The FReeper Foxhole Remembers Pearl Harbor (12/7/1941)

Selling a Plan

Yamamoto's main part in the Pearl Harbor plan was now to sell it to the NGS. In August, he dispatched Kuroshima to talk to the NGS again, with orders to have the annual war games advanced to September, instead of November, for better analysis of question arising; and to have a room prepared for a study of the Pearl Harbor plan, to study the lessons in detail. The NGS assented to these suggestions. Then Kuroshima again discussed with Captain Tomioka, Chief of the Operations Section, First Bureau, NGS, the main issues of the plan. Tomioka, as in the spring, was not convinced. Any decision would have to await the outcome of the wargames in September.

USS ARIZONA

On September 1st, the carrier Shokaku joined the 1st Air Fleet. Her sister Zuikaku would follow soon, allowing the prospect of six large carriers leading the strike to blossom in the minds of the planners.

Already, in July, Yamamoto had introduced another aspect to the plan, the use of submarines to seal off the harbor, and torpedo ships fleeing the area.

September, in any event, was a fruitful month for Japan's war. The government had decided that it preferred war over diplomacy. Kusaka, aboard Akagi, flagship of the First Air Fleet, revealed to his staff the details of the Pearl Harbor plan, and ordered Genda to lead a study group to draw up final plans. Genda and his group dealed with all aspects of the plan yet to be decided: route of approach; force structure and size; and navigational issues such as communications, fueling, and formation.

Ford Island as seen from a Japanese Attacker

While Genda was writing and thinking, at Tokyo the elite of the Japanese Navy was meeting to hold the annual war games. Whilst the various commanders were gaming their roles in the Southern Operation, the capture of the East Indies and the British colonies, Yamamoto and a select group of officers of the First Air Fleet, the NGS, and the Combined Fleet met in the room set aside for the Pearl Harbor operation to study the plan in detail. In the first run, the Blue attacking force was badly mauled by the defending Red force, which operated with a great strategic benefit: it knew what would happen. Air patrols were flown to the limit of their range, and found the carrier force. The attack turned out a desaster as it ran into the ready American defenses. Nagumo's force retired after having inflicting little damage.

But the second try was more successful. Planning to reach the outer limit of the American search range by sunset on the day before the attack, Nagumo's force would then hit them in the early morning. And so it managed, in the second run, hitting the unaware Red force without warning and annihilating, virtually, the Pacific Fleet, destroying four battleships and two carriers, three cruisers, and uncounted aircraft. Nagumo escaped with a single carrier lost to aircraft; he had won a resounding paper victory.

The following days were taken up with reviews of the action, before the war games terminated on September 20th. Yamamoto, returning to Nagato, still had not had an affirmative from the NGS. Four days later, Kuroshima met the NGS representatives of the First Bureau and Nagumo and his staff in Tokyo, receiving word that the NGS would study the matter in detail. Reporting this to Yamamoto, the Admiral exploded. He would henceforward show the NGS just how important he regarded the Pearl Harbor plan to be.

Battleship Row Dec. 7th, 1941

In mid-October, the Combined Fleet decided upon December 8th as the most promising date for the attack. At the same time, it was decided that six carriers were needed to make the attack successful, and Nagumo sent Kusaka to Tokyo to convince the NGS of this, for it before concluded that it would not risk so many ships, even if it okayed the plan. Kusaka was received unenthusiastically, being told that the NGS did not consider the Pearl Harbor attack sound, and would not allow six carriers in any event. Kusaka then proceeded to meet Yamamoto aboard Nagato at Kure, telling him of the Naval General Staffs objections. Yamamoto told Kusaka that he would deal with the matter. Himself restless at the NGS' continous obstructions, he dispatched Kuroshima to Tokyo with special orders. Once there, Kuroshima went over, for a third time, the entire points which the Combined Fleet considered gave utmost importance to the execution of the Pearl Harbor attack, and with six carriers at that. Tomioka listened, reiterated the Naval General Staff's manifold objections, and leaned back. Kuroshima then told him stunning news: should he refuse to adopt the plan, Yamamoto and the entire staff of the Combined Fleet would resign their offices.

Tomioka, dazed by the prospect of having the fleet's command structure complety destroyed on the eve of war, agreed to the plan. He then took Kuroshima to see Fukudome, Tomioka's chief, to gain his assent. Fukudome, also not convinced by Kuroshima's reasoning, then felt the full power of Yamamoto's threat. He, too, agreed to Yamamoto's plan now that there was no other option. He shuffled Kuroshima on to the office of Vice-Chief of the Naval General Staff Vice-Admiral Ito, another former Chief-of-Staff to Yamamoto. Ito agreed to present the case to Chief of the Naval General Staff Nagano, who, also realizing that Yamamoto must not be lost, and that at the same time, Yamamoto's conviction that the plan was necessary suggested that it was a good plan; for Yamamoto must have studied it most throughly.

USS ARIZONA Explodes

Kuroshima returned to Nagato with a written affirmation that Yamamoto's plan would be put in effect. Now, it was necessary for the First Air Fleet to be ready for its operation in the month that remained for its preparations.

Stranded on an Island

Admiral Kimmel, meanwhile, felt curiously out the loop. It was now late October, and the Japanese situation had definitely taken a turn for the worse. But still, Stark's weekly letters contained little advice on the situation, there was no guidance from the State Department on matters of policy, and the assurance which Roosevelt had given him about the integrity of his remaining force seemed brittle with the worsening of the situation in the Atlantic.

Although briefed by Stark, in his letters, of the most important events, he was left alone in interpreting them. His land counterpart, General Short, had his units consider sabotage the most important threat. Kimmel concurred that it was unlikely that anything else could hit him. He considered that in the event of war, he would take his force out into the Pacific. His carriers would raid the Japanese island bases, thus luring the Imperial Navy into a major fight. And then, Kimmel's Pacific Fleet would join battle and win, thus fulfilling its traditional role.

