December 7th, 1941
_It was like the sky was filled with fireflies. It was a beautiful scene -- 183 aircraft in the dark sky. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen."
- Japanese bomber pilot Zenji Abe, who was aboard the aircraft carrier Akagi
the attack is launched
At 5:30A.M., Japanese ships were stationed 200 miles from Oahu, waiting for the attack order. Commander Fuchida sent the radio broadcast to begin and ordered 183 warplanes to take off from the aircraft carrier Akagi. The plan created by Admirals Yamamoto and Minoru Genda called for the torpedo bombers, the slowest planes, to strike first, followed by the high-altitude bombers, then the dive bombers. The second wave, containing 170 planes, left at 6:30A.M. and reached the harbor two hours later.
Aircraft prepare to launch from the Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier Akagi during the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
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Sailors stand among wrecked airplanes at Ford Island Naval Air Station
as they watch the explosion of the USS Shaw during
the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, December 7, 1941.
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the final warning
On December 7th, United States Intelligence intercepted a message sent to the Japanese diplomats, telling them to discontinue negotiations with the United States at 1:00 A.M. War would then be declared. The message was given to Roosevelt and the commanders of the U.S. Army and Navy. Warnings were sent to all the U.S. Pacific bases, including Pearl Harbor, advising them to watch for possible sabotage. Admiral Kimmel and General Short never received the warning. But they knew from a previous message to be alert, so General Short ordered the planes at Pearl Harbor be lined up and arranged wingtip to wingtip in case they were needed.
This dispatch is a war warning. Negotiations with Japan looking toward stabilization of conditions in the Pacific have ceased and an aggressive move by Japan is expected within the next few days ... Execute an appropriate defensive deployment ..."
- Chief of Naval Operations to Admiral Kimmel, November 27, 1941
One of our friends ... supposedly picked up the Japanese planes on his radar unit... when he called the Information Center on that Sunday, Joe McDonald took the message and told the lieutenant ... we weren't exactly sure what the lieutenant did with the message, but Joe and I were convinced that the planes they sighted on the radar were Japanese."
-Private Richard Schimmel, Fort Shafter information center