December 7, 1941: A day that lives on as one of the most tragic attacks on the United States and the event that launched our country into World War II. Today, more than 78 years later, we are sharing these fourteen rare photographs from the fateful attack on Pearl Harbor in hopes that we can reflect upon this great tragedy in America’s history.
The Japanese Imperial Navy attacks against U.S. Naval Base Pearl Harbor, which began at approximately 7:48 a.m. Hawaiian Standard Time, damaged all eight U.S. Navy battleships, three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and one minelayer. Approximately 2,400 Americans were killed, and another 1,170 were wounded.
1. A Nakajima B5N2 torpedo plane takes off from a Japanese aircraft carrier before the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The plane was one of 353 Japanese fighter planes, bombers, and torpedo planes launched in two waves from six aircraft carriers.
2. This Japanese aerial photograph of Pearl Harbor is quite unsettling.
3. Torpedo planes attack Battleship Row at approximately 8 a.m. on December 7, 1941, as seen from a Japanese aircraft.
Ships are the USS Nevada, USS Arizona, USS Vestal, USS Tennessee, USS Maryland, and the USS Neosho. In this photograph, the USS West Virginia, USS Oklahoma, and the USS California have already been torpedoed.
4. The USS Arizona, pictured below, was the only ship that fully sank. It was never recovered.
5. Approximately 1,177 sailors and Marines died aboard the USS Arizona, which lies at the bottom of Pearl Harbor to this day and is the final resting place of 1,102 of those servicemembers.
6. This panoramic view of Pearl Harbor during the Japanese raid features anti-aircraft shell bursts overhead and was taken from the hills behind the harbor.
7. The USS California battleship slowly sinking near Ford Island, with the USS Shaw burning in the floating dry dock in the left distance. The USS Nevada is beached in the center-left.
8. Photographed from the southern shore of Ford Island is the burning USS Nevada.
9. The USS Cassin, a destroyer, has capsized against the USS Downes, another destroyer, in a Pearl Harbor drydock. The USS Pennsylvania is astern, occupying the rest of the dry dock.
10. The USS Shaw, a Navy destroyer, wreck in a floating drydock. After the ship was set afire by Japanese dive-bombing attacks, the ship’s bow was blown off by the explosion of its forward magazines.
11. Two United States Navy battleships — the USS West Virginia and the USS Tennessee — are shrouded in smoke following the Japanese air raid.
12. U.S. Navy sailors rescue a survivor from the water near the USS West Virginia.
The extensive distortion of the ship’s superstructure was caused by torpedo hits below.
13. United States Navy planes and a hangar burn at the Ford Island Naval Air Station’s seaplane base.
14. Sailors stand amid the wrecked planes.
Let us all take a moment of silence to remember all the great Americans that were killed or wounded during the attacks on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. To immerse yourself in the history of Pearl Harbor even more, plan a visit to any of these seven fascinating historic sites.
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