USS ARIZONA

So far as Kimmel was concerned, these were the plans for war. By the middle of November, little had changed. Kimmel had been told that there would be no further destroyers for his fleet, nor the battleships North Carolina and Washington, which Kimmel had begged he'd be given. And his Radio Intelligence unit had not been able to give him anything concrete. Although he had been dutifully informed by his Intelligence Officer, Captain Edwin Layton, that there was "something afoot", there had not been any information on just what that was. Short had managed to have his planes detect an "enemy" raiding force at 80 miles, and have pursuit planes in the air at short notice, so that some measure of safety seemed to have been achieved. Kimmel continued his regular schedule of having the fleet out by halves during the weeks and thus gain them experience in sailing, and also a measure of safety. Only on Sundays was the major part of the fleet assembled in Pearl.

Wrapping Things Up

At the beginning on November, there were still a lot of loose ends to tie up in Nagumo's 1st Air Fleet. At least, the general force structure had been agreed upon. Nagumo would take six carriers, Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, Hiryu, Shokaku and Zuikaku, two fast battleships, Hiei and Kirishima, cruisers Tone, Chikuma, and Abukuma, and nine destroyers, along with his main force. He would receive support from six tankers, while six midget submarines would attack the harbor concurrently with his force and four more submarines would cover the approaches from and to Pearl Harbor.

The terrific explosion of the destroyer USS SHAW when her magazine exploded after being bombed by Japanese aircraft in the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

Nagumo's force would sortie from its bases, whilst mock radio signals would suggest their continued presence, in no obvious order and rendezvous at Hitokappu Bay in the Aleutians prior to the final departure for Hawaii. Nagumo's airmen trained relentlessly, and so did the smaller ships of his force; for they, and the carriers Hiryu and Soryu, would require the services of the oilers to make the round-trip. Accordingly, during their voyage to Hitokappu, they exercised refueling. On the early morning of November 26th, the fleet having finally assembled, Nagumo took his ships out of the Kuriles, heading across the Pacific for its rendezvous with fate in the waters north of Hawaii.

Kimmel's War Warning

A day later, or rather two, due to the particularities of the date line, on November 27th, Kimmel received a telegram from Stark, with alarming content. Wrote Stark: "This despatch is to be considered a war warning." He alarmed Kimmel to the likelihood of war erupting "within the next few days", and noted that the Japanese convoys which had been sighted off the coast of Indo-China were likely to be an "amphibious expedition against either the Philippines, Thai or Kra Peninsula or possibly Borneo". Kimmel was to prepare for the execution of the Navy's war plans and begin defensive preparations.

USS CASSIN and USS DOWNES in Drydock Number 1

Kimmel didn't quite realize what Stark was aiming at, through little fault of his. Stark's warning contained no mention of Pearl Harbor, and omitted certain references which he had made before, such as to the threat to Guam. It did not indicate any threat to the Pacific Fleet, and was fairly lacking in detailed instructions and information. On the other hand, orders were orders. That same day, Kimmel sent out Vice-Admiral William Halsey and the carrier Enterprise, plus cruisers and destroyers, to deliver Marine fighters to Wake Island, telling him that there might be war any day. Then he settled back; he could do little more - defense of Pearl Harbor was not his part in the plans, a role which the Hawaiian Army and Air Force would have to play.

On December 1st, news reached Kimmel that the Imperial Navy had changed its radio call signs, after a previous change just a month before. Together with the continuing progress of Japanese transports in South East Asia, it was becoming increasingly evident that there would be war soon. But Kimmel's intelligence could not tell him much about the threat to Hawaii. Asked about the location of the carriers that same day, Layton told Kimmel he thought them in home waters. So it remained. On December 5th, Kimmel send out another large portion of his force. Rear-Admiral John Newton took Lexington and three cruisers, plus destroyers, out to reinforce Midway Island with planes. At the same time, the cruisers Minneapolis with Rear-Admiral Frank Fletcher aboad, and Indianapolis, with Vice-Admiral Wilson Brown, departed the harbor, heading south on various missions. On Saturday, December 6th, Kimmel again interviewed Layton. Sitting together with his staff, Kimmel and his men worked out their thoughts on the Japanese move south. His staff did not consider war with Japan likely even now; except Layton. Kimmel decided to leave the fleet were it was, to avoid alarming the public. He still considered that if war should break out, it would be in the Philippines, and his concern was the offensive action which his force would then take, not any defensive measures for the protection of his fleet.

Launching the Strike

A day after Kimmel's discussion with Layton of the location of enemy carriers, the fate of his fleet was being sealed, baring some unforeseen disaster. From the Combined Fleet's new Chief-of-Staff (since September) Rear-Admiral Ugaki Matome, came the message that ordered execution of the war plans at 0000, December 8th (Tokyo Time), 1941. The message arrived at 2000 aboard Akagi, and being relayed to Nagumo, read: "Climb Mount Niitaka, 1208." The Task Force, halfway between Midway and the Aleutians, drove on, confident of its victory. By December 6th, it had reached a position almost due north of Oahu, and changed course towards it, heading for the launch point. That evening, a message came in from the Naval General Staff, informing the fleet of the ships in Pearl Harbor. No carriers were reported, slightly worrying Nagumo, who believed that there was now a definitive threat of them appearing on his flanks. Still, the attack would proceed. By midnight, December 7th, about the time the Japanese invasions of Malaya started, planes were being lined up along the flightdecks.

USS Nevada (BB-36) headed down channel after being intensely attacked by Japanese dive bombers.
Photographed from Ford Island, with USS Avocet (AVP-4) in the foreground and the dredge line in the middle distance.

While preparations were ongoing about the Task Force, about three hundred miles to their south the destroyer Ward, protecting the entrance to Pearl Harbor, was informed by two approaching minesweepers that they had sighted a submerged submarine. Ward, expecting the report to be correct, attempted to find the vessel, but failed. It would not be her last contact that morning.

