Battle of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese Navy

Author: Lin Renhua
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-08-01
Features: On December 7, 1941 (Hawaii time, Sunday), Japan launched a surprise strategic attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Islands without declaring war. Before the attack, the Japanese Navy conducted meticulous planning and preparation in extreme secrecy. In mid-November, a vanguard force of 27 submarines infiltrated the Hawaiian waters in advance, tasked with reconnaissance, surveillance, and intercepting the U.S. fleet. On November 26, the main striking force—a fleet of 6 aircraft carriers and 400 carrier-based aircraft—departed along the northern route, which was less traveled during winter and had a longer range, adopting measures such as radio silence to move stealthily toward Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu. On the morning of December 7, Japanese carrier-based aircraft launched two waves of fierce attacks on Pearl Harbor. The first wave of 189 aircraft began attacking at 7:55 a.m., while the second wave of 171 aircraft started at 8:55 a.m. The entire attack lasted about two hours. The U.S. military misjudged Japan's strategic intentions and movements, and its Pacific Fleet was poorly prepared, suffering severe losses. All eight battleships and over a dozen other major warships moored in Pearl Harbor were either destroyed or damaged, with 232 aircraft lost and 3,681 personnel killed or wounded. Japan's losses were minimal—only 29 aircraft, one submarine, and five mini-submarines—yet it severely damaged the U.S. Pacific Fleet, seized naval supremacy in the Pacific, and created conditions for Japan's southern advance to occupy the Philippines, Malaya, and the Dutch East Indies. The following day, the U.S. declared war on Japan, marking the outbreak of the Pacific War.