Pearl+Harbor+(2)

=__Why is this so important to U.S. History?__= It was important because the bombing of Pearl Harbor really started the realization of WWII. (JF-OS)

Pearl Harbor was a surprise attack against the United States of America. It also marked the first attack ever carried out by aircraft launching from ships to attack another navy. This marked Japan declaring war on the US, and the US, in return, declared war on the Axis powers and started giving support to the Allied Powers. (DV-SOTH) = = = =

=**Could the attack on Pearl Harbor have been prevented?**=

I don’t think the Pearl Harbor attack could have been prevented. The United States had no idea that the Japanese were going to attack. It was a surprise attack!

The U.S. Forces couldn’t have known at all. To them it was just a normal day until the Japanese planes started bombing. They were completely caught off guard and were more than vulnerable to the Japanese bombers. The men were stationed off of Oahu Hawaii. They were completely caught off guard and were more than vulnerable to the Japanese bombers. They had all the hatch doors opened and the soldiers weren't even close to being ready for anything. from the [|Japanese view] it looked flawless.

media type="youtube" key="1CjwpmZBP28" width="266" height="221" The Japanese had planed the attack since November 1941 and carried it out on December 7th 1941. It was a complete surprise to the U.S. Forces. The Japanese struck quickly and effectively crippling the [|U.S. Navy] at [|Pearl Harbor]. (JF-OS)

Some of the U.S. battleships in port. Such as the USS Arizona (which sank and is still leaking oil today) and the USS Missouri.(HN-SOTH)



Pearl Harbor may have been preventable. As we know, it was not. From the view of Marine Corporal E.C. Nightingale, it was a complete surprise. He was aboard the famed ship USS Arizona that fateful morning. At the first sign of attack he “Suddenly heard an explosion.” There is no recollection of any alarms sounding before the first bombs even started falling. Many would question as to how nobody noticed the enemy planes flying overhead. The reason for this is because Pearl Harbor was a military island, so planes weren’t uncommon. This is His recollection of what happened during the battle: “ We stood around awaiting orders of some kind. General Quarters sounded and I started for my battle station in secondary aft. As I passed through casement nine I noted the gun was manned and being trained out. The men seemed extremely calm and collected. I reached the boat deck and our anti-aircraft guns were in full action, firing very rapidly. I was about three quarters of the way to the first platform on the mast when it seemed as though a bomb struck our quarterdeck. I could hear shrapnel or fragments whistling past me. As soon as I reached the first platform, I saw Second Lieutenant Simonson lying on his back with blood on his shirt front. I bent over him and taking him by the shoulders asked if there was anything I could do. He was dead, or so nearly so that speech was impossible. Seeing there was nothing I could do for the Lieutenant, I continued to my battle station. When I arrived in secondary aft I reported to Major Shapley that Mr. Simonson had been hit and there was nothing to be done for him. There was a lot of talking going on and I shouted for silence which came immediately. I had only been there a short time when a terrible explosion caused the ship to shake violently. I looked at the boat deck and everything seemed aflame forward of the mainmast. I reported to the Major that the ship was aflame, which was rather needless, and after looking about, the Major ordered us to leave.” (http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/pearl.htm)

While the above testimony of Corporal Nightingale depicted the Pearl Harbor attack as a surprise, it was not the same case for many people in Washington. The Japanese had been using the MAGIC encoding system, on loan from Nazi Germany. Unknown to the Japanese, their version of the encoding system had been broken by American intelligence. They intercepted many messages between the Japanese, like this one sent on December 1, 1941: Re your #119*. Report on ship maneuvers in Pearl Harbor: 1. The place where practice maneuvers are held is about 500 nautical miles southeast of here. Direction based on: (1) That direction taken when the ships start out is usually southeast by south and ships disappear beyond the horizon in that direction. (2) Have never seen the fleet go westward or head for the "KAIUI" straits northwards. (3) The west sea of the Hawaiian Islands has many reefs and islands and is not suitable as a ocean maneuver practice sea. (4) Direction of practice will avoid all merchant ship routes and official travel routes. Distance based on: (1) Fuel is plentyfull and long distance high speed is possible. (2) Guns can not be heard here. (3) In one week's time, (actually the maneuvers mentioned in my message #231 were for the duration of four full days of 144 hours), a round trip to a distance of 864 nautical miles could be reached (if speed is 12 knots), or 1152 nautical miles (if speed is 16 knots), or 1440 nautical miles (if speed is 20 miles) is possible, however, figuring on 50% of the time being used for maneuver technicalities, a guess that the point at which the maneuvers are held would be a point of about 500 miles from Pearl Harbor. 2. The usual schedule for departure and return of the battleships is: leaving on Tuesday and returning on Friday, or leaving on Friday and returning on Saturday of the following week. All ships stay in port about a period of one week. [] This message shows that the Japanese Navy was doing some type of maneuvers, and they didn’t want anyone to know the details of the maneuver. Also, in the next few days leading up to the attack, Pearl Harbor, and its ship movements and positions are reported quite frequently. This is uncommon, because the Japanese didn’t mention any other American bases. This could easily have been interpreted as intelligence gathering for some kind of attack, yet no one did anything to act on the information. According to these sources, I think that Pearl Harbor could have been prevented, and that the reason it wasn’t was because of human error. (DV-SOTH)

**__Primary Sources__**
[] [] http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/mmh/wwii/usa.html http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/pearlhbr/pearlhbr.html

**__Secondary Sources__**
[]

Page By: DV-SOTH, HN-SOTH, JF-OS