Attack on Pearl Harbor

On the morning of December 7, 1941, planes of the Japanese Navy carried out
a surprise assault on the American Navy base and Army air field at Pearl
Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii. Eighteen ships were sunk or damaged, and around 2400
Americans lost their lives. The Japanese suffered minimal casualties. This
attack has been called the Bombing of Pearl Harbor and the Battle of Pearl
Harbor but, most commonly, the Attack on Pearl Harbor or simply Pearl Harbor.

Overview

On March 27, 1941 Japanese spy Takeo Yoshikawa arrived in Honolulu, Hawaii
and began to study the United States Naval fleet stationed at Pearl.

The Japanese deployed six aircraft carriers for the attack, Akagi, Hiryu,
Kaga, Shokaku, Soryu, Zuikaku, with a total of 441 planes, including
fighters, torpedo-bombers, dive-bombers, and fighter-bombers. Of these, 55
were lost during the battle.

The Japanese planes bombed the US Army air base at Hickam Field and the
ships anchored in Battleship Row. The American battleship USS Arizona blew
up and sank with a loss of over 1100 men, nearly half of the American dead.
Seven other battleships and twelve other ships were sunk or damaged.

Historical significance

This battle, like the Battle of Lexington and Concord had history-altering
consequences. It only had a small military impact due to the failure of the
Japanese Navy to sink any U.S. carriers, but it firmly drew the United
States into World War II and led to the demise of the Japanese Empire and
aided in the defeat of Nazi Germany as well. America's ultimate victory in
this war and its emergence as a world power has shaped international
politics ever since.

Strategic appraisal

The purpose of the attack on Pearl Harbor was to neutralize American naval
power in the Pacific. The Japanese wanted license to do as they pleased in
the Pacific and Asia, and thought they could get this by eliminating
American influence. Specifically, Japan had been embroiled in a war with
China which had come to a stalemate after many years of fighting. Japan
thought by cutting China off from American (as well as British) aid, China
would be weakened, and the stalemate could be broken. Japan also knew that
American naval power could not be neutralized indefinitely, but thought that
by dealing it a heavy blow at Pearl Harbor, the American Navy could be
neutralized long enough for Japan to achieve its objectives in Asia and the Pacific.

In terms of its strategic objectives the attack on Pearl Harbor was, in the
short to medium term, a unique and spectacular success which eclipsed the
wildest dreams of its planners and has few parallels in the military history
of any era. For the next six months, the United States Navy was unable to
play any significant role in the Pacific War; with the US Pacific Fleet out
of the picture, Japan was free to to conquer South-East Asia, the entire
South West Pacific and extend its reach far into the Indian Ocean.

In the longer term, however, the Pearl Harbor attack was an unmitigated
strategic disaster for Japan. In the first place, the main Japanese target
was the three American aircraft carriers stationed in the Pacific, but these
had been dispatched from Pearl Harbor a few days before the attack and
escaped unharmed. With most of the USN battleships out of commission, the
Navy had no choice but to put its faith in aircraft carriers and submarines,
and these would prove to be the tools with which the USN first stopped and
then reversed the Japanese advance.

Furthermore, although the Japanese forces inexplicably did not consider them
an important target, the base also had large fuel oil storage facilities - a
successful bombing of them would not only have resulted in massive fires
that could have devastated the base, but it would have also have crippled
much of the Pacific Fleet by robbing them of a major fuel supply and fueling
center thousands of miles from the mainland.

Most significantly of all, the Pearl Harbor attack galvanised a divided and
half-hearted nation into action as nothing else could have done: overnight,
it made the whole of America utterly determined to defeat Japan, and it
forever removed any question of a negotiated settlement short of
unconditional surrender.

A related question is why Nazi Germany declared war on the United States
December 11, 1941 immediately following the Japanese attack. This doubly
outraged the American public and allowed the United States to greatly step
up its support of the United Kingdom while recovering from the setback in
the Pacific.

Aftermath

Despite the perception of this battle as a devastating blow to America, only
five ships were permanently lost to the Navy. These were the battleships USS
Arizona, USS Oklahoma, the old target ship USS Utah, and the destroyers USS
Cassin and USS Downes; much usable material was salvaged from them,
including the two aft main turrets from the USS Arizona. Four ships that
were sunk during the attack were later raised and returned to duty,
including the battleships USS California, USS West Virginia and USS Nevada.
Of the 22 Japanese ships that took part in the attack, only one was to
survive the war.

In addition, despite the debacle, there were American personnel who served
with distinction in the incident. The most famous is Doris Miller, an
African-American sailor who went above and beyond the call of duty during
the attack when he took control of an unattended machine gun and used it in
defense of the base. For that, he was awarded the Navy Cross.

The attack has been depicted numerous times on film with the best known
examples being:

   * From Here to Eternity
   * Tora! Tora! Tora!
   * Pearl Harbor

The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and the resulting state of war between
Japan and the United States were factors in the later Japanese internment in
the western United States.

In 1991, it was rumored that Japan was going to release an official apology
to the United States for the attack. The apology did not come in the form
many expected, however. The Japanese Foreign Ministry released a statement
that said Japan had intended to release a formal declaration of war to the
US at 1 P.M., twenty-five minutes before the attacks at Pearl Harbor were
scheduled to begin. However, due to various delays, the Japanese ambassador
was unable to release the declaration until well after the attacks had
begun. For this, the Japanese government apologized.

Advance Knowledge Debate

There has been considerable debate by some ever since 1941 as to why the
United States was caught unaware, how much American officials knew of
Japanese plans (given the extensive and fairly successful pre-war American
code-breaking efforts directed at Japanese codes) and related topics. Some
people have argued that various parties (in some theories Roosevelt and
other American officials, in others Churchill and the British) knew of the
attack in advance and let it happen in order to propel America into war. The
best current evidence is that although American officials knew that war with
Japan was about to break out, nobody expected a strike at Pearl Harbor.

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