2009-10.2.2.I

=Pearl Harbor =

= = The Sunday morning of December 7, 1941, 7:55 Hawaii time was what led the United States in to World War 2. In the Harbor was most of the US Pacific Fleet with 96 vessels, 8 of the battleships of the fleet were there, and all the aircraft carriers were out at sea. The Naval Airfields on Ford Island had 390 Navy and Army planes but less than 300 were available for combat. The Commander of the Pacific Fleet was Admiral Husband E. Kimmel and the Army Forces Commander of the 24th and 25th Infantry Divisions was Lt. General Walter C. Short, they both were stationed at Pearl Harbor at the time of the attack

On November 26, 1941 the Japanese started to sail from Japan to Hawaii. The Japanese took about 30 ships including 6 aircraft Carriers, 430 planes and 20 submarines. The Japanese arrived undetected 200 miles North of Oahu. The 360 Japanese planes that took part in the bombing of Pearl Harbor started launching off the Aircraft Carriers at 6:00am Hawaii time. At first the US fleet thought it was a fly over training exercise, until the Bombs started to drop.

Americans fought back with antiaircraft and only a few planes got launched for the counterattack because the Japanese destroyed most of the Airfields. During the opening moments of Pearl Harbor the battleships were in Battleship Row. Seven ships were affected from the bombing Three of the American Battle ships had sunk and others capsized, with severe damage to another 4, the USS California, USS Maryland, USS Oklahoma, USS Tennessee, USS West Virginia, USS Arizona, and the USS Nevada. Among the three sunken Battle ships was the USS Arizona, which lost all its men when it sunk, All One Thousand, One Hundred and Seventy Seven, there has never been a ship that has taken so many of its crew down with her in the Navy’s history. The USS Maryland, USS Tennessee, and USS Pennsylvania (which was dry docked in the Navy yard during the attack) were repaired but the USS Arizona and the USS Oklahoma would never return to battle.

Ford Island id located in the middle of Pearl Harbor, it was purchased from the original owner, Doctor Seth Porter Ford, and the island was turned in to a naval base and airfield. The ocean area around the south side of the island was known as “Battleship Row” and the airfield is called Luke Field.

At the End of the day the Japanese Lost 29 planes, 1 large submarine, and all 5 midget submarines. The men lost for the Japanese was 55 airmen, 9 crew men and an unknown number for the large submarine. The Japanese carrier task force sailed away unnoticed and unscratched leavening the US Pacific Fleet in Ruins.

The American casualties were high. In the Navy and Marine Corps 2,896 casualties, out of that 2,117 deaths (Navy- 2,008, Marines- 109) and 779 Wounded (Navy-710, Marines- 69). The count for the Army at Midnight December 10th was 228 Killed or died of wounds, 113 seriously wounded and 346 slightly wounded. 57 civilians were killed and almost as many injured.The Japanese completed their mission and crippled the Pacific Fleet. Four days after Pearl Harbor December 11, 1941 Germany and Italy declared war on the US and Congress rescinded the article of Selective Service Act, which prohibited the use of US armed Forces beyond the Western Hemisphere. The Untied States of American had official Entered World War 2. media type="youtube" key="HAnOtWm5OrM" height="364" width="445"