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Pearl
Harbor, 7 December 1941 --
Japanese Forces in the Pearl Harbor Attack
The Pearl Harbor naval base was
recognized by both the Japanese and the United States
Navies as a potential target for hostile carrier air
power. The U.S. Navy had even explored the issue during
some of its interwar "Fleet Problems". However,
its distance from Japan and shallow harbor, the certainty
that Japan's navy would have many other pressing needs
for its aircraft carriers in the event of war, and a
belief that intelligence would provide warning persuaded
senior U.S. officers that the prospect of an attack on
Pearl Harbor could be safely discounted.
During the interwar period, the
Japanese had reached similar conclusions. However, their
pressing need for secure flanks during the planned
offensive into Southeast Asia and the East Indies spurred
the dynamic commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet,
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto to revisit the issue. His staff
found that the assault was feasible, given the greater
capabilities of newer aircraft types, modifications to
aerial torpedoes, a high level of communications security
and a reasonable level of good luck. Japan's feelings of
desperation helped Yamamoto persuade the Naval high
command and Government to undertake the venture should
war become inevitable, as appeared increasingly likely
during October and November 1941.
All six of Japan's first-line
aircraft carriers, Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, Hiryu,Shokaky and
Zuikaku, were assigned to the mission. With over 420
embarked planes, these ships constituted by far the most
powerful carrier task force ever assembled. Vice Admiral
Chuichi Nagumo, an experienced, cautious officer, would
command the operation. His Pearl Harbor Striking Force
also included fast battleships, cruisers and destroyers,
with tankers to fuel the ships during their passage
across the Pacific. An Advance Expeditionary Force of
large submarines, five of them carrying midget
submarines, was sent to scout around Hawaii, dispatch the
midgets into Pearl Harbor to attack ships there, and
torpedo American warships that might escape to sea.
Under the greatest secrecy, Nagumo
took his ships to sea on 26 November 1941, with orders to
abort the mission if he was discovered, or should
diplomacy work an unanticipated miracle. Before dawn on
the 7th of December, undiscovered and with diplomatic
prospects firmly at an end, the Pearl Harbor Striking
Force was less than three-hundred miles north of Pearl
Harbor. A first attack wave of over 180 aircraft,
including torpedo planes, high-level bombers, dive
bombers and fighters, was launched in the darkness and
flew off to the south. When first group had taken off, a
second attack wave of similar size, but with more dive
bombers and no torpedo planes, was brought up from the
carriers' hangar decks and sent off into the emerging
morning light. Near Oahu's southern shore, the five
midget submarines had already cast loose from their
"mother" subs and were trying to make their way
into Pearl Harbor's narrow entrance channel.
(credits: US Navy History Center)
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