When Ward secured from General Quarters at 0435, the Japanese aircrew were about to rise. Quickly, after breakfasting and receiving their final briefings, the pilots, observers, gunners, radiomen and bombardiers shuffled to their planes. At 0550, the carriers turned into the wind, now blowing briskly from the east, and prepared for the take off. It was at 0610 that the first Zero took off from Akagi, leading the way for the dive-, torpedo- and level-bombers. Soon thereafter, all planes in the air and assembled, the flight leader Fuchida Mitsuo took his planes south toward Pearl Harbor. The second wave, to be launched one and a half hours later, was being readied aboard the warships.

Battleship Row Burning

Off Pearl Harbor, at 0630, the stores ship Antares was the next vessel to call upon the destroyer Ward. Antares reported it had seen a small submarine. Ward's men saw it soon thereafter: a small conning tower, obviously belonging to a submarine. At 0640, Ward's men went to battlestations, and began firing their 4" guns. Only two rounds later, the submarine was hit in the conning tower and heeled over. Ward rushed across her, dropping a shallow pattern of depth charges. The sub positively annihilated, Ward reported her attack to the 14th Naval District's (responsible for the local defense of Hawaii) offices.

To the north of Oahu, at 0700, Fuchida's planes were still heading for their target, now guided by the radio waves of Honolulu's KGMB radio station. At this moment, on Oahu the only available radar station, Opana, detected the incoming planes. Excitedly, the radar operators called their immediate superior, reporting a major flight of planes to Oahu's north, approaching quickly. The operator of the information center told them not to worry; he considered the blip to come from a flight of B-17 heavy bombers en route from California. Three minutes later, the plucky Ward detected another submarine, this time by sound, dropped a spread of depth charges, and found satisfied that a large bubble of oil was rising to the surface.

At half past seven, a report arrived in Fuchida's plane from a search plane the cruiser Chikuma had sent out ahead of the force, telling of the latest strengths in the harbor. A short time later, Fuchida sighted Oahu in the early-morning sun light. He ordered his planes into attack positions. Alas, now the Japanese made an error. The dive-bombers regarded a signal from Fuchida as an order to attack first, when in fact, Fuchida realized that surprise had been achieved, and the more vital attack of the torpedo bombers was to come first. It broke the plan: now every group of planes merely headed the straight route for their targets, seeking to keep the interval between the unpreventable attack on the airfields by the dive-bombers, and their own attacks on the battlefleet, short.

At 0749, now well over Oahu, Fuchida ordered his radioman to tap out the signal To-To-To, the attack order. The first attack wave broke up and headed for its targets. Four minutes later, Fuchida signalled Tora-Tora-Tora, back to the fleet, indicating complete strategic and tactical surprise.

Wake-up Call

Kimmel was in his quarters, digesting the information that had come from Ward. It was surprising. If true, and Kimmel was still awaiting confirmation, it meant that the Japanese had decided to wage war against the United States, quite unlike his staff had thought. Whilst he thought about the matter, Rear-Admiral William Furlong, Senior Officer Present Afloat, witnessed a particularly appaling case of irresponsibility, when a plane flying over Ford Island, the flat island housing Luke Field in the center of the harbor, released a bomb that exploded harmlessly on the edge of the field. Suddenly, thunderstruck, Furlong noticed the red disk of the Japanese national insignia on the fuselage of the plane. Immediately, his flagship radioed out to the fleet: "All ships in harbor: Sortie!"

USS California Abandoned

But it was too late for that. While the dive-bombers were already bombing Ford Island, Ewa and Wheeler Fields, the first torpedo bombers were approaching. They came from Hiryu and Soryu, and headed for the ships on the north-western side of Ford Island, were the target ship Utah and the cruiser Raleigh were anchored. Although instructed to avoid Utah, a single torpedo slammed into the target ship, which took on a heavy list and started to capsize. The light cruiser Raleigh, whereon no-one realized the severity of the danger, was hit by another torpedo, which took out the electric system, at 0755. This drove the crew to the realization that the raid was real, and five minutes later, the entire anti-air armament was in action. However, Raleigh listed heavily. Another Hiryu attacker took his plane past Ford Island and launched his torpedo at Furlong's flagship Oglala, missing the small minesweeper but hitting the cruiser Helena alongside.

Kimmel received news of the attack via phone and stepped outside, from where he could overlook the harbor. From here, he witnessed the most spectacular of the American losses that day: the violent destruction of Battleship Row.

USS California Abandoned

Along the south-eastern shore of Ford Island, the battleships of the Pacific Fleet lay in double rows, two ships besides each other. The repair ship Vestal was anchored there, as was the tanker Neosho, carrying hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel oil. California was moored alone further towards the entrance of the harbor. Aboard her, preparations were underway for the morning flag raising. Suddenly, a Japanese plane thundered overhead, ending the ceremony. Torpedoes dropped into the harbor waters. A first missile found West Virginia, moored outboard Tennessee, in the middle of the row. Action stations rang aboard most ships now. Vestal opened fire, shortly before a dive-bomber scored a hit on her, shortly followed by another; destroyers and cruisers joined in, and the battleships prepared for action. Aboard Nevada, the hindmost ship of the twin column (she had no ship alongside), the officer of the deck ordered steam to be made in order to follow the instructions which Furlong had given his ships.

Two torpedoes found Oklahoma in quick succession around five past eight. The huge battlewagon caught a list, which increased quickly. It appeared impossible to counterflood the ship quickly enough, so abandon ship was ordered and the men attempted to get off the ship.

"Battleship Row" is a mass of flames and smoke, with USS OKLAHOMA in the foreground, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941

A single torpedo then plowed under Vestal, moored outboard Arizona, and detonated against the latter ship, blowing her bottom out. A heavy bomb, courtesy of Fuchida's high-level bombers, then struck near the "Y" turret, adding to the damage. At the same time, a torpedo hit California, moored far from the other battleships, followed by another not much later.

