"Air Raid Pearl Harbor. This is no drill" - Unknown
The Battle
Japanese Strategy
The plan of the Japanese is to take Pearl Harbor by aircraft. They had many carriers over seas. The largest one was Akagi. It was listed as carrying 50 planes and the tonnage at 26,900.
The other part of the plan was to bomb most of the American battleships, which are stationed near Ford Island, using torpedoes. The strike force that attacked Pearl Harbor was known as Kido Butai. They knew where to find the ships by using a map they have obtained from secret spies on the island.
They first started by lauching in separate waves. The first one was 15 minutes long and consisted of 180 aircrafts. An hour later the second wave came and it was equally powerful. Within 90 minutes all aircraft were in the air, a feat that no other country can do at the time.
American Reaction
The attack started around 7:55 A.M. and ended just two hours later. The Americans didn't even see it coming.
The government knew the Japanese were going to attack from intercepting radar telegrams. But they did not know when or where.
One of the major ships that Japan hit was USS Arizona. It had the most damage and the biggest impact