Japan swoops on an unsuspecting America but victory is hollow
It began just before 8am on the morning of December 7, 1941. At the US Pacific Fleet’s main base in Hawaii, a sleepy Sunday morning was shattered by a ferocious attack by hundreds of Japanese aircraft.
Over the course of the next 90 minutes, 2,403 Americans were killed and 1,143 were wounded, many aged just 17 and
18. Eighteen US warships were sunk or run aground, including five battleships.
But, despite those casualties, the attack on Pearl Harbor was a strategic failure, prompting the then neutral United States to enter the Second World War the following day.
The surprise strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service was intended to cripple US naval strength in the Pacific and prevent it from interfering in Japan’s planned military actions across south-east Asia.
Over the next seven hours Japan launched co-ordinated attacks on the US-held Philippines, Guam, and Wake Island and on the British Empire in Malaya, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Pearl Harbor was attacked by 353 Japanese aircraft launched from six aircraft carriers. Of the eight US battleships present, all were damaged, with four sunk. All but the USS Arizona – which suffered nearly half of America’s casualties after its forward magazine exploded – were later raised. Six returned to service and went on to fight in the war.
The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and one minelayer. More than 180 US aircraft were destroyed.
The lack of any formal warning as required by the Hague Convention of 1907, particularly while peace negotiations were still apparently ongoing, led President Franklin D Roosevelt to proclaim December 7, 1941, “a date which will live in infamy”. Because the attack happened without a declaration of war and without explicit warning, it was later judged to be a war crime.
Japanese losses were light, with just 29 aircraft lost, five midget submarines sunk, and 64 servicemen killed.
But America’s aircraft carriers – which were to emerge as the key weapon of the war in the Pacific – escaped unharmed as they were out to sea on an exercise at the time.
And, in a vital oversight – and a sign that the Japanese High Command did not fully understand the protracted war it was about to fight – important base installations were not attacked.
The survival of the navy yard and oil storage depot allowed Pearl Harbor to maintain logistical support to the US Navy’s operations. Its submarine base was also missed – and it was submarines that immobilised the Imperial Japanese Navy’s heavy ships and brought its economy to a virtual standstill.
Meanwhile, the decoding centre, a strategically crucial capability housed in the headquarter’s basement, also escaped unharmed.
Japan declared war on Britain and the US later that day, and Germany and Italy on the US four days later.
But, despite drawing America into the war – and making it a truly global conflict – Japan’s attack failed to deliver the knock-out pre-emptive blow it had been designed for.
Admiral Hara Tadaichi summed up the Japanese result by saying: “We won a great tactical victory at Pearl Harbor and thereby lost the war.”