Changes

The Japanese aircrews achieved complete surprise when they hit American ships and military installations on Oahu shortly before 0800. They attacked military airfields at the same time they hit the fleet anchored in Pearl Harbor. The Navy air bases at Ford Island and Kaneohe Bay, the Marine airfield at Ewa and the Army Air Corps fields at Bellows, Wheeler and Hickam were all bombed and strafed as other elements of the attacking force began their assaults on the ships moored in Pearl Harbor. The purpose of the simultaneous attacks was to destroy the American planes before they could rise to intercept the Japanese.

The Japanese aircrews achieved complete surprise when they hit American ships and military installations on Oahu shortly before 0800. They attacked military airfields at the same time they hit the fleet anchored in Pearl Harbor. The Navy air bases at Ford Island and Kaneohe Bay, the Marine airfield at Ewa and the Army Air Corps fields at Bellows, Wheeler and Hickam were all bombed and strafed as other elements of the attacking force began their assaults on the ships moored in Pearl Harbor. The purpose of the simultaneous attacks was to destroy the American planes before they could rise to intercept the Japanese.

[[Image:pearlharbor.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Destroyer USS ''Shaw'' explodes during the second wave.]]

[[Image:pearlharbor.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Destroyer USS ''Shaw'' explodes during the second wave.]]

Of the more than 90 ships at anchor in Pearl Harbor, the primary targets were the eight battleships anchored there. seven were moored on Battleship Row along the southeast shore of Ford Island while USS ''Pennsylvania'' (BB-38) lay in drydock across the channel. Within the first minutes of the attack all the battleships adjacent to Ford Island had taken bomb and or torpedo hits. USS ''West Virginia'' (BB-48) sank quickly. USS ''Oklahoma'' (BB-37) rolled over and capsized. At about 0810 USS ''Arizona'' (BB-39) was mortally wounded by an armor-piercing bomb which ignited the ship's forward ammunition magazine. The resulting explosion and fire killed 1,177 crewmen, the greatest loss of life on any ship that day and about half the total number of Americans killed. USS ''California'' (BB-44), USS ''Maryland'' (BB-46), USS ''Tennessee'' (BB-43) and USS ''Nevada'' (BB-36) also suffered varying degrees of damage in the first half hour of the raid.

 

Before dawn on 7 December 1941, the American strategic center of gravity in the Pacific reposed in the seven battleships then moored along "Battleship Row", the six pairs of interrupted quays located along Ford Island's eastern side. Quay F-2, the southernmost, which usually hosted an aircraft carrier, was empty. Northeastward, Battle Force flagship ''California'' was next, moored at F-3. Then came two pairs, moored side by side: ''Maryland'' with ''Oklahoma'' outboard, and ''Tennessee'' with ''West Virginia'' outboard. Astern of ''Tennessee'' lay ''Arizona'', which had the repair ship ''Vestal'' alongside. Last in line was ''Nevada'', by herself at quay F-8. These seven battleships, ranging in age from eighteen to twenty-five years, represented all but two of those available to the Pacific Fleet. The Fleet flagship, ''Pennsylvania'', was also in Pearl Harbor, drydocked at the nearby Navy Yard. The ninth, ''Colorado'', was undergoing overhaul on the west coast.

 

Together, these ships were one short of equalling Japan's active battlefleet. Clearly a worrisome threat to Japanese plans for Pacific Ocean dominance, they were the Japanese raiders' priority target. Twenty-four of the forty Japanese torpedo planes were assigned to attack "Battleship Row", and five more diverted to that side of Ford Island when they found no battleships in their intended target areas. Of these planes' twenty-nine Type 91 aerial torpedoes (each with a warhead of some 450 pounds of high explosive), up to twenty-one found their targets: two hit ''California'', one exploded against ''Nevada'' and as many as nine each struck ''Oklahoma'' and ''West Virginia''. The latter two ships sank within minutes of receiving this torpedo damage.

