underwater.

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Less than two hours subsequently, the surprise attack was over, and every battleship in Pearl Harbor—USS Arizona, USS Oklahoma, USS California, USS West Virginia, USS Utah, USS Maryland, USS Pennsylvania, USS Tennessee and USS Nevada—had sustained significant harm. (All but USS Arizona and USS Utah were eventually salvaged and repaired.)

Impact of the Pearl Harbor Attack

In all, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor crippled or destroyed nearly twenty American ships and more than 300 airplanes. Dry out docks and airfields were likewise destroyed. Most important, ii,403 sailors, soldiers and civilians were killed and most ane,000 people were wounded.

But the Japanese had failed to cripple the Pacific Fleet. By the 1940s, battleships were no longer the virtually important naval vessel: Aircraft carriers were, and every bit it happened, all of the Pacific Fleet's carriers were away from the base on December 7. (Some had returned to the mainland and others were delivering planes to troops on Midway and Wake Islands.)

Moreover, the Pearl Harbor assault had left the base'southward most vital onshore facilities—oil storage depots, repair shops, shipyards and submarine docks—intact. Equally a result, the U.Due south. Navy was able to rebound relatively quickly from the attack.

'A Engagement Which Will Live in Infamy'

President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed a joint session of the U.S. Congress on December viii, the 24-hour interval after the burdensome attack on Pearl Harbor.

"Yesterday, Dec 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United states of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked past naval and air forces of the Empire of Nihon."

He went on to say, "No matter how long it may have us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory. I believe I translate the will of the Congress and of the people when I affirm that nosotros will non only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but volition make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again."

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America Enters World War II

Afterwards the Pearl Harbor attack, and for the first time during years of discussion and contend, the American people were united in their determination to become to war.

The Japanese had wanted to catalyst the United States into an agreement to elevator the economical sanctions confronting them; instead, they had pushed their antagonist into a global conflict that ultimately resulted in Nihon's beginning occupation by a foreign power.

On December 8, Congress canonical Roosevelt'south annunciation of war on Japan. Iii days subsequently, Japan's allies Deutschland and Italy alleged state of war confronting the United states.

For the second time, Congress reciprocated, declaring war on the European powers. More two years after the start of Earth State of war II, the United States had entered the conflict.