I am sure that most of you have seen, heard and read much about the attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941 by the Japanese. It just happens that I am writing this article on the anniversary of that attack, it has been 63 years since that faithful day. I think that one of the things it has proven, more than anything, is that yesterday's enemies are today's allies. People can say what they want about this country, and believe me, we are far from perfect, but we do excel in at least one area. That area is forgiveness. All one has to do is look at other parts of the world to see how long grudges are held, sometimes for thousands of years. We, as a country, have a short hate span, and this is good. To prove this point just look at how we helped rebuild Europe after World War II. Some of the countries we rebuilt were our enemies in the war. Now they are our competing with us in the global market place. In some cases we even went too far by giving them technology that we didn't have in our own factories yet. Well in the tradition of this country, let take another look at the attack on Pearl Harbor.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Speech Declaring War On Japan (Real Audio also known as Real Player is Required)
Audio Source: Library of Congress

The Japanese were quite advanced in some of their weaponry. They used at least five midget submarines to head up the attack on Pearl Harbor. It is said that these submarines failed to inflict any damage at the time but some say that this is wrong. Six Japanese aircraft carriers were part of the attack fleet. Some of the planes on the carriers were the new Japanese Zero which was a superior fighter plane to anything we had at the time. Unfortunately for us, our planes were placed close together when the attack happened. The army was more worried about sabotage than being bombed. They grouped the planes close together so that they could be more easily guarded, this was just one of the fatal mistakes made at Pearl.

USS Arizona

A very basic mistake was even having our fleet at Pearl Harbor when we knew there might be a war. We had decoded most of the Japanese transmissions and knew that something was up even though we didn't know the exact day and time of the attack. The harbor entrance at Pearl Harbor was so narrow that if a battle ship was sunk in it, it could take months before any surviving ships could get out. The Japanese knew this and were just waiting to sink any battle ship that got into the harbor's neck. They had invented a shallow diving torpedo that could be dropped from a plane in the shallow waters of the harbor. The harbor was only about 40 feet deep and standard torpedoes needed at least a depth of 75 feet.

USS Utah

Here is a list from the US Navy of all the ships we had at Pearl Harbor during the attack:

Battleships (BB) Pennsylvania (BB-38) (in drydock) # Arizona (BB-39) Nevada (BB-36) Oklahoma (BB-37) Tennessee (BB-43) California (BB-44) Maryland (BB-46) West Virginia (BB-48)

Heavy Cruisers (CA) New Orleans (CA-32) San Francisco (CA-38)

Light Cruisers (CL) Raleigh (CL-7) Detroit (CL-8) Phoenix (CL-46) Honolulu (CL-48) St. Louis (CL-49) Helena (CL-50

Destroyers (DD) Allen (DD-66) Schley (DD-103) Chew (DD-106) * Ward (DD-139) (patrolling Channel entrance to Pearl Harbor) Dewey (DD-349) Farragut (DD-348) Hull (DD-350) MacDonough (DD-351) Worden (DD-352) Dale (DD-353) Monaghan (DD-354) Aylwin (DD-355) Selfridge (DD-357) Phelps (DD-360) Cummings (DD-365) Reid (DD-369) Case (DD-370) Conyngham (DD-371) Cassin (DD-372) (in drydock) Shaw (DD-373) (in floating drydock) Tucker (DD-374) Downes (DD-375) (in drydock) Bagley (DD-386) Blue (DD-387) Helm (DD-388) Mugford (DD-389) Ralph Talbot (DD-390) Henley (DD-391) Patterson (DD-392) Jarvis (DD-393)

Submarines (SS) Narwhal (SS-167) Dolphin (SS-169) Cachalot (SS-170) Tautog (SS-199)

Minelayer (CM) Oglala (CM-4)

Minesweeper (AM) Turkey (AM-13) Bobolink (AM-20) Rail (AM-26) Tern (AM-31) Grebe (AM-43) Vireo (AM-52)

Coastal Minesweeper (Amc) Cockatoo (Amc-8) Crossbill (Amc-9) Condor (Amc-14) Reedbird (Amc-30)

Destroyer Minelayer (DM) Gamble (DM-15) Ramsay (DM-16) Montgomery (DM-17) Breese (DM-18) Tracy (DM-19) Preble (DM-20) Sicard (DM-21) Pruitt (DM-22)

Destroyer Minesweeper (DMS) Zane (DMS-14) Wasmuth (DMS-15) Trever (DMS-16) Perry (DMS-17)

Patrol Gunboat (PG) Sacramento (PG-19)

Destroyer Tender (AD) Dobbin (AD-3) Whitney (AD-4)

Seaplane Tender (AV) Curtiss (AV-4) Tangier (AV-8)

Small Seaplane Tender (AVP) Avocet (AVP-4) Swan (AVP-7) (on marine railway dock)

Seaplane Tender, Destroyer (AVD) Hulbert (AVD-6) Thornton (AVD-11)

Ammunition Ship (AE) Pyro (AE-1)

Oiler (AO) Ramapo (AO-12) Neosho (AO-23)

Repair Ship (AR) Medusa (AR-1) Vestal (AR-4) Rigel (AR-11)

Submarine Tender (AS) Pelias (AS-14)

Submarine Rescue Ship (ASR) Widgeon (ASR-1)

Hospital Ship (AH) Solace (AH-5)

Cargo Ship (AK) Vega (AK-17) (at Honolulu)

Stores Issue Ship (AKS) Castor (AKS-1) Antares (AKS-3) (at Pearl Harbor entrance)

Ocean Tug (AT) Ontario (AT-13) Sunnadin (AT-28) Keosanqua (AT-38) (at Pearl Harbor entrance) Navajo (AT-64) (12 miles outside Pearl Harbor entrance)

Miscellaneous Auxiliary (AG) # Utah (AG-16) Argonne (AG-31) Sumner (AG-32)

If you would like to know the Japanese ships that were part of the attack on Pearl Harbor you can go to http://www.ww2pacific.com/pearljp.html

Japanese Planes Returning From The Attack

When the Japanese attacked they sent in an initial wave of about 183 planes and later a second wave of about 167 planes. We were just sitting ducks. We had a radar station but when the planes were seen coming in and reported, they were mistaken for a small flight of American bombers that were due in. Pearl Harbor was a classic example of mishandled ships and planes and I hope that we have learned from our mistakes.

When the attack was finished 21 of our ships were sunk and many others so severely damaged that they could not be used. Of our almost 400 planes on the ground, 188 were totaled and 159 badly damaged. This was one of the few instances where deaths were higher than wounded. This was due to the fact that on some sinking ships, like the Arizona, many men drowned. On the Arizona alone, 1,177 drowned. The Oklahoma had a crew of about 1,300 and 429 died. It is amazing that more didn't die in this attack. Total deaths were said to be a little over 2,400.