Pearl Harbor Anniversary

After a few years research into my grandfather and his service with the Chindits in 1943, I realised what a momentous day this was in regards to all those men who lost their lives fighting the Japanese during the years of WW2.

 

Pearl Harbor Resources

 

7th December 1941

https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/what-happened-at-pearl-harbor
On the morning of 7 December 1941, at 7.48am local time, 177 aircraft of the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked the United States Naval base at Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Their intention was to destroy and damage as much of the US Pacific Fleet as possible, before it could respond to Japanese operations taking place on the same day against British, Dutch and US territories in southeast Asia.

This first attack wave began bombing the hangars and parked aircraft of the island’s airfields while at the same time launching torpedoes against the US warships moored in the harbour. In the first five minutes of the attack, four battleships were hit, including the USS Oklahoma and the USS Arizona. Minutes later, the Arizona exploded after a bomb hit its gunpowder stores, sinking the ship and killing 1,177 of its crew.

This devastating attack was followed an hour later by a second wave of 163 Japanese aircraft. Within two hours, 21 US warships had been sunk or damaged, 188 aircraft destroyed and 2,403 American servicemen and women killed. Many of these ships were repaired and fought in later battles, and, crucially all three of the Pacific Fleet’s aircraft carriers were not at Pearl Harbor during the attack and so escaped damage. They were to prove vital in the coming Pacific Campaign.

 

Today USS Missouri and USS Arizona bookend the Pearl Harbor Memorial. Mighty Mo was the last battleship I served on. Having been born in Missouri made her extra special to me. I first saw her when I was on New Jersey. We pulled into Long Beach Naval Shipyard and Mo was on the other side of the pier. I went to my Division Officer and said "I'm forty yards from home!" The next day the paperwork was done and I executed the shortest change of command in my career.

 

And today is a Sunday. I just had a look to see what time it is currently in Honolulu and see it’s 04:19 - so very poignant to think that, 84 years ago today, so many did not know what was about to hit in just over three hours, and so many did not know these few hours were the last of their lives. Never forgotten.

 

"The sky was filled with aircraft. We knew then why we had lost the war."

 

Official U.S. Navy infographic naming the 21 ships sunk or damaged during the Pearl Harbor air attack, of which 18 were restored to service following the epic salvage operation. Five battleships on the list—West Virginia, Pennsylvania, California, Tennessee, and Maryland—were later engaged as a group during the Battle of the Surigao Strait; exacting some measure of revenge against the Japanese fleet.



https://www.history.navy.mil/news-a...raphics/history/pearl-harbor-infographic.html

 

Utah was a target ship, demilitarized per the Washington Naval Limitations Treaty. The IJN pilots were told to ignore her. Some of them did. She was parked on the west side of Ford Island all alone.

I used call her the USN's largest drone. She would be manned and sailed out to the designated target range area and the crew would take to the boats to be picked up by a destroyer. They stayed on the DD until the exercises were done, "just in case" a lucky hit sunk her. Then the crew would reboard her and take her back to Pearl.

The decks were were covered with heavy timbers that IJN pilots would later claim made her look like a carrier. Not much, actually, not with the superstructure sticking up out of the middle of that "flight deck."

 

Looks like that Pearl Harbor day is being mentioned less on today's TV and news outlets???

 

Maybe this will help explain the confusion. Weather, plus an attack direction that didn't leave a lot of time to get a clear view of the targets. Not to mention an attack formation that saw each chutai of 4 aircraft flying line astern IIRC, further limiting the sight pilots had of their prospective targets. Only the first 6 from Soryu dropped. Her last pair and all 8 from Hiryu recognised the mistake and sought other targets.

Japanese Attack Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941
https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2020/december/mystery-attack-utah
https://www.usni.org/magazines/nava...ecember/technical-report-japanese-thunderfish

 

BUT there was only one warship on the western side of the island, and the pilots were told that that ship was a demilitarized target. I won't give the IJN pilots a break on this. I will applaud their using their ordnance in a way that advantageous to the US. We'll take any help we can get right then.

 

"One warship"?

So the cruisers Raleigh, Detroit and seaplane carrier Tangier moored fore and aft of Utah don't count as warships? Interesting definition of "warship" you have

 

Weren't they expecting the carriers to be docked on that side of Ford Island?

 

That's probably the excuse the pilot(s) used, yes. But I can't imagine a pilot who had scores (or more) carrier landings would mistake a retired BB for a CV. The wood laid on the flatter parts of the ship's decks was cited by some as an excuse for the confusion. Add enough buck fever and an extremely generous person could forgive them. I don't know the pilots' history after the date in question.