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Amanda Pesce November 11, 2008 History Paper 2 Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise strike by the Japanese navy against the United States. As a result of this, the United States became involved in World War II. Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941, Sunday morning. Before the attack, Americans ignored the war and continued sending the British ships and tanks while their enemies were making bombs. Americans had cut off the Japanese oil supply. They only had enough for eighteen months. This resulted in a massive sudden strike; the Japanese annihilated the Pacific fleet in a single attack at Pearl Harbor.
Over 2,400 Americans were killed and over 1,000 were wounded. The Japanese plan was to send out radio messages for Americans to intercept. They wanted to make sure to mention Hawaii in all the clutter, to confuse them. So, by the time the Americans decoded the message it would be too late. The United States focused more on the Japanese missing ships, and where they went to. Some Americans in the government thought it had to do with an attack on Pearl Harbor but others did not believe such thing would happened, and they were protected.
All their ships were grouped together so they wouldn’t be spread out into the water, just as a precaution. The Japanese sent out one of their own over to Hawaii to take pictures, so they could finish out their plan, and would help then where to best hit them first, and where everything was located. This was a long process over many months. The Japanese were ready for attack, they sent out ships and submarines first because they would take the longest to get to Pearl Harbor, then they sent out the aircrafts which only took about four days to get there.
There were hundreds of aircrafts covering the sky, so they could attack from all directions. They arrived Sunday morning of December 7, 1941, while many were still sleeping. They first attacked the ships in the harbor with torpedoes from their ships and submarines. It was an easy target since all the American ships were grouped together. The torpedoes were made with a western fin so they were able to travel through the shallow harbor. Aircrafts dropped torpedoes and heavy bombs. Their next attack was on land, destroying the American Aircrafts.
It was the biggest explosion that was never ending, the skies filled with fire and black smoke from the aftermath, aircrafts swarming the skies destroying everything. The Japanese sank and damaged many if not all battleships, destroyers and cruisers. Their main target was the U. S. S Arizona in which they succeeded. Aircrafts were destroyed; Americans tried to salvage what they could and fight back. They had few aircrafts left that may have saved Pearl Harbor from being indefinitely ruined. The Americans destroyed some Japanese aircrafts which resulted in the rest of them flying back to Japan. Sixty-five years ago today, the United States endured an attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, that for the next sixty days???until September 11, 2001???stood as the most devastating enemy attack on U. S. soil. “( Miles, Pearl Harbor) Japan hoped to eliminate Pearl Harbor as a threat to the Japanese Empire’s expansion south by destroying the U. S. Pacific Fleet. September 11 was more symbolic if anything. Al Qaeda had previously attack the World Trade Center in 1993, which stood as a symbol of the U. S free market economy.
The Pentagon represented the U. S military’s command center. Both attacks pushed the United States into war. Both were unexpected, massive strikes, killing and wounding many. The death toll of 9/11 topped Pearl Harbor with almost three thousand people dead. 9/11 will be in the memories of many including myself. Everyone remembers that day, and where they were when they first heard the first plane crash in the tower, or hearing it on the news. It was a disaster to the twin towers. At Pearl Harbor they have a U. S.
S Arizona Memorial a long with many others. The memorial is built above the sunken ships, and some you can still see the tops of the ships out of water, since the water is so shallow. They have a memorial wall of everyone who died in the attack. In New York City where the twin towers stood, is a ground zero memorial. Both tragedies will never be forgotten and in the memories of all who faced it. Works Cited Miles, Donna. “Pearl Harbor Parallel 9-11” Military. 7 December 2006 Monster’ A Monster Company 25, November 2008