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| {{Image|PearlHarbor Sm.jpg|right|350px|Pearl Harbor as seen from the air in 2000.}} | | {{Image|PearlHarbor Sm.jpg|right|350px|Pearl Harbor as seen from the air in 2000.}} |
| '''Pearl Harbor''', located in Honolulu, Hawaii on the island of O'ahu, is a [[United States of America|U.S.]] naval base that, during '''[[World War II]]''', was the target of an attack by the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]] on December 7, 1941 via submarine and air. The Pearl Harbor commanders, Admiral [[Husband Kimmel]] (Navy) and [[lieutenant general|Lieutenant General]] [[Walter Short]] (Army), had no warning of the attack. | | '''Pearl Harbor''', located in Honolulu, [[Hawaii (U.S. state)|Hawaii]] on the island of O'ahu, is a [[United States of America|U.S.]] naval base that, during '''[[World War II]]''', was the target of a devastating surprise attack by the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]] on December 7, 1941. This attack galvanized the American public, which until then had resisted entry into [[World War II]], to intervene in defense of the Allies. During the attack, a key ship lost was the Pennsylvania-class USS Arizona (BB-39); it exploded and sank from the air attack with the greatest loss of life at any point during the event. |
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| ==Japanese operational concept==
| | The Pearl Harbor commanders, Admiral [[Husband Kimmel]] (Navy) and [[lieutenant general|Lieutenant General]] [[Walter Short]] (Army), had no warning of the attack, during which 2,403 Americans were killed and 1,178 wounded. Eighteen U.S. ships were lost, including five battleships. By contrast, only 55 Japanese airmen and 9 submariners were killed (with 1 captured), with just 29 of the 350 Japanese planes that took part in the raid lost. |
| Japan opened [[World War Two in the Pacific]] with an offensive principally based on their [[Strike-South Faction|Strike-South]] doctrine, seeking resources in Southeast Asia. Nevertheless, they believed they had to deter U.S. forces from intervening. Admiral [[Isoroku Yamamoto]], [[Commander-in-Chief, Combined Fleet]] and an opponent war with the United States, insisted that the preventive attack on the fleet was necessary to protect his other operations.
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| ==U.S. local organization==
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| Command at Pearl Harbor was badly fragmented, to the point of absurdity where the Army's highest alert was Level 3, but the Navy's ''lowest'' alert was Level 3. <blockquote>Had all the forces in Hawaii been under the vigorous operational control of a single commander — most likely the Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet — it is unlikely (though not inconceivable) that multiple alert systems would have existed side by side, that the air above the islands would not have had a single center controlling it, or that Oahu's fighter defenses would have assumed that long-range patrols would give them four hours' warning of an enemy's approach.<ref>{{citation
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| | title = Military Misfortunes: the Anatomy of Failure in War
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| | author = Eliot A. Cohen and John Gooch
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| | publisher = Vintage/Random House
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| | year = 1990 | isbn= 679743969}}, pp. 54-55</ref></blockquote>
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| ===Navy===
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| Admiral Husband Kimmel was commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet, reporting to the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral [[Harold Stark]]. Rear Admiral Claude Bloch, however, was head of the Fourteenth Naval District, also reporting to the CNO, with a coordinating responsibility with Kimmel. Bloch had responsibility for naval forces not part of the fleet.
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| In addition to ships, Kimmel commanded Patrol Wing Two under Rear Admiral Patrick Bellinger, who controlled the Navy's long-range search aircraft, primarily [[PBY Catalina]] seaplanes.
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| ===Army===
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| Lieutenant General Walter Short commanded Army ground forces (including antiaircraft), Army Air Force units, and the experimental radar warning center. There were 12 [[B-17 Flying Fortress]] four-engine capable of long-range search, but no such searches were being conducted and there were too few for thorough coverage. B-18 bombers were modifications of a twin-engine DC-2 airliner and had a shorter-range search capability.
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| ==U.S. intelligence and planning==
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| ===Threat assessment===
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| Various intelligence officers, such as [[Edwin Layton]] and [[Ellis Zacharias]], strongly suspected that Pearl Harbor was a Japanese target, but were unable to turn their suspicions into useful warnings.
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| ====Sabotage vs. air attack====
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| Short was convinced that the major threat to his aircraft was sabotage by residents of Japanese ancestry, so he had them parked in close formation for ease in guarding them against ground attack. This made them dense targets for strafing and bombing.
