was the attack on pearl harbor a surprise attack

The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory, on the morning of December 7, 1941. The attack, also known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor, led to the United States' entry into World War II.

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Was Pearl Harbour an unprecedented surprise attack?

Tora! and Pearl Harbour tend to ignore these historic precedents and pretend that the attack on Pearl Harbour was both "unprecedented" and "unexpected" and "the first surprise attack by aircraft on ships," generations have been deceived into thinking that Pearl Harbour was a treacherous, unexpected and unprecedented attack "A day that will live ...

Was the attack on Pearl Harbor totally unexpected?

When Japan attacked the US Pacific fleet it was totally unexpected on this Sunday morning December 7, 194. Japan wanted to attack Pearl Harbor because it was afraid the US would be able to attack from the Pacific.

Was Pearl Harbor an unprovoked attack?

Pearl Harbor was not an unprovoked and unjust attack on the United States by Japan. It was a calculated attack that was planned by the Roosevelt administration as has been shown in this essay. The US government needed a military attack on its home soil to justify its participation in World War II and was able to achieve it after the Pearl Harbor attack.

Why was the attack on Pearl Harbor so successful?

The attack on Pearl Harbor was also so successful as Japan was still in negotiations with President Franklin D Roosevelt and there was no declaration of war. The attack occurred on Sunday, December 7th, 1941 at 7:48am. The men aboard the US Ships were asleep and unprepared for the attack.

Why was the attack of Pearl Harbor considered a surprise?

To Japan, war with the United States had become to seem inevitable, in order to defend its status as a major world power. Because the odds were stacked against them, their only chance was the element of surprise.

Was the attack on Pearl Harbor a mistake?

According to a 2016 article by retired U.S. Navy Commander Alan D. Zimm, Japanese Captain Mitsuo Fuchida, who led the aerial attack on Pearl Harbor, made a critical mistake by firing two flares, which signaled to his aviators that they had not caught the Americans by surprise.

Does Japan regret bombing Pearl Harbor?

Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor took place on December 7, 1941. The U.S. military suffered 18 ships damaged or sunk, and 2,400 people were killed. Its most significant consequence was the entrance of the United States into World War II....Charts.LocationBattleshipsAircraft carriersPacific1065 more rows

How did Japan ensure a surprise attack?

Radio intelligence (RI) played a key role in the lead-up to the 7 December attack by allowing the Japanese to monitor what the U.S. Pacific Fleet was doing. Using huge radio antenna masts in the Marshall Islands, Tokyo was able to listen in on the fleet's communications.

What mistakes did the US make in Pearl Harbor?

Ultimately the war in the Pacific was a carrier war. The Americans though Pearl Harbor was too shallow for effective torpedo attack by plane. New technology was not used correctly. The United States failed to properly utilize radar.

What went wrong at Pearl Harbor?

In all, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor crippled or destroyed nearly 20 American ships and more than 300 airplanes. Dry docks and airfields were likewise destroyed. Most important, 2,403 sailors, soldiers and civilians were killed and about 1,000 people were wounded.

What was Japan's biggest mistake?

One of the biggest mistakes the Japanese made was not destroying the smallest American ships in Pearl: our submarines. They survived and put to sea to destroy more Japanese tonnage during the war than the Americans lost at Pearl Harbor.

Could Pearl Harbor have been prevented?

The truth is that it is unlikely. Military leaders don't allow such attacks to happen because it is impossible to control the outcome. What if the attack was early and the carriers were sunk, what if the oil facilities were destroyed or what if the Japanese invaded and occupied Hawaii.

Why did Japan attack Pearl Harbor?

By mid-1941 the United States had severed all economic relations with Japan and was providing material and financial support to China. Japan had be...

How long did the Pearl Harbor attack last?

The first Japanese dive-bomber appeared over Pearl Harbor at 7:55 AM (local time) on December 7, 1941. Over the next half hour, Pearl Harbor’s airf...

Was the Pearl Harbor attack successful?

In the short term, the American naval presence in the Pacific was severely weakened. However, the Japanese had largely ignored the harbour’s infras...

Did the Pearl Harbor attack signal the beginning of World War II for the United States?

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor marked the beginning of the Pacific war for the U.S., but it did not necessarily mean that the U.S. had become...

What is Pearl Harbor like today?

Pearl Harbor is a U.S. Navy base on the Hawaiian island of Oahu and the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Adjacent to the harbour is Hickam A...

The Inevitable War

The surprise wasn’t the initiation of war, but how Japan had done it. While people may have known war was on the horizon, there’s no denying that American isolationism gave many the false security that at no point would a hostile foreign nation carry out an attack on American soil.

