December 7, 1941

[earntaz]

PEARL HARBOR

On Sunday, December 7th, 1941 the Japanese launched a surprise attack against the U.S. Forces stationed at Pearl Harbor , Hawaii . By planning his attack on a Sunday, the Japanese commander Admiral Nagumo, hoped to catch the entire fleet in port. As luck would have it, the Aircraft Carriers and one of the Battleships were not in port. (The USS Enterprise was returning from Wake Island, where it had just delivered some aircraft. The USS Lexington was ferrying aircraft to Midway, and the USS Saratoga and USS Colorado were undergoing repairs in the United States.)

In spite of the latest intelligence reports about the missing aircraft carriers (his most important targets), Admiral Nagumo decided to continue the attack with his force of six carriers and 423 aircraft. At a range of 230 miles north of Oahu, he launched the first wave of a two-wave attack. Beginning at 0600 hours his first wave consisted of 183 fighters and torpedo bombers which struck at the fleet in Pearl Harbor and the airfields in Hickam, Kaneohe and Ewa. The second strike, launched at 0715 hours, consisted of 167 aircraft, which again struck at the same targets.

At 0753 hours the first wave consisting of 40 Nakajima B5N2 "Kate" torpedo bombers, 51 Aichi D3A1 "Val" dive bombers, 50 high altitude bombers and 43 Zeros struck airfields and Pearl Harbor Within the next hour, the second wave arrived and continued the attack.
When it was over, the U.S. losses were:

Casualties
USA< /st1:country-region> : 218 KIA, 364 WIA.
USN: 2,008 KIA, 710 WIA.
USMC: 109 KIA, 69 WIA.
Civilians: 68 KIA, 35 WIA. < SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">
TOTAL: 2,403 KIA, 1,178 WIA.
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Battleships
USS Arizona (BB-39) - total loss whe n a bomb hit her magazine.
USS Oklahoma (BB-37) - Total loss when she capsized and sunk in the harbor.
USS California (BB-44) - Sunk at her berth. Later raised and repaired.
USS West Virginia (BB-48) - Sunk at her berth. Later raised and repaired.
USS Nevada - (BB-36) Beached to prevent sinking. Later repaired.
USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) - Light damage.
USS Maryland (BB-46) - Light damage.
USS Tennessee (BB-43) Light damage.
USS Utah (AG-16) - (former battleship used as a target) - Sunk.
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Cruisers
USS New Orleans (CA-32) - Light Damage..
USS San Francisco (CA38) - Light Damage.
USS Detroit (CL-8) - Light Damage.
USS Raleigh (CL-7) - Heavily damaged but repaired.
USS Helena (CL-50) - Light Damage.
USS Honolulu (CL-48) - Light Damage..
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Destroyers
USS Downes (DD-375) - Destroyed. Parts salvaged.
USS Cassin - (DD-37 2) Destroyed. Parts salvaged.
USS Shaw (DD-373) - Very heavy damage.
USS Helm (DD-388) - Light Damage.
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Minelayer
USS Ogala (CM-4) - Sunk but later raised and repaired.
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Seaplane Tender
USS Curtiss (AV-4) - Severely damaged but later repaired.
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Repair Ship
USS Vestal (AR-4) - Sever ely damaged but later repaired.
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Harbor Tug
USS Sotoyomo (YT-9) - Sunk but later raised and repaired.
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Aircraft
188 Aircraft destroyed (92 USN and 92 U.S. Army Air Corps.)

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[67 Nova Boy]

Thanks for the lesson!! Never forget what a great tragedy it really was...

Dave
67 Nova Boy

[WILMASBOYL78]

Lest we forget [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/flag.gif[/img]

[Xplantdad]

[img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/flag.gif[/img] [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/flag.gif[/img] For all who gave all [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/flag.gif[/img] [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/flag.gif[/img]

[njsteve]

My 16 year old son who has taken after me and my WWII interest was watching one of the Pearl Harbor documentaries with me this evening. I almost had a tear in my eye when he said to me:

&quot;You know I have been in school almost 11 years and we are just getting to World War 1 in history now. They never actually teach anything about World War II unless you take an honors history course your senior year or the Holocaust studies course that (his sister) took. They spend so much time on how the country was formed hundreds of years ago and completely ignore how the world was formed in the twentieth century by America winning the war.&quot;

That's a lot coming out the mouth of a kid. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/flag.gif[/img]

He said no one else in any of his classes knows the real significance of December 7th (and he attends a mega-high school of 3,000 kids). He said that only a couple kids knew that there was something about a war involved on that date but had no idea who the parties involved were. Ugh!

[WILMASBOYL78]

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2016/12/0...ber-7-1941.html

There are 5 survivors of the Arizona still alive...this book sounds like a great tribute to the brave men from the fateful day.

[RPOLS3]

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[HawkX66]

I didn't realize so many of the ships were repaired.

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[169indy]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: HawkX66</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I didn't realize so many of the ships were repaired.

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YOU BET! Puget Sound Navy Yard
Building on a Proud Tradition!
http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=4905

Jim Marine Electrician 35 years!

[TimG]

It's moving to see the Memorial at Pearl Harbor.