Attack on Pearl Harbor Timeline

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They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</span>, <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 qa-editor-popup gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor" href="/editor/Kenny-Chmielewski/9604404" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">Kenny Chmielewski</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 clamp-description text-black">Kenny is an associate cartographer at Britannica and has worked there since 2008. When not making maps and infographics for Britannica, he enjoys photographing the beautiful city of Chicago.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> Kenny Chmielewski</span></div></div> </div> <article class="topic-content content mt-20"><figure class="md-assembly md-feature-assembly print-false" data-type="1" data-descid="2"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/40/230940-050-4DE23CD8/infographic-Pearl-Harbor-attack-World-War-II-1941.jpg" target="_blank" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center " data-href="*"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/40/230940-050-4DE23CD8/infographic-Pearl-Harbor-attack-World-War-II-1941.jpg" alt="Attack on Pearl Harbor. December 7, 1941. Pearl Harbor infographic. World War II. Hawaii. United States. Japan. SPOTLIGHT VERSION" data-width="718" data-height="2000" loading="eager"><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class=""><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div><cite class="credit d-block mt-5">Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc./Kenny Chmielewski</cite></figcaption></figure> <p class="topic-paragraph">This infographic concerns the Japanese attack of December 7, 1941, on <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Pearl-Harbor-attack" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Pearl Harbor</a>, the base of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-United-States-Navy" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">U.S. Navy</a>’s Pacific Fleet, on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Below a large frontal image of a Japanese military aircraft, flanked by small U.S. and Japanese flags, the infographic displays a quotation from U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s speech to Congress on December 8, 1941: “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.” The infographic then presents a timeline of key events, a chart enumerating Japan’s aerial attacking force, maps of the attack, and charts on its aftermath.</p><span class="MOD1"></span> <h2 id="refd3979841e21">Timeline</h2> <p class="topic-paragraph">The infographic provides a timeline of key events on the morning of December 7, 1941, related to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.</p><span class="MOD2"></span> <p class="topic-paragraph">At 3:42 AM (Hawaiian time) the minesweeper USS <em>Condor</em> sights what may be a submarine periscope near the entrance to Pearl Harbor.</p><span class="MOD3"></span> <p class="topic-paragraph">At 6:10 AM the first wave of planes, numbering nearly 200, takes off from <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/aircraft-carrier" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">aircraft carriers</a> of the Imperial Japanese Navy’s Pearl Harbor Strike Force, which is positioned some 275 miles (440 km) north of Oahu.</p><span class="MOD4"></span> <p class="topic-paragraph">At 6:45 AM the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/destroyer" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">destroyer</a> USS <em>Ward</em> fires on a Japanese <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/submarine-naval-vessel" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">submarine</a>. These are the first shots fired by the United States in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-II" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">World War II</a>.</p><span class="MOD5"></span> <p class="topic-paragraph">At 6:53 AM the captain of the <em>Ward</em> radios the headquarters of the Fourteenth Naval District, responsible for defending the Hawaiian Islands, “We have attacked, fired upon, and dropped depth charges upon submarine operating in defensive sea area” near Pearl Harbor. The district commandant, assuming this to be an isolated incident the <em>Ward</em> and a relief destroyer can handle, takes no action. The commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet decides to await confirmation before acting.</p><span class="MOD6"></span> <p class="topic-paragraph">At 7:02 AM a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-United-States-Army" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">U.S. Army</a> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/radar" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">radar</a> operator on Oahu spots a large formation of unidentified aircraft heading toward the island.</p><span class="MOD7"></span> <p class="topic-paragraph">At 7:20 AM an army lieutenant disregards this radar report, believing that it indicates a flight of U.S. planes, possibly B-17 bombers scheduled to arrive that day.</p><span class="MOD8"></span> <p class="topic-paragraph">At 7:40 AM the first wave of Japanese aircraft reaches Oahu.