On the day before the attack, FDR made a final appeal the Emperor of Japan for peace but never heard back. Later that day, the US intercepts a 14 part message, deciphering the first 13, which made them believe Japan would attack somewhere in Southeast Asia.
December 7th the last part of the message is decoded. It states that all diplomatic relations are to be broken off. By this time it is 9am and by the time the alert reaches Oahu, the attack had already been going on for four hours. That's one downside to such a time difference between Washington and Hawaii.
At six am, the Japanese attack force under Admiral Nagumo is waiting off the coast with six carriers totaling 423 planes and with that, the first wave of 183 Japanese planes take off. That's a lot of planes....
At 7:02, stupidity hits. The radar station on Oahu's northern shore pick up on the Japanese planes and report it to a junior officer. The warning is disregarded as they are expecting a fleet of American B-17's in from the west coast. At 7:15 the second wave of 167 planes take off from the carriers. There is no reason for them to believe that an attack is coming so Oahu is completely unprepared.
7:53am the first wave hits. It's directed at airfields and battleships. The second wave targets other ships and shipyard facilities. With these two attacks 2335 serviceman and 68 civilians were killed. 1178 more were wounded. Included in this count were the 1104 people that remain in the hull of the USS Arizona.
Delays in Washington prevented the Japanese diplomats from presenting their message until the Secretary of State had already received report of the attack. News of this sneak attack was broadcast the nation over by radio which many that listened to programs on Sunday afternoons heard.
On December 8th, Great Britain and the US declare war on Japan.
Source 1
Source 2
*I don't know if this is true or not but heard these two things somewhere and thought they were kind of interesting. 1) The USS Arizona is still slowly leaking oil to this day. 2) Japan sent a message that they were going to attack Pearl Harbor but because of the International Date Line it was a day early in Hawaii.
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