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North Pacific Ocean

Pearl Harbor. Eight of the 15 battleships of the U.S. Navy were at Pearl Harbor when Japanese carriers launched their planes on Sunday morning, December 7, 1941. The attack came as a surprise. The greatest loss was to the fleet of battleships. The Arizona was destroyed and the Oklahoma capsized. The West Virginia and California were sunk in shallow water and the Nevada was beached. Three cruisers and three destroyers were damaged. The fleet's carriers, by a stroke of good fortune, were at sea and escaped the attack.

The Pearl Harbor attack put the United States Pacific fleet temporarily out of action—most of the ships were eventually refloated and repaired—allowing Japan to proceed with its conquests with comparative ease. But Pearl Harbor also had a harmful effect on Japan—it instantly united the American people behind the war effort, dashing all Japanese hopes for a negotiated peace.

Investigations of the Pearl Harbor disaster showed that the United States government was aware of the possibility of a Japanese attack, but had not considered Hawaii a probable target and had not definitely warned the command there. A radar warning on the spot was ignored.

The Japanese made simultaneous attacks at many other points. Guam fell on December 10. Wake Island, heroically defended by its Marine garrison, was taken on December 23. The British surrendered Hong Kong on Christmas Day. Air attacks on the Philippines severely damaged the defending air force.