Kimmel reached his headquaters not much later, and was immediately filled in on the few details that were available. Several more torpedoes had by now hit West Virginia, which settled on an even keel, the victim of more torpedoes than anyone had cared to count. While Kimmel was ordering his thoughts, and ordering the necessary messages to be dispatched, a tremendous explosion jarred the windows of his office. Looking out, he saw a huger column of deadly black smoke rise over the forecastle of Arizona, which settled quickly, a mass of torn metal forward. Apparently, one of Fuchida's bombers had placed an armor-piercing bomb into her forward ammunition or black-powder magazines, detonating that and disintegrating the forward part of the ship.

The giant explosion sucked all air from the immediate vicinity, saving Vestal alongside by extinguishing her fires. On the other hand, debris shattered the topside of Tennessee, which anchored ahead of Arizona. Two bombs had struck her, for less damage.

USS NEVADA at Pearl Harbor

Fuel oil burned on the harbor surface. It threatened to reach Nevada, which, last in line, had so far received but one torpedo hit and a number of near bomb misses to port. Now, her officers attempted to extract her from the line of approaching burning oil.

While the battleships were burning, twisting under the force of explosions and the men aboard them dying in the fury of detonating bombs and sputtering machine guns, their comrades at the airfields faired little better. At Kanoehe, a small airfield used by various patrol planes, the Japanese arrived first (at 0748) and ignited a terrible blaze, destroyed most PBYs present, and left the little field helpless and without a fire truck. Efforts to reach Bellows, Wheeler, or Hickam Fields were successful, but no-one believed the reports. Consequentially, when Hickam and Luke Fields were struck next, no-one had any advance warning. What was more, into the fray drove two groups of planes which without a doubt did not belong there. From California, the B-17s which had been considered to be on the Opana radar station's scope arrived over Hickam; and from Enterprise, returning from her Wake Island operation, came the dive-bombers of her air group, sent ahead to spent the day in Hawaii, instead of on the decks of the carrier. Each flight ran into the thunder of anti-air explosions, and each flight also had to deal in its own way with the Zeros of the Japanese bombers' escort. Four SBDs were shot down, but the Army's unarmed B-17s survived. But the carnage wrought by the Japanese on Hickam was only surpassed by that sustained a short while later on Wheeler, Pearl Harbor's Army fighter field. The fighters, arrayed in close line to protect against sabotage, had little chance of protection, and few managed to take off. Most were destroyed by strafing Zeros and dive-bombing Vals, of which there were so many that part of the attackers instead chose to hit the small Marine air station at Ewa.

USS OKLAHOMA capsized

Destroyers were racing to the open sea, the only ships small and maneuverable enough to get out of Pearl Harbor. The attacks were slacking after 0830, most planes having dropped their weapons, and the second wave not yet arrived. However, it was only a temporary respite. Everything around Pearl Harbor went into higher alert. Guns were made ready and ammunition stocked up. Then, at ten to nine, the second wave, led by Lt.Cmdr. Shimazaki, reached the burning harbor area. Below them, and a few minutes before their attack, destroyer Monaghan scored an unlikely victory, ramming another midget sub, this one inside the harbor proper. The victory was short lived; as the rammed intruder slid beneath the waves and settled on the shallow ground, Shimazaki's attackers bore down on the fleet.

Zeros strafed Ford Island, Hickam and Wheeler Fields, and Kaneohe and Bellows. Three P-40 fighters were shot down upon taking off, At Kaneohe, counting all things, twenty-seven PBYs were destroyed out of 36 that had been based there. High-level bombers now added their high-explosive bombs to the carnage on the airfields, obliterating hangars and revetments. The harbor's waters were spared the same power of attack that the initial wave had had, but there were a number of targets too good to pass up on. One was Nevada, now progressing slowly under her own power past Battleship Row, heading for the open sea. It was evident that if Nevada sank anywhere near the harbor entrance, the entire harbor would be blocked for a considerable amount of time. Thus, dive-bombers were soon working her over. Five bombs crashed into the ship, and after a second attack wave had worked the ship over for another hit, Nevada was grounded at Hospital Point, just off the harbor entrance but well out of the way.

Colors flying from USS WEST VIRGINIA(left) and USS ARIZONA (right) aflame, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor of Dec. 7, 1941

Another promising target for the dive-bombers was Drydock No.1, holding battleship Pennsylvania and destroyers Cassin and Downes. The battleship received but light damage, but Cassin and Downes were destroyed completely, and the destroyer Shaw nearby was similarly wrecked. Bombs also hit California, aboard which Battle Force chief Vice-Admiral Pye ordered abandon ship as the battleship slowly settled on the ground, and the light cruiser Raleigh, still listing heavily. Bombs also splashed into the waters around the piers to which the Pacific Fleet's cruisers were tied, damaging Honolulu. The cruiser St. Louis backed out of its pier and made for the open sea. On the way, she was nearly hit by the torpedoes of another midget submarine.

However, the air attack on Pearl Harbor was over, the time now ten past ten. The enemy's planes had flown off to strafe airfields by quarter to ten, a task which they completed in due course, before setting off for their carriers. Fuchida made up the rear; he had been watching the entire raid.

Post-Strike Deliberations

At the same time that St. Louis reached the open sea, the first planes were received back aboard their carriers, in rather unfriendly weather. But although several landed planes had to be written off as constructive losses, the majority landed safely, their crew elated to be back and confident that they had secured a major victory.

USS Raleigh listing

At noon, Fuchida landed, and set to briefing Nagumo. He told Nagumo that his fliers had sunk four and damaged four other battleships. Then, Kusaka asked him what proposed to strike next; and Fuchida answered that he desired to hit the fuel tank farms and dockyards. Nagumo then dismissed Fuchida, and querried Genda as to his thoughts. Genda replied that he would not hit Pearl Harbor again until the American carriers had been found. He advocated staying in the area, convinced that the American fleet was now effectively reduced to the carriers, to find the flattops and destroy them. But Nagumo would not accept that daring scheme. He asked his chief-of-staff for comments. Kusaka suggested that retirement now was the perfectly logical step. Nagumo had inflicted more damage than had been thought possible in even the Combined Fleet's optimistic wargames, at negligible casualties. No sense trying one's luck. Nagumo agreed. Soon, the flags ran up the mast, telling that the Task Force would head north-west, away from the Hawaiian Islands. Fuchida, upon hearing this, headed up to confront Nagumo, but was cut short. There would be no argument.

