-
3:42 A.M.
The Condor sends a message to
another ship, the Ward, telling of the submarine sighted. -
6:10 A.M.
Aboard a Japanese aircraft carrier, the first set of 183 planes takes flight heading for Hawaii. -
6:45 A.M.
The Ward fires on the submarine. The first shot misses but the second shot appears to hit; the vessel slows and sinks. The crew radios the 14th Naval Headquarters at Pearl Harbor, “We have attacked, fired upon, and dropped depth charges upon submarine operating in defensive sea area.” -
7:02 A.M.
A private on duty at the Opana Radar Station on Oahu asks his buddy to take a look at the screen. He confirms that he sees 50 or more airplanes on their way to Oahu. -
7:20 A.M.
A lieutenant at Fort Shafter gets the Opana radar report but he thinks the radar shows a group of U.S. bombers heading from California to Hawaii. He tells the radar operators not to worry about it, but that he cannot divulge more for security reasons. -
7:33 A.M.
Code breakers send a message to President Roosevelt warning of an impending attack. General George C. Marshall tries to send a message to the Army commander in Hawaii but because of static on the line, he has to use a commercial telegraph which would take about four hours to transmit. -
7:40 A.M.
The first wave of Japanese planes nearing Oahu hear a weather report on their radios: “Clouds mostly over the mountains. Visibility good.” The pilots can see the coastline. -
7:49 A.M.
The Japanese commander looks down and sees no aircraft carriers, which they had hoped to destroy in the attack. He orders the telegraph operator to tap out “tora, tora, tora,” which means “attack, surprise achieved,” though some of the pilots think the operator is tapping out tora, or tiger in Japanese. According to a Japanese saying, “A tiger goes out 2,000 miles and returns without fail!” -
8:00 A.M.
U.S. bombers on their way to the Philippines are near Oahu to land for fuel. Unaware that Pearl Harbor is under attack, they try to land. Unarmed to conserve fuel, the pilots cannot defend themselves. They can only
dodge the Japanese fighters. Most land safely, one on a nearby golf course. -
8:10 A.M.
A bomb hits the U.S.S. Arizona, setting off more than a million
pounds of gunpowder. The flames kill 1,177 men. Nine minutes later the
Arizona sinks, killing all the sailors inside who had been sleeping. Also hit are
the California and the West Virginia. Civilians are told to run for their lives as
soldiers and sailors, many still in their pajamas, take to any weapons they can
find to try to shoot the planes down. -
8:50 A.M.
The U.S.S. Nevada heads out to sea in an effort to escape, while
sailors shoot at the planes. The ship’s commander worries that if the Nevada is
hit in the narrow channel, it will block other escaping ships. So he purposely
grounds the ship off Hospital Point. -
8:54 A.M.
A second wave of attack by 167 Japanese planes begins. The
U.S.S. Pennsylvania is hit along with several other smaller destroyers and light
cruisers. Sailors throw everything they can overboard to help keep the ships
from sinking. -
9:30 A.M.
The second attack is finally over. The Japanese planes fly away. 18
American battleships are sunk or badly damaged. 300 planes are destroyed.
More than 2,400 people have lost their lives. 1,200 more are hurt. -
10:00 A.M.
Japanese pilots return to their aircraft carriers and want to go out
on a third attack, but their superiors say, “No.” They still don’t know where
the U.S. aircraft carriers are. -
10:30 A.M. -
Medics convert any building they can into makeshift hospitals.
There are so many dead, dying, and wounded that nurses can only give the
injured morphine to ease their pain. As a means of keeping track, patients’
foreheads are marked with an “M” in lipstick to show who receives the drug. -
12:00 A.M. -
The planes that attacked Pearl Harbor head back to Japan. -
7:15 A.M.
The message sent by the Ward is decoded and sent up the naval chain of command. Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, commander-in-chief of the Pacific Fleet decides to “wait for verification” because of so many recent “false reports of submarines.” -
7:55 A.M.
Commander Logan Ramsey looks out his window at the Command Center at Pearl Harbor and sees a low-flying plane. At first he thinks it’s a reckless American pilot; then sees something fall out the back -- a bomb! He runs to a radio room and orders the operator to send out an un-coded message to every ship and base saying “Air raid on Pearl Harbor. This is not a drill.” But it’s too late. Dive bombers strafe the planes at the Army’s Wheeler Field north of Pearl Harbor and Hickam Field n -
Period: to
pearl harbor
-
12:30 P.M.
President Franklin Roosevelt arrives at the U.S. Capitol building
in Washington D.C. He gives a speech beginning, “Yesterday, December 7,
1941 – a date which will live in infamy – the United States of America was
suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of
Japan…” He asks Congress to declare war on Japan. -
1:00 P.M.
The Senate unanimously declares war on Japan. Ten minutes later
the House votes for the war 388 to 1.