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Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941

I wasn't able to post yesterday, but I wanted to recognize and remember the many vessels and crews who were lost on 7 December 1941 at Pearl Harbor. 

The attack began at 7:48 a.m. Hawaiian Time, and lasted 90 minutes total.
We often remember the USS Arizona, but many other vessels and aircraft were destroyed or severely damaged that day. The following is from www.pearlharbor.org.



Battleships:

USS Arizona (BB-39) - sunk, total loss, lies at bottom of Pearl Harbor
USS Oklahoma (BB-37)  - capsized, total loss
USS West Virginia (BB-48) - sunk, later raised, repaired and rejoined fleet July 1944
USS California (BB-44)  - sunk, later raised, repaired and rejoined fleet May 1944
USS Nevada (BB-36) - heavily damaged, grounded, repaired and rejoined fleet December 1942
USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) - was in drydock - slightly damaged, repaired and rejoined fleet August 1942
USS Maryland (BB-46) - damaged, repaired and rejoined fleet February 1942
USS Tennessee (BB-43)  - damaged, repaired and rejoined fleet March 1942.

Cruisers:

USS Helena (CL-50) - heavily damaged, repaired and rejoined fleet June 1942
USS Honolulu (CL-48) - damaged, repaired and rejoined fleet January 1942
USS Raleigh (CL-7) - heavily damaged, repaired and rejoined fleet July 1942

Destroyers:

USS Cassin (DD-372) - was in drydock - heavily damaged, rebuilt and rejoined fleet February 1944
USS Downes (DD-375) - was in drydock - heavily damaged rebuilt and rejoined fleet November 1943
USS Helm (DD-388) - damaged, continued on patrol, repaired and rejoined fleet January 1942
USS Shaw (DD-373) - in floating drydock - severely damaged and repaired

Minelayers:

USS Oglala (CM-4) - sunk, raised, repaired and rejoined fleet February 1944

Auxiliaries:

Seaplane Tender - USS Curtiss (AV-4) - damaged, repaired and rejoined fleet January 1942
Harbor Tug - USS Sotoyomo (YT-9) - with Shaw - sunk, raised, repaired and rejoined fleet August 1942
USS Utah (AG-16) - capsized, on bottom of Pearl Harbor
Vestal - heavily damaged, beached, refloated, repaired and rejoined fleet February 1942
YFD-2 - sunk, raised, refloated, repaired and rejoined fleet May 1942

In addition, the following aircraft were lost:

U.S. Navy - 92 lost, 31 damaged.
U.S. Army - 77 lost, 128 damaged.
Japanese - 9 fighters, 15 dive bombers, 5 torpedo bombers.

In all, 2,402 military personnel were killed, 1,247 military personnel were wounded, 57 civilians were killed 35 civilians wounded.  

Some Japanese officers desired a third wave of the attack focused on shipyards, depots and other naval infrastructure; had this occurred, Japan may well have won the war.

Japan formally declared war against the US on December 8th, and Germany and Italy formally declared war on the US on December 11th. World War II continued until 15 August 1945.

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