Youre So Funny When Did the Japanese Brought Bomb Pearl Harbor

Japanese Attack & World War 2

How Many Ships Were At Pearl Harbor?

During the attack, there were 102 ships stationed at Pearl Harbor of which 69 of them received no damage at all. There were 15 ships that received minor damage and 11 more ships that sustained medium to heavy damage. There were 7 ships sunk at Pearl Harbor but of those, only 3 were a total loss, Arizona, Oklahoma & Utah.

First Japanese Pow of WWII

On December 7th 1941 the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor also involved the use of midget submarines. One of these subs commanded by Kazuo Sakamaki ran aground on windward Oahu's Waimanalo beach. He attempted to blow up the sub but the explosives failed and he was soon captured by army personnel. He became the first POW captured by US forces during the war. The midget sub was recovered and eventually toured the US as a promotional piece used to sell war bonds.

Japanese Mistakes

Though devastating as it was the US Navy only permanently lost 2 ships in the attack on Pearl Harbor, the USS Arizona, and the USS Oklahoma. All the other damaged ships were refloated and repaired, many within 6 months. This is because the Japanese failed to bomb the nearby repair facilities and dry docks. They also failed to damage any of the aircraft carriers who were out of port during the raid. The Japanese mistakenly believed battleships would play the main roll in naval combat. It turned out that aircraft at sea would be the main weapon that would lead to the deadly demise of the Japanese Navy.

What Ships Were Sunk At Pearl Harbor?

There were 7 ships that were sunk completely during the attack. All but 3 of them returned to service in 1944. The Arizona & Utah are both Pearl Harbor Memorials. Oklahoma was stripped of useable materials and while being towed to California after the war, took on water and sank 500 miles off Hawaii.

Battleship Facts: The 3 that did not return to service were all battleships. The battleships were the secondary target of the attack after no aircraft carrier was identified. Utah, although it was classified as a battleship, was used for training and target practice only. It was torpedoed by young Japanese pilots after being misidentified. Attacking it was not part of the plan.

Pearl Harbor Sunken Ships

Sotoyomo – YT-9 – Harbor Tug Boat
Oglala – CM-4 – Minelayer
California – BB44 – Battleship
West Virginia – BB48 – Battleship
Arizona – BB-39 – Battleship
Oklahoma – BB-37 – Battleship
Utah – AG-16 – Dreadnaught Battleship

Brothers in Arms

Twenty three sets of brothers died in the attack on the USS Arizona. At the time it was common for brothers to serve together. The Arizona actually had 37 sets of brothers aboard, a total of 78 men, with only 15 surviving the attack. This tragic loss to American families would eventually lead to brothers being stationed on different ships and combat units to limit the losses to families back home.

Interesting fact – a sailor aboard the USS Utah had his daughters ashes with him when the ship was sunk, entombing the girl on the ship. Nancy Lyn Wagner was two days old when she died and her father brought her on board with the intention of burying her at sea. He never got the chance as the Japanese torpedoed the ship in the opening minutes of the attack and it capsized at it's berth. Though most of the crew escaped, 64 men died and are entombed in the wreckage. The wreck remains in the harbor, and in 1972, a memorial was erected near the ship.

In 2003 a memorial service was held in the babyʻs honor at the site of the sunken ship.

How Deep Is Pearl Harbor?

The average depth of the harbor is only 45 feet deep or just over 13 meters. When dropped, a torpedo will drop to a depth of 100 feet before rising so the make an attack successful, they had to add wooden fins to the torpedos and practice for almost a year to learn how to launch attacks on the ships in the harbor.

Japan's 2nd attack on Pearl Harbor

Few know that the second attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese occurred on March 4th 1942 just 3 months after the initial devastating attack. Called Operation K, two Japanese flying boats flew across the Pacific from Japan where they were refueled by submarines before flying to Oahu. Each plane carried four 550 lbs bombs.

The mission was to reconnaissance Pearl Harbor and bomb the repair and salvage operations. The Japanese originally planned to use five Kawanishi H8K long range boat planes but only two were available at the time of the mission. The raid would be one of the longest bombing missions flown in the war.

They approached the islands around 1 am when radar stations on Kauai spotted the planes. P-40 Warhawk fighters were scrambled to intercept but heavy cloud cover prevented them from finding the Japanese planes flying at 15,000 ft. On Oahu, an island-wide blackout meant to deter air raids and the same thick cloud cover prevented the two planes from identifying Honolulu and Pearl Harbor at night.

One plane dropped its bombs in the ocean near the entrance to Pearl Harbor and the other dropped bombs near President Theodore Roosevelt High School on the slopes of Tantalus Peak north of Honolulu. No one was injured and damage was minimal with a few broken windows at the school. Both the US Army and US Navy blamed each other for the explosions, each accusing the other of jettisoning munitions over Tantalus Peak.

The Japanese attempted the same mission again with a single plane on March 10th 1942 but it was shot down by Navy fighters over Midway Atoll.

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Source: https://www.pearlharbortours.com/blog/things-you-dont-know/

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