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| ====Implications of the Battle of Taranto====
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| In 1940, the [[Royal Navy]], at the [[Battle of Taranto]], delivered a devastating night attack, by [[torpedo bomber]]s, to battleships in a harbor. They used the [[Fairey Swordfish]] biplane, which looked like a relic of the [[First World War]] but could be amazingly effective.
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| Key leaders of U.S. Navy, in spite of knowing the details of that attack, still believed its ships were safe from aerial torpedoes in a harbor, although Taranto was as shallow as Pearl. In fairness, some were concerned, such as Kimmel's predecessor, Admiral [[James Richardson]], saw Taranto as directly relevant. Kimmel and the [[Fourteenth Naval District]] commander, Rear Admiral [[Claude Bloch]], however, deprecated the threat. <ref>{{citation
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| | url = http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/myths/taranto.html
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| | title = The Myths of Pearl Harbor
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| | author = Pearl Harbor History Associates}}</ref> Richardson was no longer, however, in the line of command. Bloch had direct responsibility for the defenses of the harbor, as opposed to the fleet.
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| ===Communications intelligence===
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| Contrary to some popular opinion, U.S. communications intelligence — [[MAGIC (communications intelligence)|MAGIC]] did not give an unambiguous prior warning of the attack. Immediately before the attack, the U.S. became aware that the Japanese were issuing orders to destroy embassy cryptographic materials, and tell the United States that negotiations had failed, although diplomatic relations were not formally broken. The 14-part message had special instructions about the delivery time, suggestive of coordination with military operations.<ref name=Kahn1996>{{cite book
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| | author = David Kahn
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| | title = The Codebreakers - The Story of Secret Writing
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| | publisher = Scribners
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| | url = http://www.amazon.com/Codebreakers-Comprehensive-History-Communication-Internet/dp/0684831309/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-7164795-0653605?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191257117&sr=8-1
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| | date = 1996
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| | isbn = 0684831309}}, pp. 2-5</ref>
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| Had the message been intercepted and its meaning known, a code phrase sent, in the clear, to the Japanese striking force did mean "attack Pearl Harbor". The phrase, "Climb Mount Nitaaka", sent on 2 December (Tokyo time) would not have been meaningful. <ref>Kahn, p. 41</ref>
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| ==Order of battle==
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| ===Japan===
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| While the overall operational commander was Admiral Yamamoto, the officer in tactical command was Vice Admiral [[Chuichi Nagamo]]. Nagamo, a battleship and gunnery specialist, commanded the Mobile Fleet due to seniority rather than special qualifications.<ref>{{citation
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| | title = Order of Battle: Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941
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| | author = Joseph Czarnecki, Richard Worth, Matthias C. Noch, Mark E. Horan and Tony DiGiulian
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| | url = http://www.navweaps.com/index_oob/OOB_WWII_Pacific/OOB_WWII_Pearl_Harbor.htm
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| | journal = Navweaps.com}}</ref>
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| *First Carrier Division (Vice Admiral Nagumo)
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| **''[[IJN Akagi]]'' Captain [[Kiichi Hasegawa ]]
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| ***Airborne strike leader, Commander [[Mitsuo Fuchida]]
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| ***27 B5N2 "Kate" torpedo/horizontal bombers, 18 D3A1 "Val" dive bombers, 27 [[A6M (fighter)|A6M "Zero"]] fighters
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| **[[IJN Kaga]]—Captain [[Jisaku Okada]]
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| ***27 B5N2 "Kate" torpedo/horizontal bombers, 54 D3A1 "Val" dive bombers, 27 [[A6M (fighter)|A6M "Zero"]] fighters
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| ***Destroyer Division 7 (Midway Attack Unit), two destroyers
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| *Second Carrier Division (Rear Admiral [[Tamon Yamaguchi]])
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| **[[IJN Soryu]], Captain [[Ryusaku Yanagimoto]]
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| ***18 [[B5N2 (torpedo bomber)]] "Kate" torpedo/horizontal bombers, 18 [[D3A1 (dive bomber)]] "Val" dive bombers, 27 [[A6M (fighter)|A6M "Zero"]] fighters
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| **''[[IJN Hiryu]], Captain [[Tomeo Kaku]]
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| ***18 B5N2 "Kate" torpedo/horizontal bombers, 18 D3A1 "Val" dive bombers, 24 [[A6M (fighter)|A6M "Zero"]] fighters
