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Overview essay: attack on pearl harbor
Overview essay: attack on pearl harbor
Overview essay: attack on pearl harbor
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Introduction Pearl Harbour is an American naval base in the middle of the Pacific Ocean which was utilised to control the Pacific. On the 7th December 1941 Pearl Harbour was attached with a surprise strike by The Imperial Japanese Navy. The reason for the Japanese army to attack Pearl Harbour was that apart from destroying important American fleet units they also insured that the Americans could not interfere with their plan of invading overseas territories of South Asia that were already conquered from the Netherlands, the United States and the United Kingdom. The memorial of Pearl Harbour is still present now days, the amount of life looses were 2402 and 1247 men wounded. Aircrafts played an important role in the battle of Pearl Harbour because of its capabilities and because the battle took place more on than …show more content…
The six aircraft carriers used at Pearl Harbour by the Japanese army are the most powerful carrier task ever assembled with over 420 embarked planes, their names are Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, Hiryu, Shokaku and Zuikaku. In the Japanese striking force there were other forces employed, like fast battleships, cruisers and destroyers. The cruisers and destroyers mission was to damage and sink the U.S. ships and aircraft carriers with torpedoes. For the Japanese the use of torpedoes was the best option because it could attack under the water, therefore the enemy would not see it coming and when the target would have got hit it would create a huge amount of damage. During the first attach wave large Japanese submarines deployed five midget submarines that were carried by them. These midget submarines mission was to make their way into Pearl Harbour’s narrow entrance channel to attack the U.S. ships and torpedo American warships when at rest to prevent them from escaping to
Admiral Fletcher commanded the U.S.S. Yorktown before it was sunk by the Japanese. Then at 0750, Japan spots nine enemy (American) planes fifteen miles out. Tones, a Japanese cruiser, opened fire on the American pilot. Almost instantly, if an American bomber plane were hit, it would explode and go down. The bombers dropped their torpedoes far from their targets, so the torpedoes didn’t land a single blow to Japan.
The Japanese had offensives from the USA because the US government had argued Japanese confidence by 1931. The USA had heavy drained the sources of the Pacific region. The USA had carrier-based planes to
The reason for Japan to use carrier lunched aircraft was the distance that they had to travel from Japan to Hawaii. Rear Admiral Takijiro Onishi recruited the help of Commander Minoru Genda, who was an excellent tactician serving in Japan’s 1st Air Fleet. After meticulous studying the United States Pacific Fleet stationed in Hawaii he concluded that an attack could be only be successful if the following criteria was taken in consideration. First, and most important the attack had to be a completed by surprise against the Americans. If the element of surprise was not achieved the Americans could be waiting for the Japanese. The Americans could have had the upper hand to attack and destroy them before they had any chance of success. Second, the attack had to be conducted on a Sunday morning, Sunday was the day that Americans went to church and their defenses were lowered. Third, Japan must use all of their best carriers for the attack. The final criteria was to use the best pilots within Japan’s Air Fleet to conduct the attack on Pearl Harbor. These four points changed the way the Japanese Naval General Staff saw the possibility of attacking Pearl Harbor, and decide to support Vice Admiral Yamamoto. The training for the attack on Pearl Harbor began early on in 1941. The Japanese already had
Although the plane that caused the most destruction was the Boeing B-29 Superfortress. This plane dropped the atomic bombs on Japan, ultimately ending the war. Although planes were used by every country in the war, “Germany and Great Britain were the only nations to have operational jet fighters.” (Airplane) These were the first jets used in war and faster than any other plane used, having a full advantage in the war.
carriers could have also played a factor in the outcome of the battle. Already out to sea that morning, the carriers could have launched a counter strike against the Japanese fleet, who would have only had 39 planes to guard the fleet during the attack (Lord, 1957). This would have been a major blow to Japan as they likely would have not been able to repel the counter strike. Thousands of lives could have been saved and the outcome may have been quite different had assumptions not been made and communication improved during the early stages of Pearl Harbor.
Japanese Zero planes required close proximity to Imperial Carriers, so in order to launch such a large scale attack on Pearl Harbor, he had to be willing to send out 50% of his large carrier force. Japan never had the intention of going to war with America, they simply took the risk of assuming that a single victory would intimidate us and make us quit. For the attack on Pearl Harbor to be ultimately effective in their goal of neutralizing allied sea power in the Pacific, the Philippines were also required to be neutralized. The Japanese had to take the risk of bombing the Philippines during the day as their target acquisition systems were ineffective at night, which meant news of the attack in Pearl Harbor would be passed allowing warning. Word of the attack at Pearl Harbor was received in Manila nine hours before the bombing of the Philippines, as a result of faulty Japanese radio jammers. Nonetheless, the Japanese still succeeded in the bombing of the Philippines due to minimal defenses, thus furthering the plan to neutralize the Pacific. Overall, due to Yamamoto’s bet, Japan was able to eliminate American assets in the Pacific that were believed to be the end of conflict with
Although Pearl Harbor was the main naval base to be attacked on December 7th 1941, it was not the only base attacked, the Japanese government launched an attack against Malaya, and Japanese forces also attacked Hong Kong, Guam, the Philippine Islands, Wake Island and Midway Island. (Rose 213-215). The Japanese attacking these islands were important because they were allies to the United States and also if Japan was to take over these islands they would have a lot of control of the Pacific and of course the United States didn’t want this to happen. So the Americans knew that they didn’t have many options other than engaging into war with Japan, which lead to the United States joining World War II.
