Husband Kimmel and Walter Short Japanese: Chuichi Nagumo and Isoroku Yamamoto Outcome: On December 8, President Franklin D.
Events leading to the attack on Pearl Harbor Diplomatic background War between Japan and the United States had been a possibility that each nation had been aware of, and planned for, since the s. The relationship between the two countries was cordial enough that they remained trading partners.
Japan spent considerable effort trying to isolate China, and endeavored to secure enough independent resources to attain victory on the mainland. The "Southern Operation" was designed to assist these efforts.
InJapan invaded French Indochinaattempting to stymie the flow of supplies reaching China. The United States halted shipments of airplanes, parts, machine toolsand aviation gasoline to Japan, which the latter perceived as an unfriendly act.
Because the Japanese high command was mistakenly certain any attack on the United Kingdom's Southeast Asian coloniesincluding Singapore would bring the U. War Plan Orange had envisioned defending the Philippines with an elite force of 40, men; this option was never implemented due to opposition from Douglas MacArthurwho felt he would need a force ten times that size.
Late that year, Admiral Thomas C. Hartcommander of the Asiatic Fleetwas given orders to that effect. Japan and the U.
In the course of these negotiations, Japan offered to withdraw from most of China and Indochina after making peace with the Nationalist government.
It also proposed to adopt an independent interpretation of the Tripartite Pact and to refrain from trade discrimination, provided all other nations reciprocated.
Washington rejected these proposals. Japanese Prime Minister Konoye then offered to meet with Roosevelt, but Roosevelt insisted on reaching an agreement before any meeting. The Konoye government collapsed the following month, when the Japanese military rejected a withdrawal of all troops from China.
On November 26 in Japan, the day before the note's delivery, the Japanese task force left port for Pearl Harbor. Despite these preparations, Emperor Hirohito did not approve the attack plan until November 5, after the third of four Imperial Conferences called to consider the matter.
Pacific bases and facilities had been placed on alert on many occasions, U. This presumption was due to the threat that the air bases throughout the country and the naval base at Manila posed to sea lanes, as well as to the shipment of supplies to Japan from territory to the south.
First, it intended to destroy important American fleet units, thereby preventing the Pacific Fleet from interfering with Japanese conquest of the Dutch East Indies and Malaya and to enable Japan to conquer Southeast Asia without interference. Second, it was hoped to buy time for Japan to consolidate its position and increase its naval strength before shipbuilding authorized by the Vinson-Walsh Act erased any chance of victory.
A further important disadvantage—this of timing, and known to the Japanese—was the absence from Pearl Harbor of all three of the U.
Pacific Fleet's aircraft carriers EnterpriseLexingtonand Saratoga. IJN top command was attached to Admiral Mahan 's " decisive battle " doctrine, especially that of destroying the maximum number of battleships.
Despite these concerns, Yamamoto decided to press ahead. The first wave was to be the primary attack, while the second wave was to attack carriers as its first objective and cruisers as its second, with battleships as the third target.
First wave dive bombers were to attack ground targets. Fighters were ordered to strafe and destroy as many parked aircraft as possible to ensure they did not get into the air to intercept the bombers, especially in the first wave.
When the fighters' fuel got low they were to refuel at the aircraft carriers and return to combat. Fighters were to serve CAP duties where needed, especially over U. Reconnaissance aircraft flights risked alerting the U.
A report of the absence of the U. However, Ward sank another midget submarine at A midget submarine on the north side of Ford Island missed the seaplane tender Curtiss with her first torpedo and missed the attacking destroyer Monaghan with her other one before being sunk by Monaghan at The wreck was in the debris field where much surplus U.
Both of its torpedoes were missing.Pearl Harbor attack, (December 7, ), surprise aerial attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu Island, Hawaii, by the Japanese that precipitated the entry of the United States into World War II.
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory, on the morning of December 7, Naval History and Heritage Command. Social Media Search. The attack on Pearl Harbor was a brief affair, lasting only a couple of hours, but it stunned America, which did not expect such advanced naval and aviation strategy from the Japanese military.
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii .
The Pearl Harbor memorial, otherwise known as the USS Arizona Memorial, is a National Monument located at the site of the sunken battleship USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor. Commemorating the 1, crewman who lost their lives in the attack on Pearl Harbor, it s a tribute to World War II valor in the Pacific.