demons: PEARL HARBOR TIMELINE:December 6 SAT, Washington DC: U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt makes
demons:PEARL HARBOR TIMELINE:December 6 SAT, Washington DC: U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt makes a final appeal to the Emperor of Japan for peace. There is no reply. Late this same day, the U.S. code-breaking service begins intercepting a 14-part Japanese message and deciphers the first 13 parts, passing them on to the President and Secretary of State. The Americans believe a Japanese attack is imminent, most likely somewhere in Southeast Asia. December 7 SUN, Washington DC: The last part of the Japanese message, stating that diplomatic relations with the U.S. are to be broken off, reaches Washington in the morning and is decoded at approximately 9 a.m. About an hour later, another Japanese message is intercepted. It instructs the Japanese embassy to deliver the main message to the Americans at 1 p.m. The Americans realize this time corresponds with early morning time in Pearl Harbor, which is several hours behind. The War Department then sends out an alert but uses a commercial telegraph because radio contact with Hawaii is temporarily broken. Delays prevent the alert from arriving at headquarters in Oahu until noontime (Hawaii time), four hours after the attack has already begun.December 7 SUN, Islands of Hawaii, near Oahu: The Japanese attack force under the command of Admiral Nagumo, consisting of six carriers with 423 planes, is about to attack. At 6 a.m., the first attack wave of 183 Japanese planes takes off from the carriers located 230 miles north of Oahu and heads for the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor.Pearl Harbor, 7:02AM: Two Army operators at Oahu’s northern shore radar station detect the Japanese air attack approaching and contact a junior officer who disregards their reports, thinking they are American B-17 planes which are expected in from the U.S. west coast.7:15AM, near Oahu: A second attack wave of 167 planes takes off from the Japanese carriers and heads for Pearl Harbor.Pearl Harbor is not on a state on high alert. Senior commanders have concluded, based on available intelligence, there is no reason to believe an attack is imminent. Aircraft are therefore left parked wingtip to wingtip on airfields, anti-aircraft guns are unmanned with many ammunition boxes kept locked in accordance with peacetime regulations. And since it is Sunday morning, many officers and crewmen are leisurely ashore or still asleep in their bunks.7:53AM: The first Japanese assault wave, with 51 ‘Val’ dive bombers, 40 ‘Kate’ torpedo bombers, 50 high level bombers and 43 ‘Zero’ fighters, commences the attack.The first attack wave targets airfields and battleships; The second targets secondary ships and shipyard facilities. The air raid lasts until 9:45 a.m. Eight battleships are damaged, with five sunk. Three light cruisers, three destroyers and three smaller vessels are lost along with 188 aircraft. The Japanese lose 27 planes and five midget submarines which had attempted to penetrate the inner harbor.Despite this apparent success, the prime targets–Pacific Fleet aircraft carriers Lexington, Enterprise, and Saratoga–escape damage, along with the base fuel tanks. The casualty list for the US includes 2,335 servicemen and 68 civilians killed, with 1178 wounded. Included in that tally are the 1,104 men aboard the battleship USS Arizona who were killed after a 1760-pound air bomb penetrated the forward magazine, causing catastrophic explosions. If the men weren’t dead from the initial blast, they suffocate slowly under the water.December 7, in Washington: Various delays prevent the Japanese diplomats from presenting their war message to Secretary of State, Cordell Hull, until 2:30 p.m. Washington time. At the same point in time, Hull has just begun to read the first reports on the air raid at Pearl Harbor.December 8 MON: The United States and Britain declare war on Japan.December 11 THURS: Nazi Germany and Italy declare war on the United States, uniting the European and Southeast Asian wars into a global conflict. -- source link