MOST AMERICANS CAUGHT IN the Japanese attack on Oahu went through successive stages of shock, fear, and anger — a poor climate indeed for pinning down exactly what happened. And even about the basic statistics it’s dangerous to be dogmatic. There are different ways of counting things: should, for instance, an obsolete airplane that is out of commission anyhow be counted as “destroyed by the enemy”? Keeping these cautions in mind, here are the answers to some basic questions that are bound to arise:
How many ships were in Pearl Harbor? Best answer seems to be 96. Most maps show 90 ships, but omit the Ontario, Condor, Crossbill, Cockatoo, Pyro, and the old Baltimore.
What was U.S. air strength? Some 394 planes, according to Congressional investigation, but many were obsolete or being repaired. Available aircraft: Army —93 fighters, 35 bombers, 11 observation; Navy — 15 fighters, 61 patrol planes, 36 scout planes, 45 miscellaneous.
How big was the Japanese Striking Force? There were 31 ships — six carriers, two battleships, two heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, nine destroyers, three submarines, eight tankers. Air strength — 432 planes used as follows: 39 for combat air patrol, 40 for reserve, 353 for the raid.
What was the strength of the Japanese Advance Expeditionary Force? Probably 28 submarines — 11 with small planes, five with the famous midget subs. (The Congressional investigation set the figure at 20, but this is too low, according to the Japanese.)
When did various events occur? Most reliable sources agree the raid began about 7:55 A.M., ended shortly before 10 o’clock. At Pearl and Hickam few noticed the five neat phases spelled out in the CINCPAC Official Report. To the men it was a continuing battle, flaring up and down in intensity, with a 15-minute lull around eight-thirty. The most stunning single moment — the Arizona blowing up — seems to have taken place about 8:10. Some eyewitnesses feel that the explosion came at the very start of the attack, yet this couldn’t be so, judging from the experiences of the five Arizona survivors who were located.
In fixing the time for various events, this book depends on both official records and the memory of eyewitnesses. Neither source is infallible. Logs and reports were sometimes worked up long after the event, and in the excitement of battle a fighting man could lose all track of time.
The time range at the top of each left-hand page is intended only as a rough guide. Some incidents necessarily start before or continue beyond the period indicated.
What were the American casualties? Navy — 2008 killed, 710 wounded, according to the Navy Bureau of Medicine. Marines — 109 killed, 69 wounded, according to Corps Headquarters. Army —218 killed, 364 wounded, according to Adjutant General’s figures. Civilian — 68 killed, 35 wounded, according to the University of Hawaii War Records Depository. Of the 2403 killed, nearly half were lost when the Arizona blew up.
What was the damage? At Pearl Harbor 18 ships were sunk or seriously damaged. Lost: battleships Arizona and Oklahoma, target ship Utah, destroyers Cassin and Downes. Sunk or beached but later salvaged: battleships West Virginia, California, and Nevada; mine layer Oglala. Damaged: battleships Tennessee, Maryland, and Pennsylvania; cruisers Helena, Honolulu, and Raleigh; destroyer Shaw; seaplane tender Curtiss; repair ship Vestal.
At the airfields 188 planes were destroyed — 96 Army and 92 Navy. An additional 128 Army and 31 Navy planes were damaged. Hardest-hit airfields were Kaneohe and Ewa. Of the 82 planes caught at these two fields, only one was in shape to fly at the end of the raid.
During the attack there were about 40 explosions in the city of Honolulu — all, except one, the result of U.S. antiaircraft fire. These explosions did about 500,000 dollars’ worth of damage.
What were the Japanese losses? Tokyo sources agree that the Striking Force lost only 29 planes — nine fighters, 15 dive-bombers, and five torpedo planes. In addition, the Advance Expeditionary Force lost one large submarine and all five midgets. Personnel lost: 55 airmen, nine crewmen on the midget subs, plus an unknown number on the large submarine.