Remembering Pearl Harbor 

A Pearl Harbor Fact Sheet 

On December 7, 1941, the Japanese military launched a 

surprise attack on the United States Naval Base at Pearl 

Harbor, Hawaii. Since early 1941 the U.S. had been 

supplying Great Britain in its fight against the Nazis. It had 

also been pressuring Japan to halt its military expansion in 

Asia and the Pacific. With the Japanese attack on Pearl 

Harbor, the U.S. could no longer avoid an active fight. On 

December 8, U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt 

asked Congress for and received a declaration of war 

against Japan. On December 11, Germany and Italy, allied 

with Japan, declared war on the U.S. The United States 

had entered World War II. 

Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto conceived the Pearl Harbor attack and Captain Minoru 

Genda planned it. Two things inspired Yamamoto’s Pearl Harbor idea: a prophetic book and a 

historic attack. The book was The Great Pacific War, written in 1925 by Hector Bywater, a 

British naval authority. It was a realistic account of a clash between the United States and 

Japan that begins with the Japanese destruction of the U.S. fleet and proceeds to a Japanese 

attack on Guam and the Philippines. When Britain’s Royal Air Force successfully attacked the 

Italian fleet at Taranto on November 11, 1940, Yamamoto was convinced that Bywater’s fiction 

could become reality. 

On December 6, 1941, the U.S. intercepted a Japanese message that inquired about ship 

movements and berthing positions at Pearl Harbor. The cryptologist gave the message to her 

superior who said he would get back to her on Monday, December 8. On Sunday, December 7, 

a radar operator on Oahu saw a large group of airplanes on his screen heading toward the 

island. He called his superior who told him it was probably a group of U.S. B-17 bombers and 

not to worry about it. 

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor began at 7:55 that morning. The entire attack took only 

one hour and 15 minutes. Captain Mitsuo Fuchida sent the code message, “Tora, Tora, Tora,” 

to the Japanese fleet after flying over Oahu to indicate the Americans had been caught by 

surprise. The Japanese planned to give the U.S. a declaration of war before the attack began 

so they would not violate the first article of the Hague Convention of 1907, but the message was 

delayed and not relayed to U.S. officials in Washington until the attack was already in progress. 

The Japanese strike force consisted of 353 aircraft launched from four heavy carriers. These 

included 40 torpedo planes, 103 level bombers, 131 dive-bombers, and 79 fighters. The attack 

also consisted of two heavy cruisers, 35 submarines, two light cruisers, nine oilers, two 

battleships, and 11 destroyers. 

The attack killed 2,403 U.S. personnel, including 68 civilians, and destroyed or damaged 19 

U.S. Navy ships, including 8 battleships. The three aircraft carriers of the U.S. Pacific Fleet 

were out to sea on maneuvers. The Japanese were unable to locate them and were forced to 

return home with the U.S. carrier fleet intact. 

The National WWII Museum y 945 Magazine St., New Orleans, LA 70130 y www.nationalww2museum.org

 
The battleship USS Arizona remains sunken in Pearl Harbor with its crew onboard. Half of the 

dead at Pearl Harbor were on the Arizona. A United States flag flies above the sunken 

battleship, which serves as a memorial to all Americans who died in the attack. 

Dorie Miller, a steward on the USS West Virginia, distinguished himself by courageous conduct 

and devotion to duty during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He first assisted his mortally 

wounded captain and then manned a machine gun, which he was not accustomed to operating, 

successfully destroying two Japanese aircraft. He was the first African American awarded the 

Navy Cross, the service’s highest award, for his actions during the attack. 

The Japanese lost 29 aircraft and 5 midget submarines in the attack. One Japanese soldier 

was taken prisoner and 129 Japanese soldiers were killed. Out of all the Japanese ships that 

participated in the attack on Pearl Harbor only one, the Ushio, survived until the end of the war. 

It was surrendered to the U.S. at Yokosuka Naval Base. When Admiral Yamamoto learned that 

his forces had not destroyed the U.S. aircraft carriers or completely destroyed the U.S. fleet, he 

feared that the United States, with its enormous industrial potential, would soon recover and 

fight back. 

The United States did recover—and quicker than Yamamoto could have imagined. After only 

six months, the U.S. carrier fleet dealt a decisive blow to Yamamoto’s navy in June 1942 at the 

Battle of Midway, sinking four Japanese aircraft carriers. After this U.S. victory came the start of 

the U.S. island-hopping campaign and the eventual defeat of the Japanese Empire in August 

1945. 

U.S. Casualties at Pearl Harbor 

Service Killed Wounded Total 

Navy 2,008 710 2,718 

Army 218 364 582 

Marines 109 69 178 

Civilians 68 35 103 

Total 2,403 1,178 3,581 

U.S. Aircraft Damaged at Pearl Harbor 

Service Damaged Destroyed 

Navy 31 92 

Army Air Corps 128 77 

U.S. Ships Damaged at Pearl Harbor 

Type of Ship Damaged Destroyed Years Repaired 

Battleships 6 2 1942-1944 

Cruisers 3 0 1942 

Destroyers 3 0 1942-1944 

Auxiliaries 4 1 1942 

The National WWII Museum commemorates Pearl Harbor Day. 

The Museum opened its exhibit, The D-Day Invasions in the Pacific, on December 7, 2001.

The National WWII Museum y 945 Magazine St., New Orleans, LA 70130 y www.nationalww2museum.org