Attack on Pearl Harbor

December 7, 1941 · Pacific Theater

Phases

1. 16:10 AM — Launch, 230 Miles NorthDecember 7, 1941 — 6:10 to 7:40 AM
2. 27:55 AM — “Tora! Tora! Tora!”December 7, 1941 — 7:55 to 8:40 AM
3. 38:54 AM — Second Wave & the ReckoningDecember 7, 1941 — 8:54 AM onward

December 7, 1941 — 6:10 to 7:40 AM

Nagumo’s six carriers — the largest carrier striking force ever assembled — turn into the wind 230 miles north of Oahu and launch 183 aircraft in the first wave. At 7:02 the Opana radar station picks up the formation at 132 miles; the duty officer, expecting a flight of B-17s from California, tells the operators: “Don’t worry about it.” The fleet sleeps in its Sunday moorings. The carriers — the real prize — are at sea.

• ➤First wave — 183 aircraft — Fuchida leads the strike south onto Oahu
• ●Kido Butai — six carriers, undetected
• ●Opana radar — the contact dismissed as B-17s