USS Utah capsizing

Even the Combined Fleet staff, once informed by Nagumo via radio of the decision, argument vehemently against it. But Yamamoto knew that he had to leave the decision to Nagumo, quite realizing that he might not have the full picture. And he was certainly delighted to get back his Task Force intact.

And so Nagumo retired from the scene of action. He left behind a shattered Pacific Fleet, a demoralized command, and a devastated Kimmel. While he had watched his proud fleet being destroyed, a spent American .50-caliber bullet had shattered the window he was standing at and hit him in the chest, from whence it dropped to the floor, leaving only a stain on his white jacket. "It would have been merciful had it killed me.", Kimmel uttered.

The news of the attack reached Washington just after lunch. Roosevelt was surprised and shocked, Navy Secretary Knox, who first heard it through naval channels, needed Stark's double confirmation that it was indeed a raid on Pearl Harbor. War Secretary Stimson took it with all the impertubability that only fifty years in civil service can bestow. Secretary of State Hull, with the unenviable task of seeing the Japanese ambassador after the raid had been known to him, could barely hide his cold contempt for the Japanese envoys.

USS WEST VIRGINIA burning

The White House and the Congressional Leadership met that night. Roosevelt told the Congressmen of his news; and they agreed that Roosevelt would speak before the combined House and Senate the next day, to voice a motion for a declaration of war.

Final Accounting

The carrier Enterprise entered Pearl Harbor on the evening of December 7th. From her flag bridge, Vice-Admiral William Halsey looked out on the carnage that was the harbor. California lay on her bottom on the harbor bed, as did West Virginia. Arizona had blown up and was beyond salvage, almost 1200 men dying aboard her alone. Oklahoma had capsized, with men still aboard her. Salvage operations would take place to rescue these men, but not all would be saved.

The target ship Utah shared Oklahoma's fate, and the men aboard her the fate of Oklahoma's. The cruiser Raleigh, severely damaged in the attack, was kept upright by the help of salvage barges. The destroyers Cassin and Downes were destroyed, without a chance to salvage them. Shawwas severely damaged and would require a new bow. Oglala, the old minesweeper, had been destroyed.

On land, the air strike had destroyed 164 air planes and damaged another 150, many beyond repair. The human casualties were severe. The Navy had lost 2,008 men killed and 710 wounded, most aboard the battleships, most aboard Arizona. The Marines had 109 killed and 69 wounded, most in the Marine Detachments aboard the ships in harbor. The Army had 218 men killed and 364 wounded, and there were a hundred civilian casualties.

The Japanese had suffered twenty-nine planes shot down, and a large number damaged, but casualties were light, certainly in no relation to the damage inflicted.

USS Arizona (BB39) 10 Dec 1941; View from ahead looking aft

And so, in three hours work on a Sunday morning, the Japanese had shattered any hope of winning their war, for they had filled the Americans with terrible resolve. But they had also effectively negated the threat of a U.S. flanking attack on their sortie to South East Asia. In consequence, they could largely ignore the U.S. raids of February/March, and finish up their operations against the Dutch and British possessions. The U.S. defeat eliminated any ever so slight hope the United States may have had of relieving the Philippines, and, of course, destroyed the career of Kimmel and his land counterpart, Short.

Alas, to analyze the attack means also to see if the successes it achieved could not be had by another way, a way, for example, that would not have enfuriated the Americans in such a fashion. The answer is difficult, for many issues played into the decision to begin the war with an attack on the Pacific Fleet.

View of Pearl Harbor looking southwesterly from the hills to the northward. Taken during the Japanese raid, with anti-aircraft shell bursts overhead. Large column of smoke in lower center is from USS Arizona (BB-39). Smaller smoke columns further to the left are from the destroyers Shaw (DD-373), Cassin (DD-372) and Downes (DD-375), in drydocks at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard.

It is likely, however, that had the Japanese decided to wait for Kimmel to come out, and fight him in Japanese territory, such as the Mandate, they would have won an equally resounding victory, and one which would have hurt enemy morale, not increased it. Although the Combined Fleet would not have so many carriers available,it would have the entire battleforce with which to oppose the U.S. Pacific Fleet, plus at least as many heavy carriers as the U.S. had. It is likely that the Japanese would have won such a battle.

But that is a largely academic question. It must be noted that the Japanese attack plan was brillant and executed professionally, with no error being made in the execution. The question of who was responsible for the debacle is easy to answer: Genda, Nagumo, Fuchida, Kusaka. The men who planned, led, and executed the attack.

Additional Sources:

www.history.navy.mil
www.wpafb.af.mi
my.execpc.com
www.grunts.net
www.nationalgeographic.com

Sixty years after Japanese bombers sank the U.S.S. Arizona, the silent wreck still sheds fuel oil, drop by drop, over the memories of a hellish Hawaiian morning.

A month after the attack, Navy teams were salvaging guns and usable hardware from the battleship. Divers wearing heavy copper helmets were bringing up safes, record books, and live ordnance. Metalsmith 1st Class Edward Raymer was first to penetrate the Arizona. In his recent war memoir, Descent into Darkness, he writes how “viscous oil thickly layered everything in the harbor. The hulls of ships and the pilings on docks were coated with it, and the entire shoreline was blackened.”

When he dived to the battleship, “the dense floating mass of oil blotted out all daylight. I was submerged in total blackness.” Lights were useless because they reflected directly back into the diver’s eyes. Instructed to find and disarm an unexploded torpedo, Raymer groped his way through the spaces of the Arizona’s third deck, trailing an air hose connected to a pump topside. “I got the eerie feeling again that I wasn’t alone. Something was near. I felt the body floating above me.”

