Pearl Harbor Attack, December 7, 1941.
« L’Histoire » n°490, décembre 2021
3,500 km from Los Angeles and 6,500 from Tokyo, Pearl Harbor is home to the largest naval base and headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet.
Approved on November 5, 1941 by Emperor Hiro-Hito, the daring Japanese attack plan aims to annihilate the American fleet forcing the United States to leave Hawaii and to deploy all its naval forces on the California coast. Between late summer and December 6, 1941, Nippon engineers develop the Type 91 torpedo, equipped with stabilizing flares and equipped with a powerful explosive capable of penetrating the thickest hulls of ships.
The chosen date is Sunday, December 7, the only day of the week when the U.S. fleet is not on maneuvers and many sailors, out of a staff of 25,000 men, are on leave. Operation “Z” stops the idea of a large-scale and lightning surprise attack of the Japanese hunt in two consecutive very close waves.
After ten days of navigation, taking a very northern route with little traffic, the Japanese fleet imposed absolute radio silence. On the night of December 6 to 7, they anchored on the high seas 200 nautical miles (350 km) from Pearl Harbor.
At 6 a.m., while the day has not yet risen, the first wave of the six aircraft carriers takes off. At 7:53, 183 aircraft fly over Pearl Harbor in attack formation and pounding their targets for an hour in a deafening noise. Blooming from the Pacific Fleet, Arizona and Oklahoma battleships transformed into metal torch lighten up, bringing nearly 1,500 sailors in the bottom. At 8:50 a.m., the second wave consisting of 176 aircraft enters the stage.
In two hours of strikes, the American naval aviation lost practically all of its aviation (217 planes), almost half of its fleet sank (4 destroyers, 3 cruisers, 8 battleships, 1 mine layer, 1 workshop ship, 1 seaplane carrier) and 2,403 Americans died.