On this day: Attack on Pearl Harbor - December 7, 1941
- Tony Boccia
- 3 hours ago
- 2 min read
On this day, December 7th 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy and its Air Service attacked the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Using dive bombers, torpedo bombers, and fighters launched from six aircraft carriers, the Japanese damaged or destroyed all eight American battleships in the harbor. 2,403 people were killed, the majority of whom were Sailors, and most of them were in the USS Arizona.
We talk a lot about Pearl Harbor, and most Americans know at least a little about it. I don't think it's appropriate to go over the X's and O's of the attack, and who did what when, or who knew about this or that. Personally I believe all that has been done to death and I am tired of the same old cliches year after year. So, this year, don't watch this space for the standard 'never forget' banner. I'm not going to give a rundown of the various battles that occurred around the Pacific as Japan shocked the world on December 7th and 8th. I'm not writing a 'did you know' segment or giving a short bio on a famous figure.
I'm writing today about what I think is the greatest of all American ideals: defiance in the face of loss. There's some really great examples from American history, and the aftermath of the Pearl Harbor attack may be the greatest of them. Of the 21 ships attacked that day, 18 of them were returned to service. Of those, 10 were back in action by the end of 1942; 6 of them by February.
To illustrate this point: five of the battleships sunk or destroyed at Pearl Harbor were present at the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944. The West Virginia, California, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Maryland were all in Oldendorf’s battle line that destroyed Nishimura’s Southern Force in the Surigao Strait in the last battleship-on-battleship action in history. Leyte Gulf was the last battle the Imperial Japanese Navy ever contested; these American ships, two of which were raised from the dead (West Virginia and California) were there to see it. A few hours later, the last surviving IJN carrier to take part in the Pearl Harbor raid, Zuikaku, was sunk by the men of TF38. The score was settled.
Tropes and banners and slogans aside: could we do it again? Do we have the infrastructure, the know-how, frankly, the patriotism to rebuild a shattered fleet and take it to the enemy? Could we bring a broken DDG or LCS up from the mud and have it fighting in six months? This year, let’s take a different lesson from Pearl Harbor than we normally do, and ask ourselves: how defiant can we be in the face of loss? The Japanese misjudged Americans in 1941. Will we surprise the next enemy, and ourselves?
