How The Battle Of Pearl Harbor Affected The United States And Pearl Harbor

December the 7th, 1941 is a day that President Roosevelt described as “a date which will live in infamy” (Matt Pearce). The United States and Japan had been butting heads for several decades over land, mineral rights, and China (Deborah Bachrach). This clashing led up to the most ferocious surprise attack and American loss on the United States soil known to this day. The Japanese had scrupulously planned, successfully struck, and triumphantly destroyed the naval base Pearl Harbor, which left many Americans dead or wounded.
The United States had allied with China and due to the imperialistic views of Japan. China was always a place that Japan saw valuable due to natural resources and the large population. Japan had invaded and gained control
of the Province of China called Manchuria. Proceeding this invasion, Japan launched a full scale attack on China. This infuriated the U.S. which made tensions between the U.S. and Japan increase to a greater extent (Deborah Bachrach). After Japan noticed how angry the U.S. was, they began to plan. Japanese Commanders Mitsuo Fuchida and Minoru Genda were the primary leaders of the attack on Pearl Harbor. They were the top two Japanese aviators and believed that the future of Japanese warfare depended on aviation (James Burbeck). After the countless months of planning, Japan decided to hit the Pacific Fleet at it’s heart, which happened to be Pearl Harbor (Christopher Klein).
As the months passed by Japan had been preparing and training their aviators by performing the same exact attack strategies over and over. Japan’s aviators nearly had perfected the attack strategy and were ready to actually act on their plan. A couple of months before the attack the American Intelligence Agency lost count or miscounted twelve Japanese aircraft carriers. They actually looked over the missing aircraft carriers because there were other things that required more attention. By November 25, 1941 everybody knew war was coming, but nobody knew just quite where it was going to take place (Burbeck).
In 1941 Americans were not yet in WWII, but they were sending aid to many countries, one of these being China. During the first two years of the war, America had stayed neutral. This was good for the country because most people were antiwar. Most people believed they were safe in America and that we wouldn’t be a country that gets attacked (Bachrach). Pearl Harbor had been warned and they did nothing to prevent:
On December 3, 1941, a warning was sent by the OPNAV to Kimmel’s Pearl Harbor command warning … Categorical and urgent instructions were sent yesterday to Japanese diplomatic and consular posts of Hong Kong, Singapore, Batavia, Maila, Washington, and London to destroy most of their codes and ciphers at once and to burn all other important and secret documents. War was considered to be imminent, and a large Japanese transport fleet was steaming toward Southeast Asia. Other Japanese fleet units had left Saipan.... The entire Japan fleet. (Burbeck)
December 7, 1941, the Pacific Theatre begins in the most horrifying way it could possibly do so. The first two deaths of the Pacific Theatre were Japanese submariners, they were killed by the USS Antares during the early hours around 7 that morning. The USS Antares spotted this submarine and sunk it immediately (Samir Patel). Aboard the USS Ward Lieutenant William W. Outerbridge noticed an unknown object out in the waters. This was shortly after the USS Antares had sunk the first Submarine. Outerbridge ordered it to be shot and destroyed. This was later identified as a midget submarine, which everyone knew that these small submarines could only come from a full size submarine (Bachrach).
At 7:45, the Japanese bombers and imperial fighters flew low over the mountain ridges of Oahu remaining unnoticeable by radar and giving them the ultimate surprise. Arriving to Pearl Harbor, the Japanese bombs began to fall and machine guns tore through everything. The local American soldiers and civilians began to die. At first glimpse of the attack nobody knew quite who was attacking until the rising sun insignia was revealed on the Imperial fighters. The Japanese fighter pilots were hitting Pearl Harbor like they were trained to do, and they accomplishing all they set out to accomplish (John O'Donnell, Doris Fleece). Civilians were awoke to massive amounts of gunfire, running to the hilltops to watch as Americans fought with absolutely everything they had in them.
After the shock of the first attack set in, Hawaiian Governor Joseph B. Poindexter, declared Oahu in a state of emergency (John O'Donnell, Doris Fleece). At approximately 8:45 Pearl Harbor was hit with a second violent wave of Japanese bombers. They first hit the USS Pennsylvania, but due to where it was being stored it only took on minimal damage (Matt Pearce). The damage was on the first ship hit that day which was the USS Arizona, and it was hit with eight bombs in the boiler making an explosion large enough to shake planes over-head. Soldiers recall Chaplain Howell Forgey telling them to “praise the lord and pass the ammunition” during the second Japanese strike (Bachrach). Lt. Jim Downing of the USS Nevada said during his interview with CBN, “We were tied up with the Oklahoma in front and the Arizona behind. The Oklahoma capsized and turned over so here we were with the Oklahoma, upside down, in front of us and the Arizona lit up like a volcano behind”(CBN). The attack as explained by Lt. Jim Downing was just an absolute ferocious attack with oil burning in the water where sailors were trying to swim to the banks. With sailors jumping off of the vessels and into the inferno of water the deaths during Pearl Harbor shot up very dramatically. Japan hit most of the important resources and vessels at Pearl Harbor, that is except for the oil refinery. Japan had planned their attack very well but they didn’t plan on the Pacific Fleet aircraft carriers being deployed, and because they didn’t hit the oil refineries or the aircraft carriers this allowed the Pacific Fleet to bounce back very quickly and resiliently (John O'Donnell, Doris Fleece).
