Pearl Harbor: Accidental or Political :: essays research papers

sunshine morning, descentember 7, 1941, Japanese bombers, fighter planes, and torpedo planes attacked the American maritime base at Pearl Harbor. This sneak attack plunged the joined States into World War II. The first wave, consisting of 183 planes, arrived at approximately 750AM. They had taken off from aircraft carriers about 200 miles to the northwest, a fleet commanded by wrong Admiral Chuichi Nagumo (Thomas 3). The Japanese goal was to destroy the ships on Battleship actors line and the airplanes on the ground at the Naval Air Station, Wheeler, and Hickam Airfields. Because it was a Sunday morning, most of the 780 antiaircraft guns were non manned. Many military personnel were on shore for the weekend and hundreds of others were still asleep on their ships. Did the U.S. Government cut about the attack beforehand? Why were the warning signs not more(prenominal) deeply investigated?The Naval Air Station, Wheeler, and Hickam Airfields were the first to be hit by the Japan ese to ensure the US had no ability to fight back. 212 of the fleets grounded airplanes were hit, and the 53 that were able to take off were shot down in the attack. The U.S.S. Oklahoma, due west Virginia, Arizona, California, and Nevada were five of the 19 sunken or damaged U.S. ships. In the midst of the attack, 2,403 American military personnel were killed including the 1,177 forever entombed in the Arizona. Another 1,178 were wounded. The U.S. did not inflict much damage to the Japanese during the attack. The Japanese only lose one midget submarine and 29 planes 20 were kamikaze missions, 2 were mechanically skillful malfunctions, and only 7 were shot down.December 8, the president of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt, turn to Congress and the American people. "Yesterday, December 7, a date which will persist in infamy-the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by the naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan" Congress declared war on Japan, and the US was dragged into World War II (Thomas 5).The warning signs of the attack were there, alone werent investigated. The 3 major warning signs that the Japanese were going to attack were the " tocopherol Wind Rain" message, the unidentified submarine, and the radar signals. On the morning of Dec 4, 1941 Naval Officer Ralph T. Briggs was on watch at the Cheltenham, MD, intercept station, when he received the startling and unexpected "East Wind Rain" message.