The
Attack on Pearl Harbor[SUP]
[nb 3][/SUP][SUP]
[11][/SUP] was a surprise
military strike by the
Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the
United States (a
neutral country at the time) against the
naval base at
Pearl Harbor in
Honolulu,
Territory of Hawaii, just before 08:00, on Sunday morning, December 7, 1941. The attack led to the United States' formal entry into
World War II the next day. The
Japanese military leadership referred to the attack as the
Hawaii Operation and
Operation AI,[SUP]
[12][/SUP][SUP]
[13][/SUP] and as
Operation Z during its planning.[SUP]
[14][/SUP]
Japan intended the attack as a
preventive action to keep the
United States Pacific Fleet from interfering with its planned military actions in
Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the
United Kingdom, the
Netherlands, and the United States. Over the course of seven hours there were coordinated Japanese attacks on the U.S.-held
Philippines,
Guam, and
Wake Island and on the
British Empire in
Malaya,
Singapore, and
Hong Kong.[SUP]
[15][/SUP]
The attack commenced at 7:48 a.m.
Hawaiian Time (18:18 GMT).[SUP]
[nb 4][/SUP][SUP]
[16][/SUP] The base was attacked by 353[SUP]
[17][/SUP] Imperial Japanese aircraft (including
fighters,
level and dive bombers, and
torpedo bombers) in two waves, launched from six
aircraft carriers.[SUP]
[17][/SUP] Of the eight U.S. Navy battleships present, all were damaged, with four sunk. All but
USS Arizona were later raised, and six were returned to service and went on to fight in the war. The Japanese also sank or damaged three
cruisers, three
destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship,[SUP]
[nb 5][/SUP] and one
minelayer. A total of 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed; 2,403 Americans were killed and 1,178 others were wounded.[SUP]
[19][/SUP] Important base installations such as the power station,
dry dock,
shipyard, maintenance, and fuel and torpedo storage facilities, as well as the submarine piers and headquarters building (also home of the
intelligence section) were not attacked. Japanese losses were light: 29 aircraft and five
midget submarines lost, and 64 servicemen killed.
Kazuo Sakamaki, the commanding officer of one of the submarines, was captured.[SUP]
[20][/SUP]
Japan
announced a declaration of war on the United States later that day (December 8 in Tokyo), but the declaration was not delivered until the following day. The following day, December 8, Congress
declared war on Japan. On December 11,
Germany and
Italy each declared war on the U.S., which responded with a
declaration of war against Germany and
Italy. There were numerous historical precedents for the unannounced military action by Japan, but the lack of any formal warning, particularly while peace negotiations were still apparently ongoing, led President
Franklin D. Roosevelt to proclaim December 7, 1941, "
a date which will live in infamy". Because the attack happened without a declaration of war and without explicit warning, the attack on Pearl Harbor was later judged in the
Tokyo Trials to be a
war crime.[SUP]
[21][/SUP][SUP]
[22][/SUP]