During the attack it was later observed that the destroyer Monaghan had made it out of the channel and that the USS Nevada had tried to escape the Japanese bombers but due to fear of blocking the entrance they turned back (Bachrach). Being afraid to move out of the harbor was a move that cost more soldiers their lives, but it also allowed other ships to escape giving them better defensive positions. After the attack, there were many bodies of sailors seen floating in the open harbor. Millions of gallons of crude oil from the Arizona, Oklahoma, and California had filled the waters, and the fires lit up in giant flames. This made escape nearly impossible for the sailors (CBN). Many sailors were dead in the water after jumping off the sides of the vessels. It was later observed that the ship hit the hardest was the USS Arizona. It was hit by eight bombs and a single torpedo. One of the eight bombs hit the front magazine resulting in an absolutely giant explosion, which was said to have shaken the Japanese planes flying overhead. It was later calculated that the explosion of the USS Arizona left 1,177 American sailors dead (Matt Pearce). This 1,177 sailors was half of the amount of people killed during the entire Pearl Harbor attack (Bachrach). The death toll was a terrible hit taken by the U.S. Naval Fleet, because the people killed were great officers, aviators and sailors.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor the Japanese aviators flew back to their aircraft carriers and headed towards the Philippines (John O'Donnell, Doris Fleece). The Japanese had successfully attacked and destroyed a good portion of Pearl Harbor. Unfortunately, for the Japanese, they missed an important resource which was new for America. This resource was the newly built aircraft carriers (Burbeck). During the hours after the attack people in Hawaii were in constant fear of being hit by another Japanese attack. With the Japanese gone it was time for America to figure out plans on what to do next. After the attack of Pearl Harbor, Japanese had lost 129 aviators, 29 aircraft, and 5 submarines. This was nothing compared to the 2,390 dead americans and 1,178 injured. Japan was heading to the Philippines to perform a similar attack on them as they had done on Pearl Harbor (Bachrach). The U.S. had to put somebody at blame other the the Japanese for the unpreparedness of Pearl Harbor for an attack, but who would that be. The government had a few ideas. They blamed Admiral Kimmel and Lieutenant General Walter C. Shank. For these officers, this resulted in the stripping of their ranks and dismissal of military duties permanently. The two men were charged with failure to prepare soldiers and base for an attack. They were also charged with failure to share intelligence with the higher ups in the military (Matt Pearce). On December the 8th, 1941, the current President Roosevelt who formally declared war on Japan because of their “unapproved and dastardly attack” on Pearl Harbor later pledged to our nation “So help us God” to “make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again”. The economy of the United States went from a peacetime economy to a war-time economy. This included increasing the production of armament to five billion a month (John O'Donnell, Doris Fleece). FDR began a group called the fireside chats, which were used to unite Americans over the radio (John O'Donnell, Doris Fleece).
It was believed that Germany pushed Japan into war because of the rise of communism. Germany also wanted to end the anti-axis coalition and the lend lease program. FDR began to see this and approached the anti axis coalition and told them that they would continue to do the lend lease program with full operation (John O'Donnell, Doris Fleece).
Pearl Harbor which was defeated by the Japanese changed the lives of very many Americans.
As fast as Oahu was attacked, war was declared, and the U.S. had began the reconstruction of their Pearl Harbor naval base. Rebuilding was not the task many believed it would be; this is mainly because only a few destroyers were actually totally destroyed. It was also made easier because the Japanese didn’t hit the oil refineries which played a major role in getting the Pacific Fleet back on its feet. Many Americans were greatly affected on December 7th, 1941. These Americans were not only soldiers but innocent citizens too. Throughout the entire Pacific Theatre Americans gained more and more Japanese islands leaving many people dead. As war began to come to an end America had captured most of Japan. This was accomplished by performing bombing raids from island to island. These battles and firefights are now known as the greatest American revenge in history. Death tolls among Americans and Japanese spiked after Pearl Harbor. When the Pacific Theatre finally came to an end with the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it consisted of 35 million people’s lives lost, and a numerous amount injured. The 35 million lives lost would be roughly around the same thing as 3% of the world's population vanishing (CBN). The attack on Pearl Harbor is a day that should never be forgotten. It should be remembered as a day in which America united together to fight a foreign threat for the greater good of our people. It must also be a day in which we remember all of the fallen soldier and citizens of the
attack.