On December 7th, 1941 at 03:42 hours Hawaiian time, Admiral
Chuichi Nagumo ordered the aircraft to take off from the Japanese aircraft carrier to attack the United States fleet at the US Naval Station, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Five midget submarines had been sent to torpedo US ships after the air attack started. None of the Japanese midget submarines returned. The minesweeper
USS Condor had spotted a midget submarine outside the Pearl Harbor entrance and alerted the
USS Ward, a destroyer. Hours later, the USS Ward fired the first shots that began the Pacific Theater of World War II, when she attacked and sank a
midget submarine, probably the same one that was spotted around 0600 hours on the morning of December 7th, 1941. Out of ten sailors aboard, only one survived,
Kazuo Sakamaki, who became the first Japanese prisoner of war. One of the midget submarines that entered the harbor was able to fire a torpedo, which struck the
USS West Virginia, and this may have been the first shot fired by the Japanese.
The first Japanese air wave began north of Oahu and was commanded by Captain
Mitsuo Fuchida. The 1st Group target objective was battleships and aircraft carriers and was accompanied by two other groups of the first wave, the second group targeting
Ford Island and
Wheeler Field, and the 3rd Group consisting of 45 A6M Zeroes that began bombing and strafing Ford Island,
Hickham Field, Wheeler Field,
Barber’s Point, and
Kaneohe. As the first wave approached, several US aircraft that had been flying on patrol were shot down, but at least one was able to pass the warning to headquarters. Ships were issuing warnings and distress calls, but Japanese planes had already begun bombing and strafing. The air part of the attack began at 0748 hours Hawaiian Time on Kaneohe. A total of 361 planes attacked in two waves. The first were the slow-flying torpedo bombers, using the surprise attack to initiate damage to battleships while dive bombers attacked US air bases to prevent planes scrambling to defend against the attacking Japanese. The only real air defense was a handful of
P-36 Hawks and
P-40 Warhawks that had been able to takeoff from airfields. Many service men fought bravely that day with 14 officers and sailors being awarded the
Medal of Honor. Later, a special military award, the
Pearl Harbor Commemorative Medal, was issued later for all military veterans of the attack. A third strike that was planned was not initiated which was beneficial to the United States because the targets were vital dockyards, maintenance shops and oil depots. In addition the submarine stations were virtually untouched and this allowed the US to undertake its operation of destroying ships of the Japanese fleet. It was fortunate that a fleet was out on maneuvers that day and was not in the harbor – otherwise it was possible the whole fleet could have been destroyed. The damage/casualties sustained that day:
2 battleships sunk, 6 damaged3 cruisers damaged2 destroyers sunk, 1 damaged1 other ship sunk, 3 damaged188 aircraft destroyed, 155 damaged2,345 military killed, 57 civilians killed1,247 military wounded, 35 civilians wounded.
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