Raymer’s movement through the water had created a suction that drew floating corpses to him, bodies with heads and hands picked clean by scavenger crabs. “Their skeletal fingers brushed across my copper helmet,” he remembers in horror. “The sound reminded me of the tinkle of oriental wind chimes.”

Medics wearing gas masks against nausea gathered only 229 Arizona dead from the waters before the Navy reluctantly decided to leave the rest untouched.

Priit J. Vesilind,
National Geographic Magazine

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Happy 1st Anniversary

from the
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to the readers of Free Republic's
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The announcement of the creation of the FReeper Foxhole was on December 6th 2002.

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Hi Sam
This is the day of my first deployment to Japan 12/7/78
But of the date more people know about 12/7/41
I think there is still a large untold story

You need to read the book The Venona Secrets

One of the biggest revelations was how the USSR had a big hand in Pearl Harbor happening.

Dexter White, FDRs right hand man was a KGB agent. And with orders from Moscow. To make the US negations with Japan fail. So Japan would attack. and be less of a threat to the USSR. ( some friends)

Required reading for all.

Secrets, Lies, and Atomic Spies,.....Or... Joe McCarthy was more right than he ever knew
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/622675/posts

Here's a list of Venona-related Soviet spies:
http://www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/AD_Issues/amdipl_15/platt_15.html

Do you want to see how many Communist there still are in Hollywood?...Protesting Kazan's Award
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/975677/posts

opps make that 12/7/77 set foot at Kadena

Good morning Sam. A noteworthy day for veterans and patriots, to be sure.

Good morning, SAM and everyone at the Freeper Foxhole.

On Saturday, the Navy canceled leave for the crew of the USS Minneapolis and sent the ship to sea to film this movie. They were filming when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

Good Morning all!

Thanks for a great tribute to our men and women who gave their lives for the defense of this country on December 7, 1941. (And for all those fighting for freedom at this time.)

Our neighbor, Will Lehner was on the the USS Ward when they caught the Jap sub trying to sneak into the entrance of Pearl Harbor. He will be featured on the History channel tonight.

He told me his story about when he went with Ballard (of Titanic fame) a few years ago down in a sub to look for that sub at the mouth of Pearl. Ballard kept looking in the wrong direction while Will tried to stear him to where they had been. Ballard wouldn't listen to him, and doubted that they had sunk the sub. They didn't find it. A few months later 2 colleges students from the Univ. of Hawaii (I believe...) found it. I love that story!

Will's still going strong!

Good Morning FRiends. We watched the History channel's special on Pearl Harbor last night. It never fails to move me to tears, we must not forget it or the WTC.

Local man looses 2 brothers at Pearl Harbor

Thank for your dedicated hardwork everyday. I didn't get a chance to read the whole thread yet, but I will after church this afternoon. I'm running late.

God blessed Pearl Harbor Day with a wonderful person for the world. Just wanted to let you know it's Victoria's Birthday.

Hmmmm....that's strange. Victoria has a Pearl Harbor birthday and I have a 911 birthday. Sad days for America.

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto aboard his flagship Nagato

"I fear we have awakened a sleeping giant, and filled him with a terrible resolve".

Comment:

At a Naval reunion in Frisco..met a veteran from USS Benham DD 397.
Benham sortied with carrier USS Enterprise CV-6...delivery of Marine planes to Midway.
They were a few hours out of Pearl on Dec 7th..
Refueling the thirsty destroyers kept the fleet outbound from Pearl...a delay with with some fortune attached.

On this Day In History

Birthdates which occurred on December 07:
0967 Abu Sa'id ibn Aboa al-Chair Persian mystic
1542 Mary Stuart Queen of Scots (1560-1587)
1598 Giovanni Bernini, Italy, baroque sculptor (St Teresa in Ecstasy)
1637 Barnardo Pasquini, composer
1761 Madame [Marie Grosholtz] Tussaud, created wax museum
1810 Theodor Schwann, German co-originator of cell theory
1823 Leopold Kronecker, German mathematician (Tensor of Kronecker)
1840 Hermann Goetz, composer
1876 Willa Cather (author: O Pioneers!, My Antonia)
1879 Rudolf Friml (musician, composer: Rose Marie, Indian Love Call)
1905 Gerard Kuiper, Dutch/US astronomer (moons of Uranus, Neptune)
1910 Rod Cameron (Cox) (actor)
1912 Louis Prima (musician, singer: Just a Gigolo; Las Vegas act [w/wife Keely Smith]; voice of Orangutan: The Jungle Book)
1915 Eli Wallach (actor: Emmy Award-winning Best Supporting Actor/ Drama: The Poppy is Also a Flower [1966-'67])
1925 Ted Knight (Tadeus Konopka) (Emmy Award-winning Actor: Mary Tyler Moore Show [1972-73, 1975-76])
1926 Victor Kermit Kiam II CEO (Remington shavers)/NFL owner (Patriots)
1928 Noam Chomsky (linguist, educator, activist, moral midget)
1930 Dan Sikes, Jr. (golf)
1930 Richard Felciano composer
1931 Bobby Osborne (singer: duo: Osborne Brothers: Rocky Top)
1932 Ellen Burstyn (Edna Rae Gilhooley) (Academy Award-winning actress: Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore [1974])
1935 Don Cardwell (baseball)
1940 Gerry Cheevers (hockey: Boston Bruins goalie: longest undefeated streak [32 games])
1942 Alex Johnson (baseball)
1942 Harry Chapin (songwriter, singer: Taxi, W-O-L-D, Cat's in the Cradle; humanitarian for the needy and homeless)
1945 Al Woodall (football)
1947 Gary Unger (hockey)
1947 Johnny Bench (Baseball Hall of Famer: Cincinnati Reds catcher, 1968 Rookie of the Year; broadcaster: CBS Radio baseball)
1947 Leo Brooks (football)
1948 Yoko Morishita, prima ballerina (Baterina No Habataki)
1949 Brian Goodman (football)
1949 Tom Waits, Calif, rocker/song writer (Blue Valentine)
1956 Larry Bird hoop star (Boston Celtics)

