Attack on Pearl Harbor

Nicholas Rhee

In December 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japanese fighter planes.
At around 8:10 AM 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 dragging along 1,000 men along with her. The bomb run lasted about 2 hours and by the end of the attack all the battleships (USS Arizona, USS Oklahoma, USS California, USS West Virginia, USS Utah, USS Maryland, USS Pennsylvania, USS Tennessee and USS Nevada) around Pearl Harbor was severely damaged. All battleships except USS Arizona and USS Utah were salvaged and repaired. At the end of this attack Japanese crippled or destroyed 18 American ships and nearly 300 airplanes in Pearl Harbor. Almost 2,500 men were killed and 1,000 were wounded. However Japanese failed to cripple the Pacific Fleet, because by 1940's battleships were not the most vital transportation/Vessel. Aircraft carriers were. And on December 7, 1941 all the aircraft carrier on Pearl Harbor were off base. Moreover, the Pearl Harbor assault had left the base’s most vital onshore facilities–oil storage depots, repair shops, shipyards and submarine docks–intact. As a result, the U.S. Navy was able to rebound relatively quickly from the attack.

The day after the assault, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan; Congress approved his declaration with just one dissenting vote.After the Pearl Harbor attack, and for the first time after years of discussion and debate, the American people were united in their determination to go to war. The Japanese had wanted to goad the United States into an agreement to lift the economic sanctions against them; instead, they had pushed their adversary into a global conflict that ultimately resulted in Japan’s first occupation by a foreign power.

Sources:
"Pearl Harbor." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 05 Sept. 2013. <http://www.history.com/topics/pearl-harbor>.