</p><span class="MOD9"></span> <p class="topic-paragraph">At 7:49 AM the first wave’s commander orders the attack on Pearl Harbor to proceed.</p><span class="MOD10"></span> <p class="topic-paragraph">At 7:55 AM the coordinated attack on Pearl Harbor begins.</p><span class="MOD11"></span> <p class="topic-paragraph">At 8:10 AM the battleship <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/USS-Arizona" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">USS <em>Arizona</em></a> explodes.</p><span class="MOD12"></span> <p class="topic-paragraph">At 8:17 AM the destroyer USS <em>Helm</em> fires on and sinks a Japanese submarine at the entrance to the harbor.</p><span class="MOD13"></span> <p class="topic-paragraph">At 8:54 AM the second wave of Japanese planes, numbering nearly 170, begins its attack.</p><span class="MOD14"></span> <p class="topic-paragraph">At 9:30 AM the destroyer USS <em>Shaw</em> explodes in dry dock.</p><span class="MOD15"></span> <p class="topic-paragraph">At 10:00 AM the Japanese planes head back to their carriers, which will ultimately return to Japan.</p><span class="MOD16"></span> <h2 id="refd3979841e105">Japan’s aerial attacking force</h2> <p class="topic-paragraph">The infographic provides a chart showing a block of red aircraft icons, each representing a single <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/torpedo-plane" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">torpedo plane</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/bomber-aircraft" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">high-level bomber</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/dive-bomber" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">dive bomber</a>, or <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/Zero-Japanese-aircraft" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">fighter</a> in the Japanese attacking force. According to the chart, a total of 353 planes were involved in the attack. Of those, 29 planes, shaded dark red on the chart, failed to return to their carriers after the attack.</p><span class="MOD17"></span> <p class="topic-paragraph">The chart also notes that the Japanese navy’s Pearl Harbor Strike Force consisted of some 67 ships (6 of them <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/aircraft-carrier" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">aircraft carriers</a>). Most of them were positioned more than 200 miles north of Oahu during the attack. Finally, the chart notes that only one Japanese ship that participated in the attack survived till the end of World War II.</p><span class="MOD18"></span> <h2 id="refd3979841e128">Maps</h2> <p class="topic-paragraph">The infographic presents three maps to aid in visualizing the Pearl Harbor attack, including the dispositions of the attackers and their targets.</p><span class="MOD19"></span> <h3 id="refd3979841e133">Hawaiian Islands</h3> <p class="topic-paragraph">The first map locates <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Oahu" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Oahu</a>, the site of the U.S. Naval Station at Pearl Harbor, among the major islands of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Hawaii-state" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Hawaiian chain</a>.</p><span class="MOD20"></span> <h3 id="refd3979841e145">Oahu</h3> <p class="topic-paragraph">The second map shows the routes that the first and second waves of attacking Japanese aircraft flew over Oahu—the first wave in red, the second in white. In addition, this map locates the targeted U.S. airfields on Oahu, marked by white airplane icons. Most of the flight paths converge on a cloverleaf-shaped inlet at the center of the island’s southern coast. This is Pearl Harbor. Within a quarter of an hour of reaching the harbor, Japanese dive bombers and fighters in the first wave had subjected the various airfields to savage attack. As an anti-sabotage measure, the U.S. military aircraft were packed tightly together at the Naval Air Station on Ford Island and nearby Wheeler and Hickam fields, and most of those planes were destroyed on the ground by Japanese bombing and strafing.</p><span class="MOD21"></span> <h3 id="refd3979841e150">Pearl Harbor</h3> <h4 id="refd3979841e152">Japanese flight paths</h4> <p class="topic-paragraph">The third map focuses on the harbor itself, showing the directions from which swarms of Japanese planes in the first wave swooped in: mainly from the northwest over Pearl City, from the northeast over Aiea Bay, and from the south over the submarine base. Most of the Japanese pilots seem to have concentrated their attack on “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/battleship-naval-ship" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Battleship</a> Row,” seven heavy warships moored close together off the southeast side of Ford Island, in the south-central part of the harbor. Of even greater strategic value were the U.S. Pacific Fleet’s <a class="external" target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://academic.eb.com/levels/collegiate/article/naval-warfare/110193#53040.toc" data-show-preview="true">aircraft carriers</a>, whose two berths also lay off the island. However, to the disappointment of the Japanese, neither of those ships was there that morning.