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| **Fifth Carrier Division, Rear Admiral [[Chuichi Hara]]
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| ***''[[IJN Shokaku]]'', Captain [[Takatsugu Jojima]]
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| ****27B5N2 "Kate" torpedo/horizontal bombers, 27 D3A1 "Val" dive bombers, 15 [[A6M (fighter)|A6M "Zero"]] fighters
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| ***''[[IJN Zuikaku]]''—Captain [[Ichibei Yokokawa]]
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| ****27B5N2 "Kate" torpedo/horizontal bombers, 27 D3A1 "Val" dive bombers, 15 [[A6M (fighter)|A6M "Zero"]] fighters
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| **DD Akigumo (Yugumo Class)
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| **Battleship Division 3, Vice Admiral [[Gunichi Mikawa]]
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| ***''[[IJN Hiei]]''
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| ***''[[IJN Kirishima]]''
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| **Cruiser Division 8
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| ***''[IJN Tone]]''
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| ***''[[IJN Chikuma]]''
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| **Destroyer Squadron 1, Rear Admiral [[Sentaro Omori]]
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| ***Light cruiser ''[[IJN Abukuma]]''
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| ***Destroyer Division 17, 4 destroyers
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| ***Destroyer Division 18, 4 destroyers
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| **Midway Destruction Unit, Captain Ohishi Kaname, 2 destroyers
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| **Submarine Division 2, Captain Imaizumi Kijirom, three I-class submarines
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| **1st Supply Train, 6 civilian oilers
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| **2nd Supply Train, 3 civilian oilers
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| *Sixth (Submarine) Fleet. Vice Admiral [[Mitsumi Shimizu]]
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| **1st Submarine Squadron, Rear Admiral Sato Tsutomu, four I-class submarines
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| **2nd Submarine Squadron, Rear Admiral Yamazaki Shigeaki, seven I-class submarines
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| **3rd Submarine Squadron, Rear Admiral Miwa Shigeyoski, nine I-class submarines
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| **Special Attack Unit, Captain Sasaki Hanku (Mother Submarines Commander), Lt. Naoji Iwasa (Mini-submarines Commander); five midget submarines
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| **Submarine Reconnaissance Unit, Commander Kashihara Yasuchika, two I-class submarines
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| ===United States===
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| ==The attack==
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| ===Preliminaries===
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| [[Image:Japanese Kate in Pearl Harbor attack.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The Japanese torpedo bomber taking off to attack Pearl Harbor.]]
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| [[Image:Japanese view of Pearl Harbor attack.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The Japanese perspective approaching Battleship Row.]]
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| ===First wave air attack===
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| The picture, taken from a Japanese aircraft, shows [[USS Nevada (BB-36|USS ''Nevada'' (BB-36)]] with flag raised at stern; [[USS Arizona (BB-39)|USS ''Arizona'' (BB-39)]] with repair ship [[USS Vestal (AR-4)|USS ''Vestal'' (AR-4)]] outboard; [[USS Tennessee (BB-43)|USS ''Tennessee'' (BB-43)]] with [[USS West Virginia (BB-48)|USS ''West Virginia'' (BB-48)]] outboard; [[USS Maryland (BB-46)|USS ''Maryland'' (BB-46)]] with [[USS Oklahoma (BB-37)|USS ''Oklahoma'' (BB-37)]] outboard; and [[USS Neosho (AO-23)|USS ''Neosho'' (AO-23)]] and [[USS California (BB-44)|USS ''California'' (BB-44)]]. ''West Virginia'', ''Oklahoma'', and ''California'' have been torpedoed, as marked by ripples and spreading oil, and the first two are listing to port. Torpedo drop splashes and running tracks are visible at left and center. White smoke in the distance is from Hickam Field. Grey smoke in the center middle distance is from the torpedoed [[USS Helena (CL-50)|USS ''Helena'' (CL-50)]].
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| ===Second wave air attack===
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| ===Arguments for and against a possible third strike===
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| ==Aftermath==
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| [[Image:USS West Virginia Pearl Harbor.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Survivors from the [[USS West Virginia|USS ''West Virginia'']] being rescued. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor forced the United States into the war.]]
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| ===Changes in Command===
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| ===Effect on naval doctrine===
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| ==References== | | ==References== |
| {{reflist|2}} | | {{reflist|2}}[[Category:Suggestion Bot Tag]] |
