Attack on Pearl Harbor Categories: 12-December Timelines: Attacks
(Credit: Unknown U.S. Navy photographer) USS SHAW exploding in Pearl Harbor
December 7, 1941:
Six Japanese carriers launched 181 planes carrying torpedo bombers, dive bombers, horizontal bombers and fighters. Only 30 minutes later 170 more aircraft launched their attack on the Harbor. The attack was intended to prevent the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with Japanese military actions, but spurred the U.S. into war instead. President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed December 7, 1941 as, “a date which will live in infamy.”—DOD
Impact:
- 2,403 fatalities
- 1,178 injured
- Property Damage: 21 ships sunk or damaged; 300 aircraft lost