rmal declaration of war. At 5:30 a.m. two Japanese scout planes flew high over Pearl Harbor. These flights were spotted on United States radar but were assumed by the United States that these planes were just friendly flights. A little before 6:00 a.m., the Japanese launched the first wave of the assault. The first wave consisted of 180 airplanes, and only one was lost in the first launch. The second wave was launched soon after the first with no casualties. The Japanese now had 351 airplanes speeding towards Pearl Harbor.The first bombs of the Japanese attack fell on Kaneohe Naval Air Station at 7:47 a.m. That morning fortunately over half of the United States Pacific Fleet was out at sea, including all of the United States aircraft carriers (Brief Overview of the Attack, 7 July 2001). There were 9 American battleships in Pearl Harbor that morning as well as a number of destroyers and cruisers. As torpedoes ripped through battleship row, diesel oil poured into the harbor. The thick oil made swimming almost impossible for the sailors who survived the bombs. Once the diesel oil became ignited, clouds of black smoke raised everywhere. By 8:35 a.m. the first wave of the Japanese attack had finished its work. The first attack left most of the United States Pacific Fleet burning in the harbor: battleships Maryland and Tennessee damaged, Arizona destroyed, Oklahoma capsized, California and West Virginia resting at the bottom of the harbor. The battleship Nevada was the only survivor after the first wave of the attack. By 9:00 a.m. the second wave of Japanese planes arrived. Nevada quickly became a target for the second wave’s attack. The Japanese used specially designed torpedoes for the attack on battleship row, which had been designed in anticipation of the shallow waters of Pearl Harbor. By now American anti-aircraft guns were trying to put up some sort of defense. The final target of the attack was the flagship, Penn...