The Surprise Attack

It was a quiet Sunday morning in December. Many sailors were on shore leave, while others were enjoying breakfast to start another routine day. Perhaps, in the back of their minds, entry into World War II was a distinct possibility, but for it to start on a random weekend on the island of Oahu wasn’t something anyone could have expected.

What was the Pearl Harbor attack?

Pearl Harbor attack, (December 7, 1941), surprise aerial attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu Island , Hawaii, by the Japanese that precipitated the entry of the United States into World War II. The strike climaxed a decade of worsening relations between ...

What time did the Japanese dive bomb Pearl Harbor?

The first Japanese dive-bomber appeared over Pearl Harbor at 7:55 AM. Over the next half hour, Pearl Harbor’s airfields and docked ships were subjected to a merciless assault with bombs, guns, and torpedoes. A second wave struck at 8:50 AM, and the Japanese withdrew shortly after 9:00 AM. In just over an hour, the Japanese destroyed 180 aircraft ...

How many planes did Nagumo Chuichi have?

From there about 360 planes in total were launched. Tōjō Hideki.

How many ships did Japan destroy in the Pacific War?

A second wave struck at 8:50 AM, and the Japanese withdrew shortly after 9:00 AM. In just over an hour, the Japanese destroyed 180 aircraft and destroyed or damaged more than a dozen ships. Pacific War: From Pearl Harbor to Midway. Find out where else Japan struck in the days following December 7, 1941.

Where is Pearl Harbor?

Pearl Harbor is a U.S. Navy base on the Hawaiian island of Oahu and the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Adjacent to the harbour is Hickam Air Force Base, and the two installations were merged in 2010 to become Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam. The USS Arizona remains where it sank on December 7, 1941, and it is preserved as ...

What happened between June 1940 and December 1941?

Between June 1940 and the fateful crisis of December 1941, the tension constantly mounted. In July 1941, by which time the Japanese had occupied all of Indochina and had entered into an alliance with the Axis powers ( Germany and Italy ), the U.S. government severed all commercial and financial relations with Japan.

What was the prelude to the war?

In the late 1930s, American foreign policy in the Pacific hinged on support for China, and aggression against China by Japan therefore necessarily would bring Japan into conflict with the United States.

How many ships were destroyed in the Pearl Harbor attack?

In all, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor crippled or destroyed nearly 20 American ships and more than 300 airplanes. Dry docks and airfields were likewise destroyed. Most important, 2,403 sailors, soldiers and civilians were killed and about 1,000 people were wounded.

How many sailors were on the USS Oklahoma?

Next, torpedoes pierced the shell of the battleship USS Oklahoma. With 400 sailors aboard, the Oklahoma lost her balance, rolled onto her side and slipped underwater. Less than two hours later, the surprise attack was over, and every battleship in Pearl Harbor— USS Arizona, USS Oklahoma, USS California, USS West Virginia, USS Utah, USS Maryland, ...

What happened after Pearl Harbor?

After the Pearl Harbor attack, and for the first time during years of discussion and debate, the American people were united in their determination to go to war.

What was the Japanese plan for the USS Arizona?

USS Arizona. The Japanese plan was simple: Destroy the Pacific Fleet. That way, the Americans would not be able to fight back as Japan’s armed forces spread across the South Pacific. On December 7, after months of planning and practice, the Japanese launched their attack.

Why was the United States unhappy with Japan?

The United States was particularly unhappy with Japan’s increasingly belligerent attitude toward China. The Japanese government believed that the only way to solve its economic and demographic problems was to expand into its neighbor’s territory and take over its import market.

Where was Pearl Harbor in 1941?

America Enters World War II. Pearl Harbor is a U.S. naval base near Honolulu, Hawaii, that was the scene of a devastating surprise attack by Japanese forces on December 7, 1941. Just before 8 a.m. on that Sunday morning, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes descended on the base, where they managed to destroy or damage nearly 20 American naval ...

Who was the President of the United States when Pearl Harbor was attacked?

President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed a joint session of the U.S. Congress on December 8, the day after the crushing attack on Pearl Harbor. “Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”.

How is Pearl Harbor remembered?

Pearl Harbor will always be remembered in the history books, the TV documentaries, as well as the majority of bankster-influenced and / or controlled websites, such as Wikipedia™, as the Japanese ‘surprise attack’ on the United States that resulted in America being dragged unwillingly and unavoidably into WWII.

Why was Pearl Harbor not warned?

Pearl Harbor was not warned because we wanted to get rid of the WWI ships and be forced to buy new ones and because that war, like all the others was never about nation-states, it was always about the money that every nation needed just to fight in these contrived wars. It has ALWAYS been about the money.