Deaths which occurred on December 07:
0983 Otto II the Red German king/emperor (973-83), dies at about 28
1254 Innocent IV [Sinibaldo dei Fieschi] Pope (1243-54), dies
1817 William Bligh, British naval officer of "Bounty" fame, dies at 63
1862 Sylvester Churchill US Union Brigadier-General, dies
1970 Rube Goldberg, US cartoonist (Mike & Ike, Pulitzer 1948), dies at 87
1975 Thornton N Wilder US writer (Bridge of San Luis Rey), dies at 78
1982 Charlie Brooks Jr, convicted murderer became 1st US prisoner to be executed by lethal injection, at a prison in Huntsville, Texas
1983 Edgar Graham, member of N Ireland Assembly, shot dead by IRA
1985 Retired Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart died in Hanover, N.H., at age 70.
1990 Joan Bennett US actress (House Across the Bay), dies at 80

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1965 DUNN JOHN HOWARD---GLENDIVE MT.
[02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV DIED 01/14/98]
1965 FREDERICK JOHN WILLIAM JR---MANITO IL.
[03/13/74 REMAINS RETURNED]
1966 CARLSON JOHN WERNER---CHICAGO IL.

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

On this day...
0036 -BC- Earliest known Mayan inscription, Stela 2 at Chiapa de Corzo
0043 -BC- Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman writer, gets his head & right hand chopped off by Mark Antony's soldiers
0185 Emperor Lo-Yang, China sees supernova (MSH15-52?)
0283 St Eutychian ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1354 Margaretha van Bavarian's son earl Willem V signs peace treaty
1646 Princess Louise Henriette (19) marries monarch Frederik Henry
1741 Elisabeth Petrovna becomes tsarina of Russia
1783 Theatre Royal opens in Covent Garden, London
1783 William Pitt Jr (24) becomes British premier
1787 Delaware becomes 1st state to ratify constitution
1808 James Madison elected US President,George Clinton Vice-President
1835 German railway Neurenberg-Fürth opens
1836 Martin Van Buren elected 8th President
1842 New York Philharmonic's 1st concert
1861 USS Santiago de Cuba, under Commander Daniel B. Ridgely, halts the British schooner Eugenia Smith and captures J.W. Zacharie, a New Orleans merchant and Confederate purchasing agent.
1862 Battle of Hartsville TN
1862 Battle of Prairie Grove AR
1864 Skirmish at Ebenezer Creek/Cypress Swamp, Georgia
1868 Jesse James gang robs bank in Gallatin MO, kills 1
1872 HMS Challenger sets sail on 3½-year world oceanographic cruise
1875 Natives Sons of the West organized
1876 New York Mutuals & Philadelphia A's expelled from National League for not completing schedule
1877 Thomas A Edison demonstrates the gramophone
1885 49th Congress (1885-87) convenes
1889 Gilbert & Sullivan's "Gondoliers" premieres in London
1891 52nd Congress (1st to appropriate $1 billion) holds 1st session
1895 Battle at Amba Alagi: Abyssinians beat Italian armies
1907 Eugene Corri becomes 1st referee in a boxing ring
1909 Leo Baekeland, Yonkers NY, patents 1st thermosetting plastic (Bakelite)
1911 National Hockey Association forms with New Westminister, Vancouver & Victoria
1912 Bust of Queen Nefertete found in El-Amarna, Egypt
1916 David Lloyd George replaces resigning H H Asquith as British PM
1916 British government of David Lloyd George forms
1917 US becomes 13th country to declare war on Austria during World War I
1920 USPD-KPD parties merge into Vereinigte Communist Party of Germany
1921 KWG-AM in Stockton CA begins radio transmissions
1924 German election (Social Democrats win/Nazis & Communists lose)
1925 Biltmore Theater opens at 261 W 47th St NYC
1925 Noel Coward's "Easy Virtue" premieres in New York NY
1926 Gas refrigerator patented
1930 13th PGA Championship: Tommy Armour at Fresh Meadows CC Flushing
1932 1st gyro-stabilized vessel to cross the Atlantic arrives in New York
1934 Wiley Post discovers the jet stream
1935 CFL Grey Cup: Winnipeg Blue Bombers beat Ham Tigers, 18-12 at Hamilton
1937 Dutch Minister Romme proclaims married women are forbidden to work
1937 Red Sox acquire the contract of 19-year-old Ted Williams
1937 Russian chess player Aljechin recaptures world title from Max Euwe
1938 W9XZY broadcasts facsimile of the St Louis Post-Dispatch by radio
1938 Philip Barry's "Here Come the Clowns" premieres in New York NY
1939 Lou Gehrig, 36, is elected to Baseball's Hall of Fame
1939 William Walton's violinist concert premieres in Cleveland
1940 28th CFL Grey Cup (Game 2): Toronto Balmy Beach defeats Ottawa, 12-5
1940 North Africa: British counter offensive under General O'Connor
1941 Japanese attack Pearl Harbor (a date that will live in infamy)
1941 1st Japanese submarine sunk by a US ship (USS Ward)
1941 Australian bombers land on Timor/Ambon
1941 Futshida's air fleet passes coastline of Oahu
1941 German siege of Tobruk after 8 months ends
1941 Nacht & Nebel Erlass, resistance fighter sent to concentration camps
1944 Convention on International Civil Aviation drawn up in Chicago
1944 General Radescu forms Romanian government
1945 Microwave oven patented
1946 Fire at Winecoff Hotel in Atlanta, kills 119
1949 15th Heisman Trophy Award: Leon Hart, Notre Dame (E)
1949 Chiang Kai-shek flees to Taiwan
1952 KKTV TV channel 11 in Colorado Springs-Pueblo CO (CBS) 1st broadcast
1953 Israel's PM Ben-Gureon retires
1953 WCCB TV channel 18 in Charlotte NC (IND/ABC) begins broadcasting
1954 KCTS TV channel 9 in Seattle WA (PBS) begins broadcasting
1955 Clement Attlee resigns as chairman of England's Labour Party
1956 Helen O'Connell joins the Today Show panel
1957 Tony Kubek of the Yankees selected as American League Rookie of the Year
1958 Rómulo Bétancourt elected President of Venezuela
1959 "Saratoga" opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 80 performances
1960 Ivory Coast claims independence from France
1962 Great Britain performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1965 Pope Paul VI & Orthodox Patriarch Athenagoras I simultaneously lift mutual excommunications that led to split of the 2 churches in 1054
1967 "How Now, Dow Jones" opens at Lunt Fontanne Theater NYC for 220 performances
1967 Otis Redding records "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay"
1968 Orbiting Astronomical Observatory 2 launched into Earth orbit
1968 Richard Dodd returns a library book his great grandfather borrowed in 1823 to the University of Cincinatti; the $22,646 fine went unpaid
1970 Taizan Maezumi Roshi, head of Los Angeles Zen Center, receives dharma
1970 West Germany & Poland normalize relations
1971 Wings release their 1st album "Wild Life"
1971 "Wild & Wonderful" opens/closes at Lyceum Theater NYC
1972 Philippine 1st lady Imelda Marcos stabbed & wounded by an assailant
1972 Apollo 17 (US), final manned lunar landing mission (last of Apollo Moon series), launched
1973 Wings release "Band on the Run"
1973 Orioles sell pitcher Eddie Watt to the Phillies
1973 Phillies sell infielder-outfielder Cesar Tovar to the Texas Rangers
1975 10th Islander shut-out opponent-Glenn Resch 3-0 vs Sabres
1975 Archbishop Makarios returns Cyprus
1975 Indonesian army occupies East Timor
1976 UN Security Council endorses Kurt Waldheim, Secretary-General for 2nd 5 year term
1977 Islander Billy Smith's 10th shut-out opponent-Black Hawks 4-0
1978 Islander's Mike Bossy's 1st career hat trick
1981 Spain becomes a member of the NATO
1982 Suriname army under Desi Bouterse fires on radio station building
1983 2 jets collided at Madrid Airport killing 93
1983 France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island
1984 Allan Border's 1st Test Cricket match as captain (vs West Indies Adelaide)
1985 Atlantis returns to Kennedy Space Center via Kelly AFB
1985 51st Heisman Trophy Award: Bo Jackson, Auburn (RB)
1986 President Jean-Claude Duvalier flees Haïti
1987 43 die in Pacific Southwest Airline crash in California (man shot pilots)
1987 Palestinian uprising against Israel in West Bank
1987 Mikhail Gorbachev arrives in the US for a summit meeting(Gorbasims occur across the nation)
1988 New York Islanders fire Simpson, Arbour new coach
1988 Yasser Arafat recognizes existence of Israel
1988 Earthquake in Armenia - 6.9 on the Richter scale (>100,000 killed, 5,000,000 homeless)
1988 Rangers sign free-agent pitcher Nolan Ryan to a one-year contract
1989 C Coleman & D Zippel's musical "City of Angels" premieres in New York NY
1990 Iraqi parliament endorses Saddam's decision to free hostages
1990 Ted Turner & Jane Fonda announce their engagement
1991 A J Kitt, US, wins World Skiing Cup
1992 Galileo spacecraft passes North Pole of Moon (Peary Crater)
1993 South African transitional executive council set up
1993 Henri Konan Bédié names himself President of Ivory coast
1993 A gunman opened fire on a crowded Long Island, N.Y., commuter train, killing several persons.
1993 Robert Goulet undergoes prostate cancer surgery
1994 5th Billboard Music Awards
1994 Radio personality Howard Stern talks a man out of attempting suicide
1995 NBA settles strike of referees, referees to return on December 12
1995 US space probe Galileo begins orbiting Jupiter
1996 Space Shuttle STS 80 (Columbia 21), lands
1996 A British jogger left London on a jog-around-the-world that will end when he returned to the United Kingdom in the year 2000.
1997 Singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, actress Lauren Bacall and actor Charlton Heston were among those receiving awards from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
2000 Al Gore's lawyer, David Boies, pleaded with the Florida Supreme Court to order vote recounts and revive his presidential campaign. Republican attorneys called George W. Bush the certified, rightful victor.
2002 SAMWolf begins FReeper Foxhole!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-vetscor/802408/posts

