Pearl Harbour


At the start of World War II, the US declared itself neutral. However, relations with Japan deteriorated when Japan signed the Berlin Pact in 1940, joining Germany and Italy as the three Axis Powers.


At 07:40 hours on 7th December 1941, the Japanese Navy came out of the blue sky and laid the Pacific base of the American Navy to waste. The attack came without warning, or declaration of war. It was calculated to ensure Japan’s dominance in the Pacific.


Six Japanese aircraft carriers had secretly sailed within striking distance of Hawaii, under strict radio silence. The first wave of 183 fighters, bombers, and torpedo carriers flew 235 miles south to the island of Oahu.


With the words, “to-ra, to-ra, to-ra”, the Japanese air fleet launched simultaneous attacks on Pearl Harbour and air force bases located nearby.


Within two hours, five battleships had been sunk, another 16 were badly damaged and 188 aircraft destroyed. Nearly 2,400 Americans were killed and another 1,200 injured.


The USS Arizona, withstood the first hit by a torpedo, but a second armour-piercing bomb ignited 450 tonnes of gunpowder. The explosion blasted the battleship clean out of the water, killing 1,177 men.

By 09:00, another wave of 164 Japanese aircraft attacked ships in dry dock – this time the US anti-aircraft guns were ready to provide resistance. However, only 29 Japanese planes were shot down out of a total of 347.


By sheer fortune, the US Navy’s aircraft carriers were on patrol and escaped the destruction. Failure to sink them played a direct part in Japan’s downfall once the US was forced into the theatre of war.