December 7, 1941 was a sunny and quiet Sunday morning on the US Naval Base in Honolulu, Hawaii.

 December 7, 1941 was a sunny and quiet Sunday morning on the US Naval Base in Honolulu, Hawaii.




The sailors had enjoyed another quiet Saturday night, and early risers were awakening to a sunny day. 

Routine events such as loading provisions onto ships were taking place, and the last thing anyone on the base suspected that morning, was a devastating surprise attack on the base. 

However this quiet morning in paradise was shattered at 7:48 am local time, by the sound of 177 aircraft of the Imperial Japanese Navy attacking the US Naval Base, with the intent to destroy and damage as much of the US Pacific Fleet as possible, before it could respond to Japanese operations taking place on the same day against British, Dutch and US territories in southeast Asia. 

This first attack wave began bombing the hangars and parked aircraft of the island’s airfields while at the same time launching torpedoes against the US warships moored in the harbor. 

In the first five minutes of the attack, four battleships were hit, including the USS Oklahoma and the USS Arizona. Minutes later, the Arizona exploded after a bomb hit its gunpowder stores, sinking the ship and killing 1,177 of its crew.

This devastating attack was followed an hour later by a second wave of 163 Japanese aircraft. Within two hours, 21 US warships had been sunk or damaged, 188 aircraft destroyed and 2,403 American servicemen and women killed. 

Many of these ships were repaired and fought in later battles, and, crucially all three of the Pacific Fleet’s aircraft carriers were not at Pearl Harbor during the attack and so escaped damage. They were to prove vital in the coming Pacific Campaign.

Today, December 7, 2023, marks the 82nd anniversary of this devastating attack. 

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