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

Cuba : Day of National Mourning
Delaware : Ratification Day (1787)
Ivory Coast : National Day (1960)
US : Pearl Harbor Day (1941)
US : Candlelight Vigil of Remembrance and Hope
US : Autism Week Begins
National Indigestion Season-Jewish Book Month

Religious Observances
Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran : Memorial of St Ambrose, governor/bishop of Milan
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Mary Josepha Rossello, foundress
Second Sunday of Advent

Religious History
0374 Early Church Father, Ambrose, 34, was consecrated Bishop of Milan, Italy. His influential works on theology and ethics made Ambrose (along with Jerome, Augustine, and Gregory the Great) one of the "four doctors" of the Western (Latin) Church.
0430 At the Synod of Rome, Cyril of Alexandria, 54, formally condemned the doctrine of the Antiochene monk Nestorius, who had claimed that there were two separate Persons in the Incarnate Christ (one Divine, the other Human).
1661 Under pressure from the British Parliament, the American Colony of Massachusetts suspended its Corporal Punishment Act of 1656, which had imposed harsh penalties on Quakers and other religious Nonconformists.
1965 The Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches formally reconciled themselves by reversing a mutual excommunication of each other, dating back (over 900 years!) to July 1054.
1973 In Atlanta, the Presbyterian Church in America formally instituted its missionary organization, PCA Mission to the World. It was an outgrowth of the newly established denomination.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

Thought for the day :
"Whatever advice you give, be brief."

Question of the day...
Why isn't phonetic spelt the way it sounds?

Murphys Law of the day...
Every solution breeds new problems.

Absolutely amazing fact #109,857...
In 1969, the last Corvair was painted gold.