Hawaii's Pearl Harbor is one of the most well-known military installations in the world. Pearl Harbor is located on the south coast of Oahu, the third largest of the eight major islands generally considered to be Hawaii. In the vicinity of Pearl Harbor are there many U.S. military installations: the U.S. Pacific naval base, Hickam Air Force Base, Pearl Harbor Naval Air Station, and Camp H. M. Smith, headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Command.
The U.S. first gained rights there in 1887 when the Hawaiian monarchy let them build a coaling and repair station In 1900 Pearl Harbor was made to a U.S. naval base. In 1940 after the signing of the Pact of Berlin by the Axis nations (Germany, Italy, and Japan) the Harbor was improved …show more content…
It was attacked and reported sunk by the destroyer USS Ward and a patrol plane. At 7:00 a.m. An alert operator of an army radar station at Opana spotted the approaching first wave of the attack force. The officer to whom this report was relayed did not consider them significant enough to take action. The report of the submarine sinking was handled routinely, and the radar sighting was passed off as an approaching group of American planes due to arrive that morning.
The Japanese aircrews achieved complete surprise when they hit American ships and military installations on Oahu shortly after 8:00 a.m. They attacked military airfields at the same time they hit the fleet anchored at Pearl Harbor. The Navy bases at Ford Island and Kaneohe bay, the marine airfield at Ewa and the army air corps fields at Bellows, Wheeler, and Hickman were all bombed and wounded as other elements of the attacking force began their assaults on ships moored in Pearl Harbor. The purpose of simultaneous attacks was to destroy planes before they could rise to intercept the Japanese …show more content…
They failed to damage any United States aircraft carriers, which by a stroke of luck had been absent from the harbor that day. They neglected to damage any shore side facilities at the Pearl Harbor Naval base, which played an important role in the allied victory in World War II. American technology skill raised and repaired all but three of the ships sunk or damaged at Pearl Harbor during the first and second wave of the surprise attack. The USS Arizona was considered too badly damaged to be salvaged; the USS Oklahoma was raised but was considered too old and costly to be worth repairing, and the outdated USS Utah was considered not worth the effort. The attack on Pearl Harbor caused great damage, sinking several powerful battleships, but the top prize, America's Pacific Fleet aircraft carriers, were not in port at the time. Japan damaged the U.S. Navy, but did not cripple it. What they did do was make America extremely angry and thirsting for revenge and retribution on their new enemies. Thus began the four-year Pacific War portion of World War Two between the U.S. and