 

Horizontal bombers, armed with heavy armor-piercing bombs, arrived just as the last torpedo planes finished their attacks, and other horizontal and dive bombers came in later. Together, these planes scored many hits or damaging near-misses on the "Battleship Row" ships: two on ''California'', ''Maryland'' and ''Tennessee''; a few on ''West Virginia''. Most spectacular of the bombers' victims was ''Arizona'', which was struck many times. One bomb penetrated to the vicinity of her forward magazines, which detonated with a massive blast, immediately sinking the ship.  

There was a short lull in the fury of the attack at about 0830. At that time ''Nevada'', despite her wounds, managed to get underway and move down the channel toward the open sea. Before she could clear the harbor, a second wave of 170 Japanese planes, launched 30 minutes after the first, appeared over the harbor. They concentrated their attacks on the moving battleship, hoping to sink her in the channel and block the narrow entrance to Pearl Harbor. On orders from the harbor control tower, ''Nevada'' beached herself at Hospital Point and the channel remained clear.

There was a short lull in the fury of the attack at about 0830. At that time ''Nevada'', despite her wounds, managed to get underway and move down the channel toward the open sea. Before she could clear the harbor, a second wave of 170 Japanese planes, launched 30 minutes after the first, appeared over the harbor. They concentrated their attacks on the moving battleship, hoping to sink her in the channel and block the narrow entrance to Pearl Harbor. On orders from the harbor control tower, ''Nevada'' beached herself at Hospital Point and the channel remained clear.

==Aftermath==

==Aftermath==

When the attack ended shortly before 10:00 a.m., less than two hours after it began, the American forces have paid a fearful price. Twenty-one ships of the U.S. Pacific Fleet were sunk or damaged: the battleships ''Arizona'', ''California'', ''Maryland'', ''Nevada'', ''Oklahoma'', ''Pennsylvania'', ''Tennessee'', and ''West Virginia''; cruisers ''Helena'' (CL-50), ''Honolulu'' (CL-48), and ''Raleigh'' (CL-7); the destroyers ''Cassin'' (DD-372), ''Downes'' (DD-375), ''Helm'' (DD-388), and ''Shaw'' (DD-373); seaplane tender ''Curtiss'' (AV-4); target ship (ex-battleship) ''Utah'' (AG-16); repair ship ''Vestal'' (AR-4); minelayer ''Oglala'' (CM-4); tug ''Sotoyomo'' (YT-9); and Floating Drydock Number 2. Aircraft losses were 188 destroyed and 159 damaged, the majority hit before they had a chance to take off. American dead numbered 2,403. That figure included 68 civilians, most of them killed by improperly fused anti-aircraft shells landing in Honolulu. There were 1,178 military and civilian wounded.

When the attack ended shortly before 10:00 a.m., less than two hours after it began, the American forces have paid a fearful price. Twenty-one ships of the U.S. Pacific Fleet were sunk or damaged: the battleships ''Arizona'', ''California'', ''Maryland'', ''Nevada'', ''Oklahoma'', ''Pennsylvania'', ''Tennessee'', and ''West Virginia''; cruisers ''Helena'' (CL-50), ''Honolulu'' (CL-48), and ''Raleigh'' (CL-7); the destroyers ''Cassin'' (DD-372), ''Downes'' (DD-375), ''Helm'' (DD-388), and ''Shaw'' (DD-373); seaplane tender ''Curtiss'' (AV-4); target ship (ex-battleship) ''Utah'' (AG-16); repair ship ''Vestal'' (AR-4); minelayer ''Oglala'' (CM-4); tug ''Sotoyomo'' (YT-9); and Floating Drydock Number 2. Aircraft losses were 188 destroyed and 159 damaged, the majority hit before they had a chance to take off. American dead numbered 2,403. That figure included 68 civilians, most of them killed by improperly fused anti-aircraft shells landing in Honolulu. There were 1,178 military and civilian wounded.