The Bombing of Pearl Harbor

The Bombing of Pearl Harbor

On the 7th day of December 1941 , Japan launched a surprise attack on the United States Navy base at Pearl Harbor and Oahu in the Hawaiian Islands leading to the destruction of the American Pacific Fleet , resulting in the entry of the United States into World War II with its declaration of war against Japan and Germany 's subsequent declaration of war against the United States

This was the climax of a decade of worsening relations between the United States and Japan , especially with Japan 's entry

into an alliance with the Axis Powers (Germany and Italy ) on September 1940 and its expansion into Indochina resulting in United States embargo on aviation gasoline , scrap metal , steel and iron , and subsequent closure of Panama Canal to Japanese ship and embargo on oil due to seizure of Indochina in July 1941 . The intention of the strike was to protect Japan as it planned to move into Singapore and the Dutch East Indies to secure her access to oil and other resources to meet the demands of her industrialization . This attack on British colonies was feared to bring the United States into war with Japan

On November 25 , 1941 , as negotiations seeking peaceful settlement were on in Washington , the Japanese carrier battle group consisting of six aircraft carriers , two battleships , three cruisers , nine destroyers , 23 fleet submarines , five midget submarines , 414 planes and 24 oilers (Prange et al 8 , with the First Air Fleet was dispatched toward Hawaii from the Kuril Islands under strict radio silence . These were escorted by two fast battleships , two heavy cruisers , one light cruiser , nine destroyers and three fleet submarines while 20 fleet submarines and five two-man midget submarines were to gather intelligence and sink US vessels attempting to flee Pearl Harbor . It is said to be the most powerful carrier force with the greatest air power in history

Although the United States army and Navy had sufficient information pointing to additional Japanese aggression through out the summer and fall before the attack , non actually pointed to Pearl Harbor Expectations were an attack on the Philippines , Vietnam and Russia . The warnings sent to all Pacific commands in November were not specific on any area but only said hostilities with Japan was on the short term This therefore did not produce any active alert status at Pearl Harbor

Also of all the intelligence reports gather from interception of diplomatic and naval cipher traffic through the army 's Signal Intelligence Service only one message from the Hawaii Japanese Consulate sent on 6th December mentioned an attack at Pearl Harbor and this was not decrypted until 8th December

At the time of the attack Pearl Harbor the army and navy were both on training status and not operational alert . Thus they were unprepared for the attack with unmanned anti-aircraft weapons , mostly locked ammunitions , unimplemented anti-submarine measures , combat air patrol that was not flying , scouting aircraft not in air , aircrafts parked to reduce sabotage and not in...