Dec.

7, 1941: A date that still lives in infamy

At 7:55 a.m. on Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese dive bombers, fighter bombers and torpedo planes attacked the U.S.naval base at Pearl Harbor near
Honolulu. Approximately 360 Japanese planes took part in the attack, which lasted less than two hours.

Pearl Harbor

THE IMMEDIATE TOLL

WAIMALU
East Loch
Hickam
Field

Aiea
Bay

Mamla bay
Pearl Harbor

The Marine Corps suffered 178

casualties, of which 109 were
deaths and 69 wounded.

Middle Loch
Hlawa
Stream

USS Arizona
Ford Island
Naval Air Station

Submarine
base

Southeast
Loch

In addition, at least 57 civilians

were killed, and nearly as many
were seriously injured.
The Japanese lost 29 planes
and 55 airmen during the
attack. The Japanese carrier
task force sailed away
undetected and unscathed.

West Loch
PEARL HARBOR DAMAGE
2000

The Navy suffered 2,718

casualties, of which 2,008 were
deaths and 710 wounded.
The Army suffered 341
casualties, of which 228 were
deaths and 113 wounded.

USS Oklahoma

WAIPIO

0
FEET

The Japanese sank or severely

damaged 18 U.S. ships (some
not shown here), including eight
battleships, three light cruisers
and three destroyers. On the
airfields, the Japanese
destroyed 161 American planes
and seriously damaged 102.

No damage

Severely damaged

Sunk or beached

Some damage

TORPEDOES HIT THE USS OKLAHOMA

One portside machine gun opened fire but the
force of the explosion and the oil and water thrown
up by the first torpedo stopped it. Because of the
rapid heeling of the ship and the oil and water on
the decks, it was impossible to fire the guns
effectively.

When the first warning of the attack was sounded,

sailors onboard the USS Oklahoma took to the
antiaircraft batteries, and the ship went to general
quarters. Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor
began, torpedoes were seen approaching the USS
Oklahoma.

9
5
3

THE SINKING

At about 7:56 a.m., three

torpedoes struck the
Oklahomas port side. The
ship immediately began
to list to port.

1 2

8:00 a.m.

7 8
5 6

The speed of the rollover left

hundreds of men trapped inside.
Once the attack was over, salvage
operations began and continued
for as long as hope remained.
Thirty-two men were rescued from
the partially sunken vessel.

8:06 a.m.

INITIAL TOLL
A U.S. Navy report of the
attack, dated Dec. 15,
1941, offers this
summary of the dead,
wounded and missing
from the USS Oklahoma.

It finally rolled over completely

about 8:08 a.m., a mere 12
minutes after the attack began.

More torpedoes struck the

Oklahomas side at higher levels
as the ship listed. Nine
torpedoes are estimated to
have struck the battleship.

7:56 a.m.

8:08 a.m.

RECOVERY
Officers Crew

Total

Wounded

24

26

Dead

22

22

21

385

406

Missing

Of the missing, 35 crew members were positively identified and buried in the
years immediately after the attack. The Oklahoma, righted and refloated in
1943, sank again in a 1947 storm while under tow to a mainland scrapyard.
This year, the unidentified remains of almost 400 men from the Oklahoma
were were exhumed from the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in
Hawaii. Scientists are working to identify them.

Sources: Salvage of the Battleship USS Oklahoma, by F. H. Whittacker, U.S. Navy, World War II Database, Oklahoma Historical Society, and Naval History and Heritage Command

THE WASHINGTON POST