Where can you find facts about the bombing of Pearl Harbor?

Answer 1

On December 7, 1941 at 6:30 in the morning a Japanese mini sub was spotted, shot at and sunk in Pearl Harbor. The telegram sent to Navy command stated that there had been a sighting/confrontation with a Japanese sub but without the telegram saying the sub was sunk it was not thought to be true. By 7:55 the Japanese were bombing Pearl Harbor. The airstrips were shot up, barracks with sleeping soldiers were hit. The first battleship on Battleship Row was hit - the Oklahoma was torpedoed, it rolled onto its side and started sinking. Next the Utah was hit. Within 8 minutes the Utah was sunk. When the Arizona was hit approximately 8 aerial bombs hit on or near the battleship. One bomb broke through decks landing in 1075 pounds of gunpowder. When the bomb went off it ignited the gunpowder and combined they blew through an 8 inch steel wall that separated gunpowder from our own bombs. So.. bomb blew, gunpowder with it that made the explosion big enough to blow through the wall and ignite our bombs. These 3 ships were all sunk or sinking by 8:10 am. This happened within the first 15 minutes of the 110 minute attack. 1,177 soldiers died or were trapped below decks in the Arizona. From my reading 1500 -1800 of the 2,403 deaths at Pearl Harbor occurred in this time frame. We were unprepared as it was early Sunday morning, the ships were in harbor and many of the men were on leave. The battleships had been inspected during the week so much of the ammunition was locked up or in storage so we were short there. The bombers coming from the mainland that were scheduled to come in (the radar operators asked about the large reading when the Japanese were spotted on the scope, they were told it was these bombers coming in.) All but one of the bombers made it in - they too were unarmed as ther were only relocating. The battle continued on. Many more ships were damaged in the harbor, the airplanes were bombed and since we had them bunched to.. protect easier.. they became easier to target. We did get approximately 15 pilots in the air but only Lt. Welsh and Lt. Taylor were able to shoot down any Japanese planes - estimated to be 6 or 7. Many men grabbed whatever weapon they could find to try to damage the Japanese planes. Dorie Miller was a cook aboard the battleship West Virginia. He reported to duty, helped move wounded soldiers including his captain, then he shot an anti aircraft gun (which he had never shot before nor been trainded to use) at the Japanese planes damaging those flying by and shooting down at least one. Dorie was the first African American soldier to be awarded a medal, it was the Navy Cross. At approximately 9:45 am the battle was over. Many of the sailors caught below decks could be heard tapping for help, this could be heard for 2 weeks after the attack. There were a few successful rescues but most drowned or were suffocated in the rescue attempts. If a torch was used to burn through the hull it used up the oxygen and a drill took so long that most of the time the water rose before the hull could be pulled back for the boys to escape. The Oklahoma did have a sailor swim 3 floors to the topdeck - which was facing the harbor floor at the time - then surface to tell drillers where to find people. I believe 3 were rescued. Also there was an instance the 6 of 7 escaped through a porthole.. the 7th was unable to get out because he had large bone and muscle build and could not get through the porthole. Many of the rescue attempts were made while President Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared war on Japan on December 8.