December 7, 1941

On December 7, 1941 the Japanese attacked the U.S. Naval Base, Pearl Harbor, in Oahu, Hawaii. At 7:53 am, Japan was given the order to attack and by 8:00 am a majority of the U.S fighter planes were destroyed. This was caused by torpedos, which inflicted most of the initial damage, in just 11 minutes.

Just 10 minutes later, a 1,800 pound bomb hit the forward ammunition magazine on the battleship USS Arizona causing it to explode and sink, carrying over 1,000 men. Then torpedoes pierced through the shell of the USS Oklahoma making it lose balance, roll onto its side and fall underwater with 400 sailors aboard.

Japan bombing Pearl Harbor

The USS Arizona before it sank, National Archives

For twenty minutes the Japanese were not in sight giving the soldiers time to load up the big guns and clear the runways. The second wave came at about 8:40 am involving 167 aircrafts and no torpedoes. Japan's goal for this wave was to attack Hickam field, Ford Island, and Okanoehe Naval air stations. They also wanted to finish off the rest of the ships and planes.

Japan was not holding back with their machine guns and fired at everything in sight including planes, dining halls, and men running for shelter. At the same time, ships were on fire and started spewing hot oil. The sailors on board were jumping off the burning boat trying to save their lives but the oil in the water burned most of them to death. U.S. airfields were also on fire as fuel was exploding from the planes.

Japan's attack paths, Pearl Harbor Warbirds

Japan's planes heading to attack Pearl Harbor

By 9:50 am the vessels from the first wave were returning to their carriers while the second wave was finishing their attacks. Every bomb and torpedo that the Japanese planes were carrying was dropped. A lot of the planes that the U.S. shot down were in the second wave. The Japanese lost 29 out of 353 of their planes.