How many pages per day was decrypted in Pearl Harbor?

Pearl Harbor. At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the US was decrypting a thousand pages per day of coded Japanese communication. Following the attack, the US government maintained that there was no indication of an impending attack but the government however, still classified much of it as secret and denied access to many ...

What air bases were used in Pearl Harbor?

This included Air Stations at Ford Island, Kaneohe, Wheeler Field, Ewa, and Hickam plus Bellows Army Air Field and the Marine Air Base at Ewa. This almost eliminated US air response capabilities for the entire duration of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Why did Roosevelt know Pearl Harbor was being attacked?

The fact remains that Roosevelt knew that Pearl Harbor was to be attacked because we had broken the Japanese code. Pearl Harbor was not warned because we wanted ...

Why did Hitler not like Roosevelt?

A few days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hitler allowed his personal dislike of Roosevelt to overcome his better judgement and made one of his greatest tactical errors and declared war on the United States , thus saving Roosevelt the time and trouble to do the same.

Why did Marshall pit his former friend?

Short later remarked that he pitied his former friend because Marshall was the only general who would not be able to write an autobiography. Indeed, of the multiplicity of warnings of the attack concealed from the commanders at Pearl Harbor, the ‘Winds Code’ was perhaps the most shocking.

Why didn't Washington see the deadly strike on Pearl Harbor coming?

Why didn’t Washington see the deadly strike on Pearl Harbor coming? The attack, which took place on 7 December 1941, remained veiled in secrecy due to US hubris and inch-perfect Japanese planning, writes historian Robert Lyman

What cipher was used by the Japanese?

The Japanese government and military used many different codes, but the Purple cipher was the only one fully mastered by US cryptographers. The naval cipher, JN25b, had only been partially unravelled by the time Japanese aircraft were making their initial dive-bombing runs against the Pacific Fleet.

What happened at the same time as Pearl Harbor?

At the same time as the strike on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese launched a simultaneous attack on British Malaya – one that led to the fall of Singapore within 10 weeks. While Britain very much wanted the US in the war, this was to take on the Germans in Europe, not in the nightmare context of a fight on two fronts.

What code did the US use to crack the Japanese code?

The United States was aware of many elements of high-level Japanese political thinking as 1941 progressed, because it had managed to crack the country’s main diplomatic code – known as the ‘Purple cipher’ – in an operation codenamed ‘Magic’. The Japanese government and military used many different codes, but the Purple cipher was the only one fully mastered by US cryptographers. The naval cipher, JN25b, had only been partially unravelled by the time Japanese aircraft were making their initial dive-bombing runs against the Pacific Fleet.

Why was the radar set on Hawaii installed?

A British-made radar set, which had proven its worth during the battle of Britain the previous year, had been installed on Oahu to provide early warning of an air attack.

Why did the US know that the Japanese would attack the Philippines?

US strategists knew, of course, that a Japanese offensive would chiefly target Dutch and British possessions in southeast Asia, because it was there that the raw materials required to fuel Japan’s imperial ambitions were located. They knew, also, that the US’s military presence in the Philippines would at some point come into the crosshairs.

What was Japan preparing for in 1941?

The US knew, in the second half of 1941, that Japan was preparing for war in the western Pacific and southeast Asia. Tokyo needed to secure material for its military operations in China – principally oil, tin, bauxite and rubber. But Washington was never aware of the final details of these plans. US strategists knew, of course, ...

What led to the Pearl Harbor attack?

The attack on Pearl Harbor followed months of negotiations between the Japanese and U.S. governments, which had failed.

Japanese attack plan

Japanese aviators can be seen some time before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, in December 1941. (Image credit: Roger Viollet via Getty Images)

What happened at Pearl Harbor?

Thick smoke billows up from American warships (from left, USS West Virginia and USS Tennessee) along Battleship Row during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, on Dec. 7, 1941. (Image credit: US Navy/Interim Archives/Getty Images)

Aftermath of the Pearl Harbor attack

Along with the loss of the USS Arizona, torpedo damage also capsized Oklahoma, and West Virginia also sank. Every other battleship in the harbor, as well as several U.S. cruisers and destroyers were badly damaged. A total of 2,403 Americans were killed in the attack, while the Japanese lost 29 planes and five submarines.

Additional resources

Michael E. Haskew, who has been studying military history for more than 25 years, is the Editor of WWII History magazine and The World War II Desk Reference with the Eisenhower Center for American Studies.

Overview

Background to conflict

Approach and attack

Ships lost or damaged

Salvage

News coverage

Aftermath

See also