</p><span class="MOD22"></span> <p class="topic-paragraph">South of Ford Island on the map is an area of land labeled U.S. Naval Station. This was the Navy Yard—the nerve center of the base—including administrative buildings, machine shops, and dry docks. At the yard’s east and west ends, the map locates the base’s oil storage tanks. This fuel supply was vital to Pearl Harbor’s ability to function as a major naval base, and yet the Japanese pilots failed to target, much less destroy it. Because the machine shops were also spared, ship repairs could begin soon after the attack.</p><span class="MOD23"></span> <h4 id="refd3979841e167">U.S. ships</h4> <p class="topic-paragraph">The map of Pearl Harbor locates the U.S. ships present during the attack and names those that were hit. The extent of damage that each ship suffered is indicated by the ship’s color—dark blue for total loss, light blue for damage later repaired, and white for no damage.</p><span class="MOD24"></span> <p class="topic-paragraph">According to the map, the vessels deemed a total loss were the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/battleship-naval-ship" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">battleships</a> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/USS-Arizona" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true"><em>Arizona</em></a> and <em>Oklahoma</em> and the former battleship and then target ship <em>Utah</em>. Silhouettes of those ships are shown beside the map, along with that of the battleship <em>West Virginia</em>, which, though damaged and sunk, was eventually repaired and returned to service. As noted above that vessel’s silhouette, the <em>West Virginia</em> was the only ship attacked at Pearl Harbor that was also present during Japan’s formal surrender on September 2, 1945.</p><span class="MOD25"></span> <p class="topic-paragraph">The other U.S. Navy vessels damaged and later repaired, according to the map, were the battleships <em>California</em>, <em>Maryland</em>, <em>Nevada</em>, <em>Pennsylvania</em>, and <em>Tennessee</em>; the light <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/cruiser" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">cruisers</a> <em>Helena</em>, <em>Honolulu</em>, and <em>Raleigh</em>; the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/destroyer" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">destroyers</a> <em>Cassin</em>, <em>Downes</em>, and <em>Shaw</em>; the repair ship <em>Vestal</em>; the seaplane tender <em>Curtiss</em>; and the minelayer <em>Oglala</em>.</p><span class="MOD26"></span> <h2 id="refd3979841e229">Aftermath</h2> <h3 id="refd3979841e232">Deaths</h3> <p class="topic-paragraph">To aid in visualizing the human toll of the Pearl Harbor attack, the infographic presents a chart showing nearly 50 squares, each representing 50 people killed. Of those squares, 48 represent a total of 2,404 American military personnel and civilians who died. Within that set, 23½ gray squares stand for the 1,177 officers and seamen killed aboard the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/USS-Arizona" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">USS <em>Arizona</em></a>, and 1⅓ dark blue squares represent the 68 civilians killed. The chart juxtaposes those losses with total Japanese losses: 1¼ red squares, representing the 64 fliers and submariners killed (in addition, one submarine captain was taken prisoner).</p><span class="MOD27"></span> <h3 id="refd3979841e241">Awards</h3> <p class="topic-paragraph">The infographic concludes with a chart representing the number of U.S. military personnel who were officially recognized for their distinguished conduct during the Pearl Harbor attack: 15 received the Navy Medal of Honor, the service’s highest award for heroism in combat, and 51 received the Navy Cross, the service’s second highest award for heroism. In addition, the infographic notes that the Pearl Harbor Commemorative Medal was later given to all military veterans of the attack.</p><span class="MOD28"></span> <span class="AM-END-OF-ARTICLE am-inline"></span></article> </div> </div> </div> <aside class="cm-rightrail d-none d-md-block ad-rail"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </main> <div class="grid gx-0"> <div class="col"> <div class="md-loading hidden display-4 font-weight-normal"></div> <div class="text-center my-20 mb-100"> <button class="md-infinite-load-next btn btn-blue" data-value="next-page">Load More</button> </div> </div> <div class="col-md-da-320 hidden-xs"> </div> </div> </div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"Story","templateName":"SPOTLIGHT","pageNumber":1,"pagesTotal":10,"pageId":10726,"pageLength":null,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-133/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.133.36"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-133/dist/story-page.js?v=3.133.36' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"C","adLeg":"C","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"Story","pageSubtype":"SPOTLIGHT","articleTemplateType":null,"gisted":false,"pageNumber":1,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":false} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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Attack on Pearl Harbor Timeline | Britannica