Since WW1, Air Defenses have been gradually improved, and the government began spending more on national security. Because of this, air defenses were made a priority and the production of combat ready aircraft increased. Aircraft were soon mounted with guns and designed to carry loads of bombs. This of course, would intimidate countries that did not have advanced air defenses and used earlier versions of combat aircraft, which would not only send a clear message that countries with good air defenses were not to be messed with, but it would also put these countries on high alert with each other. Aviation eventually became a competition for the most deadliest military aircraft. A few of America’s most efficient WW2 fighter planes include the
The bombing of Pearl Harbour on the 7th of December, by the Japanese Navy, is an event that will forever be remembered for the tragic destruction it caused, not only throughout American military history, but also the history surrounding World War II. Pearl Harbour is situated on the South Coast of Oahu Island, Hawaii and is the United States of America’s Naval Base, along with the home of the U.S. Pacific Fleets. The historic result of Pearl Harbour consisted of previous issues between Japan and America, as well as military strategies, resulting in the demolition of the United States’ Naval Base and effectively brought the United States of America into the Second World War.
On April 18, 1942 Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle led 16 bombers off the USS Hornet in a historic raid on Japan. But the Japanese had failed to cripple the Pacific Fleet. By the 1940s, battleships were no longer the most important naval vessel: Aircraft carriers were, and as it happened, all of the Pacific Fleet’s carriers were away from the base on December 7. Where some had returned to the mainland and others were delivering planes to troops on Midway and Wake Islands. Moreover, the Pearl Harbor assault had left the base’s most vital onshore facilities—oil storage depots, repair shops, shipyards and submarine docks—intact. As a result, the U.S. Navy was able to rebound relatively quickly from the
November 26th, the Japanese’s sailed a navy force of six loaded aircraft carriers, the Soryu, Hiryu, Akagi, Kaga, Zuikaku and Shokak and in charge of these aircraft were two battle ships heading to Pearl Harbor captained by Admiral Chuchi Nagumo. Admiral Yamamoto was the one who planned this attack because he wanted the United States Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor to be neutralized so he can pursue Japans goals in achieving full control. The task force set sail and was to avoid been notice by United States Navy at even cost. It was set that if they had been noticed they should set sail back to Japan immediately. The Japanese learned that the United States most premium possession was their aircrafts carriers and so they were not there the morning they attack them but some carriers were doing training sessions and others where delivering planes to pacific islands. A downfall you could say for the pacific fleet but that didn’t stop japan from attacking on December 8th their time which was December 7th in Hawaii. Radio stations start to past around fake news to make the United States think that the aircraft carriers were heading somewhere else but unfortunately that didn’t
Pearl harbor happened on december 9th and was a surprise attack on the United States (pearl Harbor). This fact illustrates the time at which the japanese attacked the U.S. Over 2000 military and navy personnel were killed on december 9th (“pearl harbor”). This eye opening fact shows many were killed during the Pearl Harbor Attack. The Arizona was attacked the hardest, there were 1177 men killed in the Arizona(“pearl harbor”). As this horrifying fact shows the Arizona ship being destroyed killed the most people. Remember to be including transitions:the Oklahoma was also attacked by planes and hit by torpedoes 429 men were killed on the Oklahoma. Also, not only was the arizona attacked hard but thE Oklahoma was also attacked and killed many men in the process. When the Japanese attacked on december 9th , they attacked in two waves of plane attacks, first wave attacked the battleships, and the second attacked the airfields and finished off the ships. Furthermore, this fact goes to shows how determined the japanese was to destroy the United States’ spirits. Japanese ordered a third attack but was not followed through (stokesbury). 323 planes were either damaged or completely destroyed(stokesbury). This fact shows how devastating Aircraft can be and how powerful they are.. Next, Japan only lost 28 planes in their attack on pearl harbor (stokesbury). Finally , this fact shows how much The United States
Did you ever wonder why Pearl Harbor got attacked in World War II? Pearl Harbor started and ended on December 7, 1941, in Oahu, Hawaii. The attacked of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service againsts the United States. The U.S. and Japan had been butting heads for decades, so Japan wanted to move into the Dutch East Indies and Malaya to conquer territories. By destroying a large portion if the American fleet, they had hoped to conquer them while Americans were still recovering from the damage. Pearl Harbor was the only a part of Japan’s strategy to conquer Asia and the Pacific. Japan took the element of surprise and destroyed American navy as quickly as possible.
First had very little purpose for war, but later turned into a very sophisticated weapon. At the beginning of the war airplanes were mostly only used for reconnaissance, military observation of a region to locate an enemy or ascertain strategic features, but they were seen to have a “greater purpose.” Reconnaissance was very helpful in the beginning, but was later armed with machine guns and became very dangerous. Military lives were not the only lives in danger, civilian lives were too. Bombs could be dropped onto the crowds, homes, and many industrialized areas. War was becoming mass destruction of anything the enemy could reach. The airplane is an example of how a extremely successful and helpful item can turn truly deadly in a short amount of
The place of aircraft in the military dates back to 1911. That year in a war between Italy and Turkey, Italy had the bright idea to utilize aviation technology to further their campaign by dropping grenades from a monoplane of theirs (Unikoski). Once the First World War broke out, about a decade after the exodus of planes as an invention, the role of planes in the world changed drastically. Every side of the war caught on to this rising phenomenon, with things like France’s 140 aircraft at the beginning of the war becoming something near 4,500 at the end being commonplace (Unikoski). Still, warplane technology was primitive. It did not take until World War II for planes to really revolutionize within and of themselves. Countries began to implement smart aerodynamics, durable, efficient, and effective materials, and weapons that were powerful and accurate to gain an advantage in the new war (Fighter). The plane also started to take on reconnaissance roles during this time. The results of this refined attention to detail were immediate and cemented the planes’ role in warfare. More improvements took place between then and the mode...