"Yesterday, December 7th, 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." These famous words by Franklin Roosevelt have lived on for over 70 years and marked a moment in U.S history where war brought the country's citizens together. The Japanese attack was not totally unexpected since tensions were high between both countries, but the United States was caught off guard that fateful day. The attack caused major damages, casualties and the truth of the matter is that the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was a key factor of the United States entrance into World War II.
The surprise Japanese military strike on the United States Naval
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In 1940 the U.S. only had three Aircraft carriers compared to the Japanese who had ten. The Japanese also had lots more modern destroyers and cruisers. Admiral Yamamoto first proposed the idea of a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in January 1941, but the plan was not approved and the planning did not commence until September 1941 (Hanyok, 2009). This sort of attack was not aligned with Japanese naval strategic thinking, which added to the Japanese radio intelligence strategies of denial-and-deception actions, helped the success of the attack. Through these techniques, the Japanese managed to fool the U.S. into thinking that their carriers were actually still in Japan and not en route to the Hawaiian islands. On November 16th, the Japanese submarines departed Japan but it wasn't until November 26th that the main body, aircraft carriers, and escorts, began the transit to Hawaii (National Public Radio, 2009). At 3:00 am (Hawaii time) on the day of the attack the First Air Fleet reached its fly-off position, at 5:45 a.m. the first A6M2 combat air patrol lifted from carrier decks, at 6:00 a.m. 189 aircraft took off and at 7:15 a.m. 170 aircraft were launched (Dorr, 2011). The attack finally began and the unsuspecting residents of Hawaii were about to be